Prolific singer-songwriter Paul Cargnello has received recognition from the city he has not only made his home, but his inspiration. Cargnello garnered the Alex Soria Fountains Award for Best Singer-Songwriter-Performer at the 2005 MIMI awards. This was a watershed for a career developed and honed from the ground up, where Paul's personal vendetta upon the music scene was to be himself above all else. Marked by political activism, powerful lyricism, and an eclectic blend of musical styles, Paul has stayed true to a city that has influenced his now distinct sound that can only be labeled as Montrealaise. Cargnello's urban and edgy folk-rock is backed by solid musicianship that can be transcended to the streets of any major city.

The mp3 track is called Butcher of Beirut from a live album recorded at Va-et-Vient (St Henri, Montreal) with the solid backup of his band, The Frontline.

**Click on song title to hear MP3 butcher of beirut when you coming back? i ain’t complete take it to the people take it to the street i was just driving through your boulevard dirty street you ain’t wild you just play the wild card   i said backup fill the cup fill it up ‘til it trickles down you better run from the butcher of beirut you better hide from the u s a demolition coming in from the east and the west today   the white hordes stretched an inch into a mile the northwest said you can stay a while wear our white hoods support our g d p our g o d as far as i can see we’re all born on a battle zone forced to call it home   where i dwell i can tell by the tears on your face you’ve been running life’s race you’ve been hiding your face from the rest of it the fascists hide the best of it   i saw the winter turn to spring police and thieves busted everything the population knows love the population invented it the population knows love so why are you preventing it   i’m convinced it’s time to go to walk out into the mismanaged roads and redraw the lines written into the cement i dream about a world where i don’t gotta pay rent to a fascist regime © Paul Cargnello

Serai: How old are you? When did you actualize your political views? Paul: Twenty-six. In high school, I was rebellious, anti-establishment but I don’t think I had much of an understanding. In Cegep (Junior College) it all came together. I wanted to go into anthropology, figuring to be a musician and have a degree on the side. I had a great professor who taught about racism through anthropology and it opened my eyes to global politics, and at the same time, Jessie, my girlfriend, started conversations in political science class with me that sparked something. Before then, I had moderate political views. My mother was a feminist and I grew up in an environment where the view of feminism was positive. My parents came from a hippy background, part of the peace movement. In Cegep, the band and my music became political. Before I was writing songs about me, personalized issues. When I was a child, there was a sensitivity built-in, a tolerance that was given, but my parents weren’t talking about socialism. I took it a step further. It radicalized my family too, the debates we had at home. Serai: Do you receive any reactions to the messages in your songs? Paul: Yes, all the time. When I started writing politically, it was about feminism, women’s rights, We were all guys and I wanted to show that men don’t have to be afraid of the feminist movement, that we can be part of it, that we can benefit from it. The reaction I got was strange - men looking at me, like why are you doing this do us. People say, listen, nobody wants to hear music up on your soapbox, we don’t want to be taught a lesson every time you have a show. People even said to shut up in my shows, I talk too much, it’s not a lecture, a speech, I am not inciting the revolution, I am playing a show, and people want to dance. People are less critical now because I have more stature. People know where I stand. That I am very political. Let the music speak for itself, that’s what I hear a lot. At 17, I spent as much time playing the music as I did announcing and describing what I was trying to say. Now, I pick my moments, I let the band go and I go off a bit. I do let the music speak. I found a way of integrating my lyrics with the music. Even if it’s a personal song, there is a way of introducing your politics that doesn’t offend people. Earlier, it was either you are with us or against us. I pulled a George Bush. Now I don’t do that. If people feel you are shoving something down their throats, the reaction is aggressive. If you feel you are a part of something, you are more susceptible to the politics that come with it. Now I would like you to think and dance. “Money Moves” is mainly a dance track but the lyrics on that track are important. Like Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA. Listen to the chorus, which Ronald Reagan wanted to take for his campaign, as a proud American song. It’s not a patriotic song, it’s saying that we are born into some thing, that we are forced into a political structure. For songs like Money Moves, The Butcher of Beirut, it’s the same thing. The Butcher of Beirut developed importance in life, I wrote that before Sharon was le grand chef and before he and Bush started their campaign. I wrote that about Charron as military leader because I have a major issue with any non -secular state, as non-secular as Israel is technically. I had issues with the whole religious debate. The threat for me is that I don’t want to be stuck in a position where somebody says, you have to be anti-Palestinian, anti-Zionist. ... I don’t support any religious state and I don’t like religious zealots and extremists. I don’t want to give any of them power. I don’t want a state led by Muslim values, Christian values or by Jewish values. I don’t want any religion in the government. That song is about an overpowering right wing political movement. Israel wasn’t always right wing. It’s definitely an anti-Zionist song. But it’s not just there, it’s elsewhere, like in England. Tony Blair represents a shift to the right, Paul Martin a shift to the right, George Bush represents a major shift to the right, Ariel Charron, a shift to the right. That is what the song is discussing - the shift to the right, that we are losing grip. The line, ‘I don’t want to pay rent to the fascist regime’ means I don’t want to be a part of this anymore. Serai: You combine French and English in this album. Is that common for you and why? Paul: It’s important for an Anglo to reach out to the French community, even slightly, I don’t want to have this divide, it’s a silly divide. It should be non-existent, yet it exists in the music industry - English radio stations, French radio stations, English companies, French companies. They don’t promote each other. In the music industry, Quebec is the black hole of Canada. That’s doesn’t have to be. There is so much talent in Quebec. Canadians have to settle for Bryan Adams, Simple Plan when they could be getting Jean LaLoup, who is a brilliant Quebec artist. My next album will have more tunes completely in French. Serai: The Album is called Paul Cargnello and The Front Line, Who is The Front Line? Paul: Four musicians who are not only great musicians, but also incredible friends. Front Line is pushing my limits of my musicianship. They are all better musicians than me and they push me to be a better musician. My studio albums are folk, lyrically driven, my live albums, like this one, are danceable. I want people bobbing their heads. Serai: How do you define your music? Your style? Lyrics? Paul: I would say it’s modern roots music. I take the roots of everything. I like blues, reggae, punk from the 70’s, folk from the 20’s, and early rock. I love Motown, R & B from the 60’s and the 70’s . I integrate the roots of these influences into a modern specimen. I see myself going in the direction of artists like Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Patty Smith... Elvis Costello, whether you are a fan of him or not, he has created this arc of the artist, you follow him and realize his writing changed and his style evolved, like Tom Waits. Patty Smith, she still puts out brilliant albums, its not just punk, just rock, just new wave, it’s her. I want people to say, that’s Paul Cargnello, that’s his genre. Serai: Do you feel you are making a difference? Paul: Yes. I am not making a big difference. I am a local celebrity not a global celebrity. I am a revolutionary in the sense that you contribute in your life by changing small things. The way you raise your kids is important, the way you act out your life, the way you do your job. My band is influenced by me; they weren’t as politicized as they are now. I am reinforcing a value that is already there. To give strength to somebody. I questioned everything I thought until I listened to Billy Bragg, he’s saying the same things I feel and it gave me strength. His song, ‘No Power without Accountability’, was important to me. It solidifies something I felt. Some people are not as solidified yet in their political views and all I am doing is giving them strength if they want to continue on in that direction.

Link: www.paulcargnello.com