Fiddle Stories: The Elder Youth Legacy Project (Canada - MB)
Fiddle Stories is a performing group of
Aboriginal Elders and Youth drawn from across Canada. Sponsored by
the Métis Artists Collective in Ontario, Fiddle
Stories is both a mentorship project and an exciting
concert performance of old and uniquely aboriginal forms of fiddle
music. A repertoire and a style that developed in the early days of
contact between Europeans and First Nations, the music is a true
hybrid of the New and Old World. In danger of being lost forever,
the purpose of Fiddle Stories is to pass on the
oldest surviving traditions to a new generation of players, who
will in turn pass them on. In the spring and summer of 2008, this
exciting cross-generational group will work together in
concert.The Elders
Lawrence “Teddy Boy”
Houle is from the Ojibwe community of Ebb and
Flow, Manitoba, where he inherited the fiddle traditions of his
family and his community; traditions which date back to the early
days of the fur trade in Manitoba. Today, he is one few fiddlers in
Manitoba who maintain the old style and repertoire. He has been
honoured over the years by invitations to many Canadian and
international events, including Canada Day events in Toronto and
Ottawa, Folk Festivals throughout Canada and the U.S, and a special
honour -- The Native American Music Concert at Carnegie Hall to
celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Hall. He has recorded one CD
and appeared on Collections and Films of Aboriginal
Music.
Colin Adjun is known as "The Fiddler of the Arctic." He says he was born "with music in my head" and first learned to play when he was a young boy living out on the land. "My two uncles [Charlie Avakana and John Kuneyuk] played the fiddle, and they taught me when we were living in the outpost camp.” When he was nine years old, he was so enthusiastic about playing the instrument that he played when there was only one string. He has made three recordings of his fiddle music and has performed at many festivals, including Aklavik's Pokiak River Festival, Yellowknife's Folk on the Rocks, and Iqaluit’s Northern Arts Festival.
The Youth
Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk
Now twenty-one, Alyssa began her musical studies at the age of 3
and is currently studying viola on scholarship in Switzerland. In
2004 she was awarded the National Métis Youth Role Model
Award for Arts and Culture and since then, she has performed
Métis music across the nation for various aboriginal events.
In 2006, she received an apprenticeship grant to study with
Lawrence Teddy Boy Houle and recently released her first CD,
Omeigwessi: A Tribute to Walter Flett.
Nicholas
Delbaere-Sawchuk
Nicholas studies violin performance with Marie Bérard
in the Young Artists Performance Academy at the Royal Conservatory
of Music. In 2004, he won Junior Strings Finalist Trophy at the
Hamilton Kiwanis Music Festival, and in 2003, Nicholas was featured
in the Vision TV production, Come Into the Parlour: A Student
Recital. Nicholas studies Métis music with Anne
Lederman, and performs with his brothers and sister in the METIS
FIDDLER QUARTET.
Ruby
John
Ryan
D’Aoust
Eighteen year-old Métis Fiddler, Ryan D'Aoust, is from
Norway House, Manitoba. A protégé of John Arcand and
Cameron Baggins, Ryan's first CD, South Side of the Strings
won Best Fiddle Album at the Canadian Aboriginal Music
Awards (2005), as well as the prestigious CBC Galaxie Rising
Star Award. On their visits to Winnepeg, Ryan had the honour of
playing for Queen Elizabeth II in 2005 and for Prince Charles in
2006. Also in 2006, Ryan taught and performed at the Celtic
Festival in Goderich, Ontario and at the Grand Masters in Ottawa.
He has just released his second CD, York Boats &
Legends.
Alicia
Blore
Fifteen year old Alicia has roots in Ste. Rose, Manitoba
where her great grandfather, Philip Zastre was a well-known
Métis fiddler. She has been studying fiddle since she was 9
with Matthew Johnston, Mark Sullivan and Anne Lederman, competing
in contests and attending camps such as Orangeville, the Grand
Masters, the John Arcand Fiddle Fest and the Sturgeon Falls
competition and camp.
Accompanist - Anne
Lederman
On piano and guitar, Anne is also an important link to the older
styles of fiddling in Manitoba and has taught several of the youth
involved in the group. Having learned from elder fiddlers in
Manitoba in the 1980s, she is now the only link to certain older
Manitoba repertoires and will be passing some of that material on
to the group.
