A little-known fact is that when the progressive rock movement emerged in the late 1960s/early 1970s, the province of Quebec, Canada, was singularly responsible for breaking more than a few European groups in North America. Along with a number of lesser-known artists, better-known bands including Gentle Giant and Peter Gabriel-era Genesis not only attained their first North American footholds in Quebec, but it's questionable whether they'd have gone on to achieve the degree of success they ultimately did get, were it not for the support of this largely Francophone province. Perhaps it's because Quebec has always felt more European than North American.

But it wasn't just a matter of breaking foreign progressive bands in North America; Quebec had a vibrant progressive scene of its own, with acts including Maneige, Contraction, Pollen and Conventum—many of whom had successful albums of their own and opened up in concert for their international cousins.

While progressive music seemed to fade into the background with the advent of punk rock, the fact is it never went away. But with a niche audience spread across the globe, it wasn't until the advent of the internet that it began to grow legs again. Now artists in countries around the world are working in the progressive arena, albeit in sub genres that are as diverse as any other style of music. Committed progressive fans are, in fact, listeners with diverse tastes that are on par with equally intrepid jazz fans who believe that boundaries in music merely restrict its growth. And, in fact, the cross-pollination of progressive music and jazz has always been definitive, with many jazz fans coming to the genre from progressive music.

In recent years Stephen Takacsy and Sean McFee have started ProgQuebec, a non-profit label dedicated to reissuing long out-of-print Quebecois progressive music on CD. It seemed inevitable that they should ultimately team with Michel St. Pare (owner of Montréal's progressive Unicorn Records label) and promoters Robert Dansereau and Gerrald Laurion (who have been promoting progressive concerts in Montréal by groups including Present, Flower Kings and Miriodor) to create Le Festival des Musiques Progressives de Montréal (FMPM), a new festival dedicated to promoting the vibrant Quebec progressive scene and bringing in some international acts to boot.

FMPM's inaugural season took place over two nights—September 15 and 16—at Gesu, an intimate 400-seat theatre situated below a church in the heart of Montréal. While I was unable to attend both days, if the first evening was any indication, this is a festival with significant potential.

The festival opened up with a performance by Jerome Langlois, co-founder of Maneige, one of Quebec's most beloved progressive groups from the 1970s. With his new Molignak project, clarinettist/pianist Langlois was accompanied by bassist Mario Lagare, drummer/percussionist Gilles Schetagne, violinist Bernard Cormier, flautist/pianist Francois Richard and clarinettist Romie de Guise-Langlois. Atmospheric lighting created a warm backdrop for Langlois' classically influenced music. But the introduction of electric instruments and, on occasion, more propulsive rhythms make a case for this kind of music being classical music for the 21st Century.

Relying more on polyphony than counterpoint, Langlois' music was approachable; complex in its episodic and extended nature, but not so in its more straightforward rhythms. While solos were kept to a minimum and always within context of the material's structure, Cormier and Richard stood out—as did, of course, Langlois, who was often seen cuing the sextet from his place at the piano.

The appreciative audience was clearly familiar with the material and it was a lyrical way to start the festival, proving that two terms so often associated with progressive music—bombast and inaccessibility—need not be applicable at all.

After a break to change stages, British progressive/Canterbury Scene icon Hatfield and the North took the stage—the group's first performance ever in Montréal and garnering a standing ovation before they'd played their first note. While the recently-reformed Hatfield was one member shy of the original group, with Alex Maguire replacing founding member/keyboardist Dave Stewart, a recent tragedy pared down the number of original members even further and made this performance somewhat bittersweet.

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