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Filtering by Author: Kith Folk
Steve Muise is a young fiddler and fiddler teacher now living in Maine. His dad was born in Surette's Island, Nova Scotia and his mother's parents are from Pinkney's Point. Steve teaches fiddling and orchestra at Mt. Blue High School in Farmington, Maine and plays in the group Boréal Tordu. You can find more about Steve and his music by visiting his website: http://www.stevemuise.com
Amand Savoie was born in St. Wilfred on June 18th, 1933. He and his brother Simon, as well as his father were musicians and lumberjacks. Amand started playing fiddle when he was 12 years old and quickly took to playing for parties and competitions. When not busy fiddling, Amand worked as a heavy equipment operator, a mechanic, and a welder. He won more than 50 trophies during his lifetime and made an LP called "A New Brunswick Lumberjack", Musk Mel-85-1-1985, recorded at Musk Sound Studios, Bathurst N.B. March 1985.
Amand's brother Simon tells a great story that really shows what life was like for these early Acadian fiddlers: " My father, Germaine, was a foreman at a logging camp with a crew of 15 to 20 men. Father would work all week in the woods and come out on Saturday. He had two teams of horses the he used in the woods operation. When I was 11 or 12 years old, I decided that I wanted to play the fiddle. I went into my father's bedroom, and locked the door. It would really bother my mother because she could not get in but she could hear what I was up to. After two weeks of this my mother looked at the bow and there were only four or five horsehairs left on it. My mother said, "Your father's going to kill you when he comes home on Saturday". I decided I had better make another bow. I went to the barn with a pair of scissors and cut some horsehair as big as my little finger. I made a knot at the end and then I took some rabbit wire and I tied that up. I did the same thing at the other end. I tied it really tight and it looked like an Indian's bow. The horsehair was black and since I didn't have any rosin I took my father's snowshoes and went into the woods and got a piece of spruce wood gum as big as an egg. I rubbed that on the horsehair. My mother looked at it and said "Your father will not be happy". My father came home on Saturday, ate supper, showered, and shaved. The suspense grew. Finally he headed for his bedroom and took his violin out of the pillowcase. My father was a man that very seldom laughed but we heard a booming laugh coming from the bedroom. He came out of the bedroom and still laughing, pointed his finger at me and said, "You, my son, will never be stuck in life". Today, anyone that knows me will tell you the exact same thing."
Elmo LeBlanc was born at Saint-Anne-de-Kent on June 17, 1954. He started playing fiddle at the age of 7 and was inspired by his father, Johnny LeBlanc, as well as both his grandfathers, Tuis LeBlanc and Stanley Chiasson who were Acadian fiddlers. He formed a band called "Elmo LeBlanc and His Musicians" and they performed for 16 years. He has played for kitchen parties and dances, as well as radio and television. He has also performed at Le Pays de la Sagouine. He composed the tune "The Arcadian Reel". When not busy fiddling, he works for B.A.Richards Fish Plant where he has been employed for 20 years.
Discography: 1. "Fiddler Elmo LeBlanc - Son of Acadian Pioneer". Recorded at Rite Track Productions, Leominister, Ma. LP and cassette. (1984) 2. "Elmo LeBlanc-Acadian Fiddler" produced by Raymond Legere, cassette (1994)
Zélie-Anne Poirier, also known as Zélianna à Jos Bibienne. She was born September 2, 1922 in St. Nicholas, PEI the second youngest daughter and one of 14 children of Joseph B. Arsenault and Julie-Anne LeClair of Egmont Bay. Joseph B had been previously married to Bibienne Arsenault. Joseph was a fiddler and Julie played pump organ and step-danced. They were poor but there was always music. Zélie said that “I was so dang poor I was born bare naked, and you can’t get any poorer than that.” She learned to step dance and play the fiddle when she was 7 or 8 years old, as well as playing the mouth organ, the piano, the pump organ as well as some guitar and accordion. Zélia and her sisters were the first women on PEI to perform in public.
Amand Arsenault kick up his heels while Zélie-Anne fiddles and Georges Arsenault looks on.
"La musique, c'est toute my vie": that pretty much sums up Thérèse (Landry) Albert's love of music and life. She was born April 24, 1926 in St. Anne de Bocage, New Brunswick. Her family was musical and her father played the fiddle at musical events and weddings to supplement the family income. When she was 13, Thérèse borrowed her father's fiddle and learned to play a few tunes. When her father found out, he was overjoyed and Thérèse went on to celebrate a lifetime of music. She married Gilles Albert in 1947 and put away the fiddle for almost 30 years while her kids were growing up. In 1979 under the encouragement of her husband (who played harmonica) and with the fiddle her father had left her when he died, she entered a fiddle competition in Lamèque. Despite the fact that it was mostly men who played fiddle publicly, she won the competition and went on to play concerts and festivals all over the Acadian peninsula, where she was often the only female fiddler. In 1991 she took part in a television program "Le Temps de Vivre" that was recorded at the Le Village Acadien. She continued to perform at the Acadian village for a number of years.
Abel Cormier was born 1954 in Cap Pelé, New Bruswick. His father, Nazaire Cormier was also an Acadian fiddler and fiddle maker. Abel started playing fiddle when he was 9 years old and quickly became part of various musical groups that promoted Acadian music. In 1997 he played with Broucayen and Les Inconnus. He joined up with Richard Bourque in 1981 to from the Abel and Richard duo then in 1986 joined the group Déja Vu and they released an albu called Le Chemin du Reveil. In 1994 Abel started performing at Le Pays de la Sagouine in Bouctouche and also played with two popular groups: Bois France (1995) and Les Turluteux (1997).
Sébastien Leblanc, one of the up and coming young fiddlers from Acadia, was born in Néguac, New Brunswick. He studied Celtic as well as Classical violin and plays with the group La Virée. He also played fiddle on the CD of the publication Parlures d'Acadie.
For some samples of the tunes on this cd, go to: http://www.albumtrad.com/fr/la-viree/00946-1-2-3-go.xhtml
