Just picture it: Wayne and Garth pile into their trusty AMC Pacer, headed for points unknown to get into some of their trademark hesher mischief. Wayne flicks on the radio, cranks up the volume, and outcome the familiar strains of … a flute?
It’s an entirely likely scenario, now that Regina jazz flutist and singer-songwriter Marie-Véronique Bourque has recorded her own version of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Just like the original, her rendition has the power to get any weekend warrior’s head banging—as long as there’s an open mind in there beneath all the hair.
Bourque’s “Fantasy for Solo Flute on Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody” is exactly what the title promises: a one-woman tour de force in which this accomplished instrumentalist performs every element of the rock radio classic, from Freddie Mercury’s operatic vocal lines to Brian May’s iconic guitar solo. All six minutes of it, in one take.
“As someone raised in a francophone family, I wasn’t allowed to listen to Anglophone music during my childhood,” says Bourque, who was born in Québec and earned First Prizes in flute and chamber music at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec. “My first encounter with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was through my daughter, who sang it with her school choir. I was deeply moved by its emotional depth, its stunning melodies, and its blend of theatricality and sadness.”
So when she was accepted into Pro7ect, a retreat for songwriters and producers held at the legendary Rockfield Studios in Wales, she knew a 50th-anniversary tribute to Queen’s finest moment was what she wanted to lay down. After all, Rockfield is the same studio where Mercury composed and recorded the song back in 1975. She was even booked into his old room, purely by coincidence. Walking in his shoes, however, proved a bit more challenging.
“I had to master incredibly crazy technical passages, fast intervals, dramatic dynamics, and unique techniques like singing into the flute to mimic the electric guitar,” she explains. “The hardest part was delivering the soft, emotional final melody while utterly out of breath and exhausted from the intensity of the preceding passages.”
But she did it, two times straight through, without a single snafu. The second take is the one you hear on the record, with the added enhancement of overdubbed bass flute lines and harmonies, recorded with producer Mario Lepage back home in Saskatchewan.
Rising to a challenge is nothing new for this boundary-breaking artist, nor is reaching across genre lines to enrich the listening experience. Her classical training stands her in good stead as a member of the Regina Symphony Orchestra and the Quarter Tones Flute Ensemble, but it’s her parallel passion for jazz that has enabled her to really make her name. She’s honed her skills at the Carleton University Jazz Camp, Dordogne International Jazz Summer School (France), Ambrose University Jazz Camp, and the Ali Ryerson Jazz Flute Seminars in California; the result is a rich repertoire of original songs and uniquely reinterpreted jazz standards that make up a musical genre she describes as “Metis Jazz.” Both of her albums, Entre Québec & Saskatchewan (2021) and her debut Une porte s’ouvre (2018), were ranked among the top five Best Albums of the Year in Saskatchewan, and her 2021 single, “The Shovel Shuffle,” garnered 13,000 views on her YouTube channel.
open.spotify.com/album/5GlGprJK7BGmBrh23wsNwx
A 2023 Trille Or nominee and winner of the National Flute Association (NFA) Jazz Flute Big Band Competition, Bourque was also nominated in the Saskatchewan Music Awards in 2018 and 2021. In addition to her own recordings, she contributed to Will Cox’s A Darkling Shore album (2019) alongside renowned artists like Orlando Harrison (Alabama 3) and Lily Dior. On the live front, she’s opened for jazz legends such as Carol Welsman (2018) and Derrick Gardner (2022), as part of a touring regimen that’s taken her across Switzerland, France, Québec and Western Canada. She’s even done a stint in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police band (she was a police officer for over 25 years).
On May 9 of this year, Bourque will release a full jazz album, in collaboration with JUNO-nominated, Montreal-based guitarist Christine Tassan. But for right now, it’s all about “Bohemian Rhapsody”—and tipping her hat to a certain pop trailblazer who didn’t let categories define him either.
“I sincerely hope that Freddie Mercury is smiling from above at what I’ve done with his iconic song,” she says. “Happy 50th anniversary, Queen!”
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