Franco-Americans Performers
Boreal Tordu | Choinière
| Douce | Hébert
| Labbé | Parent
| S Poulin | Roy | St.
Pierre | Therrien | Vachon
| Va-et-Vient
Boréal Tordu
 There
is a new music rising up out of Maine, steeped in tradition with
a fresh take on familiar ground. Somewhere between the French
and American styles, it touches on the romance, tragedy, passion
and lust for life that exemplifies the Franco-American culture...
Boréal Tordu began when fiddler Steve Muise
and singer Robert Sylvain discovered a mutual interest
in the music of their shared French-American heritage. Both are
sons of native French speaking parents. Both eventually settle
in Maine. Both end up finding their roots again through their
music. This is a journey of the spirit of our ancestors, The Acadians,
the Quebecois, the unique French speaking people of New Brunswick
and Northern Maine. More than a revival, this is the reinvention
of a culture almost lost to a new generation. The result is a
rythmically unstoppable, lyrically fantastic blend of Acadian
folk, Cajun swing, maritime ballads, crooked fiddle tunes and
foot-stomping French dance music. For their latest schedule, check
out their website.
Michèle Choinière
-
 Choinière
was born into a musical Franco-American family in Northern Vermont,
and from an early age performed traditional Franco-American music
with her father Fabio, an accomplished harmonica player. In 1995,
she began writing and composing her own songs and has performed
to audiences throughout New England, Quebec and France. Her lyrics
and music focus on nature, romance and social issues connected
to being Franco-American. She has been featured on TV5 International's
Visions d'Amerique, which was broadcast to francophone
nations worldwide, as well as on Vermont Public Television's Rural
Delivery and has recorded an archival family collection of
Franco-American music with her father.
Michele is now regularly playing with Montreal-based musicians
accordionist Sabin Jacques and pianist Rachel Aucoin (formerly
of Domino.) Their music is a blend of traditional Franco-American
and Quebec folk songs, original compositions by Michele, and covers
of well-known artists (e.g. Edith Piaf).
Douce
-
 Matthew
Doucet is a native of South Louisiana, born and raised in Lafayette
with strong roots in Cajun music and culture. After moving to Portland,
Maine in 2004, he began missing the music from home, so Matthew formed
Douce (French for "sweet").
Teaming up with distant cousin and Acadien-Maineiac singer Robert
Sylvain, Douce put together a top-notch rhythm section with local
veterans Haakon Kallweit on upright bass and Mark Cousins on drums,
with Brad Strause on guitar.
Through his fiddle and accordion, along with an enduring family legacy
of unsurpassed Cajun musicianship, Matthew brings the raw force of
the Cajun tradition to Douce. His influence and direction enables
Douce to deliver the genuine heart and soul of this powerful music
- from wrenching, poignant waltzes to rousing, irresistible stomps
and 2-steps.
-
Links
- Email - - Not available
- Website and schedule -
Donna Hébert
-
 Hébert,
a Franco-American fiddler, singer/songwriter from Amherst, Massachusetts,
teaches French fiddling workshops nationwide on Fiddling in the
Groove and performs and records with the Franco-American heritage
groups Chanterelle
and Groovemama.
Her song The Shuttle was featured on the 1999 Smithsonian/Folkways
anthology CD "Mademoiselle, voulez-vous danser?" She has
performed for over 1200 contradances.
Donna also teaches In
the Groove Workshops for fiddlers, dance musicians and string
teachers nationwide. Her collection of fiddle tunes, The Grumbling
Old Woman, used widely by dance musicians, features tunes and
dances from the New England dancing tradition. She is also the editor
of The
Muse of Joy and Sorrow, a website resource at with fine
art images, stories and poetry about fiddling
Lilianne Labbé
-
 Labbé,
a Franco American from Ellsworth, Maine, combines a rich repertoire
of traditional French, Cajun and French-Canadian songs (including
clogging, bones and spoons accompaniment) with a wry and winning
stage manner to captivate audiences of all ages. She has performed
for the AATF national convention, seventeen chapters of the Alliance
Française, Radio France, A Prairie Home Companion, the CBC,
Canadian Embassy, the French Consulate, and over 900 colleges and
schools in North America and Europe. Workshops focus on the language,
history and culture of the Franco-Americans, Québecois, and
Acadians, with hands-on demonstrations of clogging, bones and spoons.
Labbé has performed with singer/songwriter, guitarist Don
Hinkley for 25 years and recently with Donna Hébert, Tom
Hodgson, and Sylvain Rodrigue.
Michael Parent
-
 Michael
Parent grew up in a bilingual French-Canadian family full of singers
and storytellers in Lewiston, Maine. He has performed traditional
and original stories, in both English and French, for a wide range
of audiences from schools to libraries to theaters and festivals,
in the U.S. and beyond since 1977.
Susan Poulin
 Poulain,
a Franco-American actress from Berwick Maine, was recently selected
as one of Maine's 10 most intriguing peole by Portland Magazine. Poulin
is a Franco-American born in Jackman, ME where she lived until she
was eight years old. She grew up in Westbrook. She's a graduate of
the University of Southern Maine in Gorham where she studied drama.
Susan Poulin is a writer and performer whose original comedy has been
seen nationally. She was voted the 1996 Contemporary Story Champion
at the First Annual Yankee Yarns Contest in Keene, New Hampshire and
has twice been selected as a New Hampshire State Council on the Arts
Individual Artistic Fellowship Finalist. Susan has been a featured
performer in The Mirth Canal and The Mirth of Venus
parts of the Women's Performance Festival at the Institute of Contemporary
Art in Boston. Her essays can be heard monthly on New Hampshire Public
Radio.
Her newest autobiographical play, Franco-Fry
or Pardon My French, is receiving notice.
She wrote the play and the music with her husband Gordon Carlisle
and performs in it.
Don Roy
 Roy
is a Franco-American ace fiddler who, with pianist/step dancer Cindy
Roy and bassist Jay Young, perform throughout the Eastern States.
He has been called the dean of Franco-American fiddling in Maine.
Roy, who also plays guitar, mandolin and banjo, has been playing since
age 6. His uncle Norman Mathieu taught him how to play guitar, and
he then accompanied another uncle, Lucien Mathieu, who taught him
how to play fiddle at 15.
While growing up in Rockland, he was influenced by fiddlers such as
Ben Guillemette, Joe and Gerry Robichaud, and Graham Townsend. The
sounds of Quebec, Ireland, Ontario and the Maritime Provinces blend
in his style of playing.
Adèle St. Pierre
 St.
Pierre used to head up the group Jade with Jason Mancine and plays
regularly at Le Pape Georges in Quebec City. Along with Josh Anchors,
she received a Maine Arts Commission Apprentice Program grant this
year to work with Fred Legere to learn his harmonica repetoire and
to play the wooden dolls. She is very interested in traditional music
as well as writing her own songs in both French and English.
Lucie Therrien
 Therrien,
a native of Vermont and brought up in the province of Québec,
is a nationally & internationally acclaimed recording & video
performer, certified teacher, composer, linguist, filmaker, historian
& speaker. She has performed across the US, Quebec and France,
and has participated in cultural exchanges in No.Africa, Vietnam &
Martinique. As a widely published Franco-American artist, she has
to her credit numerous videos, recordings, a song book and two research
books.
Therrien has a variety of musical programs suitable for concerts halls,
universities, festivals, cultural events, schools, libraries, conferences,
government agencies, art galleries, soirées, & senior activities.
She delights audiences of all ages with a warm and lively rapport,
whether in an intimate setting, a large concert hall/auditorium, or
an outdoor festival.
Josée Vachon
 Vachon
was born in Quebec and raised in Maine. She debuted her career in
1980 while a student at the University of Maine in Orono, quickly
winning over audiences across New England, Canada and France. With
a warmth, charm and devotion to her language and heritage, Josée
shares traditional and popular French folk songs as well as originals
she composed to represent her Franco-American culture. She has 11
solo recordings, plus two more with the female trio, Chanterelle.
For 11 years she also hosted "Bonjour!", the most widely
seen French-language television program produced in the U.S., which
aired on Maine Public Television and various cable stations across
the U.S. and Canada.
Awards include the 1999 National Culture Through the Arts Award
from NY for her work in schools; the Key to the City of Woonsocket,
RI and proclamation by the mayor for her contributions to Franco-American
culture; and American Traditions Training and Touring Project, NEA
funded.
Va-et-Vient
- From 16th century French ballads to kickin' Cajun tunes to the driving
podorhythmie (foot rhythms) of Quebecois folk music this group's got
it all. The two songbirds up front are Suzanne Germain and
Carol Reed who will soooooth you with passionate French vocal
harmonies ( they don't call it a romance language for nothing ).
Bringing up the instrumentals are the boys; Michael Corn and
George Dunne filling up those musical spaces with some fine
guitar, mandolin, dobro, flute and diatonic accordions. They have
been on scene in New England for two years and are currently working
on their first CD with plans for a mid 07 release. They have a growing
fan club in their native Vermont which has also extended into Québec
since their Canadian debut performance last April.
- Links
- Email -
(Suzanne Germain)
- Website -
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Last updated:
July 26, 2014
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