Bengal's Corner

Hello, everyone!

Just a quick reminder about the Sierra Fiddle Camp. Check the list of teachers and you will know why we have to be there... :)

Bengal.

Alasdair Fraser's Sierra Fiddle Camp in northern California invites you to a week of intensive study, recreation, and good times with people who share an interest in the music and dance traditions of Scotland and beyond. In 2007 camp will run from June 23rd to July 1.

Alasdair Fraser is recognized throughout the world as one of the finest fiddle players Scotland has ever produced; [his] name is synonymous with the vibrant cultural renaissance which is transforming the Scottish musical scene." —Scots Magazine

Pascal Gemme (Quebec) will be teaching at the Sierra Fiddle Camp! Since the completion of his degree in big-band arrangements and classical and jazz guitar, Pascal has been searching for seldom heard songs and melodies and interpreting his own compositions with a unique, unmistakable style. Inspired to take up the fiddle by the playing of his grandfather, he developed a solid technique and acquired a wide repertoire through the years. He has played with and has been inspired by many great Québécois singers and fiddlers. He gave some master classes in the USA in recent years and since 2003 has taught fiddle in a folk music school in Montreal (École des Arts de la Veillée). Pascal is also a great singer of Quebec folk songs with a rich and interesting style and repertoire, mostly learned from older singers. Pascal does most of the arrangements for Genticorum and was also the arranger/composer for the show Chantier by Zeugma, a Québécois-Celtic-World dance company. He’s also working as a producer for different musical projects and a studio musician for commercial radio and television

Also, Tony McManus will be there!! He is from Paisley, Scotland. In a relatively short time Tony’s music has come to define a new role for the guitar in Celtic music. He has come to represent Celtic music in the guitar world, making regular appearances at guitar specific events where just a few years ago jigs and reels would be unheard of. He is now invited annually to the Chet Atkins Festival in Nashville, has appeared at Guitar Festivals in Soave and Pescantina, Italy; Frankston, Australia; Issoudun, France; Kirkmichael, Scotland; Bath and Kent, England; Bochum and Osnabruck, Germany and has taught at five of Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamps in Maryville, Tennessee. He recently appeared at the famous Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in the “All Star Guitar Night” featuring Steve Morse, Bryan Sutton, Muriel Anderson, Béla Fleck and Victor Wooten and headlined by the legendary Les Paul. In addition to his critically aclaimed guitar albums, he has released a much-loved joint CD, "Return to Kintail", with Alasdair Fraser.


Alasdair Fraser's Sierra Fiddle Camp
Shady Creek, California
JuneE 23rd to July 1st 2007

Attentions: Currently Accepting Applications

Do you know a visual artist who immigrated to the Nashville area from another country? If so, we are asking you to help us reach out to let them know we want to include them in these two special visual arts events. Metro Parks is seeking visual arts exhibitors and vendors for the Celebration of Cultures festival, which will be held October 6-7, 2007 at Centennial Park.

Additionally, the Centennial Art Center will feature artwork by the Nashville-area immigrant community. The exhibit, titled Nashville Internationals, will run October 5-26, 2007 and will include an opening reception honoring the featured local artists. If you are an artist or know an artist who could benefit from these opportunities, please call (615) 862-8442. For more information, please visit the Celebration of Cultures website or email brenda.mcsurley@nashville.gov or for specific information on the Nashville Internationals exhibit, please email lena.lucas@nashville.gov.

Hello, everyone!

I know many of my BR friends already have their tickets. This will be a nice show to start the weekend! See you all there!

Bengal.

Friday, June 8, 2007, 7:30 p.m.- Laura Turner Concert Hall
Sergio Mendes, jazz piano

One of Brazil's greatest musical sons, Sergio Mendes began piano lessons as a child. He soon switched from classical to jazz in his youth, and music lovers everywhere are glad he did. A 1964 album by Sergio and his band Bossa Rio, arranged by the late great Tom Jobim, helped explode the worldwide interest in bossa nova that continues more than three decades later. Catch the planet's leading exponent of Brazil's signature sound.

Hello, everyone!

Check this opportunity. It will be so much fun! Write Beth in the email below and remember to remove the brackets of the electronic address... :)

You all have a great day!

Bengal.

*****************************************************************************

If you will be in the Greater Toronto area of Ontario, Canada, on June 17th, a fiddle workshop will be held with the wonderful Montreal fiddler Pascal Gemme.

Date: Sunday, June 17th
Time: 1-4 P.M.
Cost: $35.00
Venue: Claude Presbyterian Church
15175 Hurontario Street
Caledon, ON
(905) 838-3512 - (about 45 minutes northwest of Toronto)

Pascal's band Genticorum is playing the nearby Brampton Folk Festival on June 16th. He has learned tunes from many of the Québec fiddling legends and is simply one of the best teachers we all have the pleasure to learn from. At this workshop, Pascal will teach Québec tunes by ear. Participants will receive sheet music to take home. This workshop is suitable for intermediate or advanced fiddle players.

To reserve a spot, please send an email to Elizabeth at:
wjeg[at]3web.net.

Elizabeth.

Hello, everyone!

And thanks, Liz and Sue, for your review on the new Le Vent du Nord's show. I couldn't make it because I was involved in another project. Although, as my dear friend Pelletier, I believe it would take me a while to pass the absence of Benoit Bourque in the band. Meanwhile, I noticed that the "Maine Connection" (Liz and Sue) didn't comment the band's song list... Yes, Liz and Sue managed to get the band's song list for that show! It has the name of many new tunes that the eager fans might be very curious about, since the new album won't be in the market till next October (according to Olivier Demers).

For this reason, I'll complete the information shared adding the full list here... (I'll check the French grammar and accents as soon as I have access to my office's computer, so I'm sorry for any mistakes/typos right now)

Les Amants Du Saint-Laurant
Montmagny
Rosette
Heure Bleue
Cre Mardi
Vive L'amour
Vieux Cheval
Mariage
Moines
Larmes
Poilus
Traversée
Le Bon Buveur
Poirier
Piastres

Encore:

Au Bord de la Fontaine
De la Chambre a la Cuisine


You all have a great week ahead!
Bengal.

Le Vent du Nord (Brunet, Beaudry, Boulerice and Demers) with Norman - the gnome

Bangor, ME :- The North Wind blew in from Québec once more with a force to be reckoned with. Le Vent Du Nord was in form on the rainy night of May 18 in Ellsworth, ME. Full of renewed energy and dressed in the so well known Québécois style, Nicolas Boulerice, Olivier Demers, Simon Beaudry and Rejean Brunet presented a show that was anything but boring, to say the least.

Even before they hit the stage, the audience was in frenzy. They brought the band out to a packed house, cheering, clapping and stomping their feet, for the music of one of the best loved Canadian bands to hit this area in many years. Olivier, the band's fiddle player, was beckoning everyone down in front of the stage to dance and sing along while still in the third song of the night. It did not take much coaxing to gather the crowd of enthusiastic fans, young and old, dancing and clapping to the beat of the music.

Their opening song, Les amants du Saint-Laurent (Nicolas Boulerice), had a new sound with the addition of Brunet’s bass playing. A much deeper, cut to the soul sound than before. The repertoire was full of new tunes from their soon to be released 3rd album. A wonderful blend of old tradition and newly written songs, this album is surely to be a contender for the prestigious and highly coveted Juno! Mark our words: we will definitely see Le Vent du Nord in the running for this award in the coming year!

Among some of the new tunes, two stand out as becoming signature songs for the band. Heure Bleue is a beautiful song about the time between night and day when the sky is that deep shade of blue, just before the dawn. Beautiful and magical are the only two words that can be used to describe this song. Rosette is another that is sure to capture the hearts of all those who love the Québécois traditional music.

Keep an eye open for their new album coming soon, so you can all enjoy these and the many other wonderful tunes soon to be filling everyone’s head with wonder and enchantment!

Till the next time, mes amis!

Sue and Liz, the Maine Connection. :)