Festival de la Francophonie • Live concert: Cadill'Rock

Cadill’Rock is a group of musicians from Cadillac’s hometown, St Nicolas de la Grave, located in the Tarn et Garonne, about 1hour North of Toulouse, in southwestern France. Cadill’Rock, is a group that sees farther than the Garonne River, which shares with peoples of Occitanie, the US and Canada our common heritage which humbly follows the lead of Antoine Laumer, dit Lamothe-Cadillac. The group firmly believes in the song lyrics “Plug in your guitar, Monsieur le Gascon, the world belongs to you!”. Cadill’Rock believes that person’s grandeur and nobility comes not from birth, money or status, but truly from one’s heart.

Show Description

Family-friendly, classic rock concert exploring the shared heritage between France and the Great Lakes region by following the footsteps of Lamothe-Cadillac, founder of Detroit and Governeur of La Louisiane which included the Illinois country.

This concert is designed for primary and secondary school students, so come along as a family and sing along to the lyrics!

About Xavier Coron and John Cooper

The founder and driver of Cadill’Rock is Xavier Coron who is passionate about teaching the shared heritage of Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and the United States.

Trained as an engineer at Carnegie Mellon University, John Cooper experienced his first linguistic immersion during an exchange program in Lausanne, Switzerland. Upon graduation, John worked in Montreal for two years gaining an appreciation for French Canadian language and culture. For the last 40 years, he has worked in the automobile industry living in Detroit, Japan, France, German and China. Since 2007, John is active in the Club Richelieu, the Francophone social/service club in Windsor, Ontario, (border city with Detroit) where he has taken on the personal mission of creating synergy between the significant communities of Francophones/Francophiles on both sides of the river. He has initiated and organized many cross-border activities

Cofounder of Rendez-vous Détroit (501c3) whose mission is to increase awareness and appreciation of the French legacy of Detroit River Region in order to help its renaissance in the 21 st century.
Creator and bilingual narrator of the annual Detroit French History Cruise since 2014 Detroit French Christmas events at Ste Anne de Detroit with Windsor participants-
Concerts by Marcel Bénéteau (musicologist « Les Vielles Chansons du Détroit’) on both sides of the river.
Creator of Detroit French History Tour upon request, benefitting also French diplomats and ambassadors.
In 2022 named Chevalier of the Order of National Merit by the French Republic
Organizer of school visits and performances by Cadill’Rock ( from Cadillac’s birthplace in SW France) doing musical history lessons in Detroit, Windsor, Sarnia since 2023.
Initiator of the French Heritage Society’s 2024 grant to restore the “French Bells” of the Basilica of Ste Anne de Detroit, second oldest Catholic parish in the US.

Xavier and John met during a conference that John gave in St Nicolas de la Grave in 2019. Their objective is to share French history and cultural heritage in the US.

CHRONOLOGY

2012: Xavier Coron discovers the story of Antoine Laumet de la Mothe de Cadillac, at the the latter’s birthplace, now a museum Saint-Nicolas-de-la-Grave, in SW France.
2018: The group Cadill’Rock is formed to play adventure rock music and following the footsteps of Cadillac, the Gascon founder of Detroit and later governor of French Louisiana.
2019-2024: Selection of musicians, creation of energy-driven repertoire leading to concerts in France as well as two tours in Detroit, as well as Windsor, and Sarnia Ontario. In parallel the recoding of the EP EPonyme supported by Pattascenes Productions.
2025: Take off pour a third US tour adding Chicago and Peoria to stops in Detroit and Ontario as well as recording of a first album.

About Xavier’s music

Xavier is motivated to take inspiration from and follow in the footsteps of Cadillac in North America. His message of positivity to dare to endeavor out of the ordinary is especially aimed at young people, no matter what challenges may be present. His musical approach ranges from one acoustic guitar in a classroom setting~~,~~ to amplified volume on a stage with 5,000 marchers at the La Marche du Nain Rouge parade.

Some of his original songs inspired by Cadillac and other francophones in North America are entitled:

Wild Onion Blues (about Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable and his wife, Kitihawa, Chicago’s first permanent settlers);
Souviens-toi Detroit (an exchange between Cadillac and the city he founded);
Nain Rouge (about the legend of Nain Rouge in Detroit).

Get here

The Alliance francaise de Chicago is one block from the CTA Red line stop at Chicago Avenue. Best bus routes are the 22 on Clark and the 66 on Chicago Avenue.