A big smile, a permanent sparkle in his eyes and personal anecdotes aplenty—that pretty well sums up our interview with Mehdi Cayenne, co-spokesperson for the 2026 Rendez-vous de la Francophonie. This singer-songwriter, who was born in Algeria, has lived in multiple Canadian cities and now calls Montreal home. The Language Portal really enjoyed getting to know this engaging artist, and we think you’ll enjoy learning about him, too.
We started the interview by talking about regional expressions and accents that have stood out for him. Wherever he goes, he fills an imaginary notebook with notes on the interesting ways people speak, and he uses these mental notes when he writes a song. As an example, he quoted a sentence he heard in Chiac, a variety of Acadian French. The sentence was about how everything comes back to life when spring returns: C’est comme si tout le monde était mouru et là tout le monde est revivu. And if Mehdi likes such colourful sentences, you can bet he likes the Comme on dit par chez nous (opens in new tab) contest!
He rhymed off other regionalisms, this time from the Outaouais: se faire lutter, which means “to get hit by a car” and flyer, which means “to have to run, go or leave.” An integral part of his artistic process is turning it into a game. He even uses a 20-sided die and assigns each side a musical characteristic: tempo, key, theme, etc. He explained that the creative process isn’t just about drawing from deep emotional experiences. A song can take shape in different ways.
Francophone pride
When we asked Mehdi about his Francophone pride, he replied: “It’s part of who I am, like having two legs. I’m grateful, for sure.” He talked about the many people he has met and recalled the time he gave a French poetry-writing class in Moscow, where he felt privileged to teach the class about homegrown expressions he uses and to learn expressions from other places. Meeting new people is an opportunity to learn new expressions and adopt new proverbs. Take for example this Creole proverb that he’s particularly fond of: Dèyè mòn, gen mòn, which means “Beyond the mountains, there are always more mountains.” Then, he paused to reflect a bit more on his Francophone pride, an intrinsic part of his identity, and said, “It’s easier for me to reflect back on moments of Francophone joy, rather than moments of Francophone pride.”
Mehdi enjoys working with young people, as we can see from his experiences and his projects. We asked him if he had any advice to give the next generation of youth who want to break into the French music or art scene. His answer reflected his vivid poetry and his passion:
You must be genuinely passionate about creating art. Not everyone has a passion for creating art and pursuing it. That passion is the entrance fee. Sometimes we talk about talent or ideal sociological conditions, and it's true, that counts, but passion is really the determining factor. And if I can identify this passion, it's because I want to create something beautiful, to escape or defy a prescribed form of boredom. Art, poetry, creativity, they’re all ways of seeing things before they become something. The artistic process begins with how you live your life.
An artist with a thousand and one projects
For Mehdi, being a co-spokesperson for Les Rendez-vous de la Francophonie is amazing, unexpected and touching. It’s like a returning boomerang, he says, recalling how he travelled across the country while performing in the play Terre d’accueil as part of the 2009 Rendez-vous de la Francophonie. It’s obvious that Mehdi fits the profile of ambassador for the Francophonie, having hosted French radio and television shows. He’s also worked with neurodivergent individuals.
Connecting with others seems to come naturally to him. In addition to performing live theatre and writing poetry, he’s composed soundtracks and recorded six albums. His interest in words and languages might very well have something to do with his mother, who also works in the field of language—as a translator.
During the interview, we “travelled” with Mehdi to the Maritimes; to New York, where he was selling Christmas trees and where he was given the nickname “Canada”; and then to Morocco, where he recently did a writing residency. Mehdi introduced us to his own world and to the Cayenne Club, where anyone who feels a little different can find “a safe haven for unbridled joy.”
Mehdi Cayenne is on a roll: he’s shining bright at Les Rendez-vous de la Francophonie; he’s working on a new album; and he’s collaborating with TFO (opens in new tab), one of the Language Portal’s partners, on a television production.
We thank him for giving us his time, despite his busy schedule, and we wish him a great Rendez-vous de la Francophonie!
