Cp 284
J0L1A0 Calixa-Lavallée, Québec
Canada

http://www.leventdunord.com

" A leading force in Quebec's progressive folk movement, and they leaven their hard-driving soulful music with New Orleans polyphony and R&B ", LATime

public contact

• phone: +1 450-909-0940
• fax: +1 450-909-0941
• eMail:

business contact

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participating in

• virtualWOMEX
• WOMEX 2011
• WOMEX 2012

company description

2012 Best Traditional Album & Best Ensemble nominee, Canadian Folk Music Awards (Canada, annnouncement nov. 17)
2012 Best Traditional Album nominee, ADISQ (Québec, announcement oct. 28)
2011 Womex Official Selection
Best Roots & Traditional Album, 2011 JUNO AWARDS

BIOGRAPHY:
Considered a driving force in progressive folk, Le Vent du Nord captures the energy and mirth of a Saturday night kitchen, infusing old Quebec with a breath of fresh, cosmopolitan air.

The group began by chance, when a fire alarm in 2002 brought musicians Nicolas Boulerice and Olivier Demers out of their practice rooms at music school. Boulerice noticed Demers, fiddle in hand, and asked him if he knew any old tunes. Demers, now a performer for Cirque de Soleil when not playing fiddle and foot-tapping with Le Vent du Nord, answered yes, and Le Vent du Nord was born.

In time, they joined up with Simon Beaudry, a multi-instrumentalist from one of Quebec's most musical villages, and accordionist Réjean Brunet, who hails from a musical family in a small town near the U.S. border. Together, the group has scoured archives, tracked down traditional performers, traced tunes to their sources, and written dozens of new songs faithful to the spirit of their roots.

With more than 1000 performances under their belts, Le Vent du Nord have become compelling Francophone ambassadors, winning critical acclaim and audience adoration across Europe and North America. The quartet delivers catchy songs and tunes taken from or inspired by the Quebec traditional folk repertoire while others are original compositions. The group has a rich and varied instrumentation, well-polished musical arrangements, and wonderful vocals.

In addition to their traditional repertoire, the group has exhibited great finesse and flexibility, appearing regularly on Canadian and French television and radio, and participating in a striking variety of special musical projects. They've collaborated and performed with The Chieftains, Harry Manx, Väsen, with the Quebecois roots legend and master storyteller Michel Faubert, with hip Scottish folk band Breabach, and with the trans-Mediterranean Ensemble Constantinople.

Le Vent du Nord's unexpected orchestral rendering of its repertoire, "Le Vent du Nord Symphonique," has been presented as part of two different concerts series with the Portland Symphony Orchestra and Québec Symphony Orchestra and garnered rave reviews.


Not content with standard approaches to tradition, Le Vent du Nord have also created a symphonic concert, presented by the respected Portland Symphony Orchestra and Québec Symphony Orchestra, that "puts all traditional folk naysayers to shame" (Voir Montreal). This concert will be presented again with The Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra in April 2013.

Having given the La Part du Feu concert 250 times in North America, Europe, South America, and Scandinavia, Le Vent du Nord presents a new show with the songs of Tromper le temps (Fooling Time), its 7th album (released in 2012). Made up of 4 singers and multi-instrumentalists, Le Vent du Nord returns to its roots, drawing from yesterday and today to give us a glimpse the hopes of possible tomorrows. Through songs meant to resist the march of time, the Tromper le temps concert evokes often forgotten episodes of Québec's history with provocative texts and poetic descriptions destined to endure throughout the ages. A way to fool time…while there is still time! It is a concert that stirs emotions and touches the heart and soul.

2012 QUOTES:
SONGLINES MAGAZINE:
Top of the World choice & #1 on the reader's favourite chart (sept. issue 2012 #87)
"Having released seven records during their ten years together, Le Vent du Nord are clearly not short of inspiration. The Québec quartet's infectious take on French-Canadian roots music has brought them worldwide attention and Tromper le Temps finds them riding the crest of a wave". Tim Woodwall

WORLD MUSIC NETWORK
"Le Vent du Nord have become the leading exponents of Quebec's culture." http://ow.ly/bxxSR

CANADA:
PENGUIN EGGS
They continue to exhibit the vitality and freshness that was so characteristic of their early days. Ten years in and Tromper le temps rocks and reels with the best of them... deep well of québécois memory, impeccably played and recorded, with unmistakeable soul and spirit.

ESPACE MUSIQUE / CBC RADIO (Canada):
Just between us, may we say that Le Vent du Nord is THE best traditional Francophone band in this country? Plaisirs Therrien, (Homerun radio show)

LE DEVOIR
"After the symphonic album, the quartet returns with an intimate conclusion to a decade of consistency and cohesion (...). Over the last three years, the guys at Vent have become more incisive and, for this seventh album, have taken it one step further, in a grittier and wilder, but also more sophisticated, direction. In its contrasts, this album beautifully embodies the classic traditional music of the 2010s." Yves Bernard

LA PRESSE
"This album is another achievement from a high-quality traditional quartet (...) a cohesive playing style, a powerful groove, an almost rock attitude, the clarity of the voices, the accuracy of the instruments, the strength of the proposals, the realization of form. Surely among the elite of North American traditional Francophone bands" Alain Brunet

USA, Australia & NZ
Street release: FALL 2012