A flash mob is being organised at Montreal’s Berri-UQÀM metro station on April 1st 2009 at 10am. It’s an artistic experiment to salute people who have suffered through or fallen to cancer, to shake up commuter’s daily dread and to see what kind of solidarity we might pull off. 

OK, BUT WHY? BAPTiSTE is a Montreal artist who lost a friend to cancer last october. She was his age, she was a uniquely original person, she deserved better. So he decided to exact his revenge. He signed up to run a marathon with the Canadian Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and has so far raised 4120$ for them by performing a series of living-room concerts. When the Canadian Cancer Society heard about it, they asked him if he’d be willing to pen them a song for their upcoming awareness campaign. He did. The song is presently for sale on the Society’s www.jaune-uni.ca website (all proceeds naturally going to the Cancer Society). But that’s not what this is about, exactly. This is more like BAPTiSTE freelancing. 

The Canadian Cancer Society have planned a nice campaign launch for Jaune Uni at the Berri Metro Station. BAPTiSTE being BAPTiSTE, he’d like to one-up them and actually use this opportunity to try a little social experiment. Namely, to gather dozens if not hundreds of people at 10am on April 1st, at Berri UQÀM’s booths, to rehearse the song’s call-and-answer chorus on the spot, then to have everyone spread out in the corridors and stay silent and aloof for a few minutes. The artist will have brought along an upright piano, drummer, bassist and guitarist. They’ll kick off the song. When it reaches the chorus, and this is the kicker, the masses chime in, from every corner of the metro station. If we reach critical mass, if enough people are present, it’ll be epic. The commuters won’t know what to think. They might actually pay attention. 

WHAT’S THE CATCH? No catch, y’all. BAPTiSTE does not have an upcoming album to sell you, a product to promote or any interest in fame. Quite the contrary, he’s allergic to the fluff celebrity culture. He does not own a TV. He’s doing this because he lost a friend, almost lost two others and sees this as an opportunity to try something that could be, well, pretty unique. If you’ve ever lost a loved one to cancer, if you’ve ever known someone who suffered through it, or if you’re a hippie in it for the love, a punk-rocker in it for the subversion of it, or just a curious onlooker who wants to see something go down in flames, come on out. This is life. This is what living it fully is all about.

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