Q&A

Harmonium’s leader dusts off his old band’s back catalogue on a reissue of his most ambitious undertaking and explains why he’s happy staying out of the limelight.

Words: Dom Lawson Portra it: Jean Charles Labarre

For five frantic years in the mid-70s, Harmonium were one of the biggest bands in Canada. Led by multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Serge Fiori, they released three extraordinary albums, including seminal progressive folk masterpiece Si On Avait Besoin D’une Cinquième Saison in 1975. Fiori dissolved the band after their final tour in support of third album, L’Heptade, and hasn’t returned to a stage since. But in 2019 he collaborated with musical director Simon Leclerc on Histoires Sans Paroles – Harmonium Symphonique: a purely orchestral reimagining of the entire Harmonium catalogue. Prog spoke with the Quebec legend about his band’s heyday and how it feels to hear his songs played by an 80-piece orchestra, nearly 50 years later