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Steeve Poirier is a self-taught fiddler from Havre aux Maisons on Iles de la Madelaine. He is representative of the new generation of Madelinot fiddlers and has recorded two albums with his group Rebels, as well as a solo CD Chemin des Sources.
Steeve and Emy Poirier. Photo by Maude G Jomphe, from the book Têtes de violon : 64 violoneux des îles de la Madeleine.
Felix Leblanc is the fiddler for the Madelinot group Suroît, replacing Bertrand Désraspe who had formed the original group in 1977 with buddies Alcide Painchaud and Pierrot Déraspe. You can visit his Facebook page for photos and news: https://www.facebook.com/felix.leblanc.790?fref=ts
A native of the Magdalen Islands, Mathieu Gallant is equally at home playing Madelinot as well as Québécois tunes. He started learning fiddle at 4. He also learned to play saxophone and joined a Reggae band for travels to Québec, Western Canada and Central America. He moved to Montreal a few years ago to devote himself to learning crooked fiddle tunes and also taught at the PEI Fiddle Camp in 2012. He has a Facebook page - check it out: https://www.facebook.com/mathieu.gallant2?fref=ts
Joseph Athanase Larade was a fiddler, singer and brawler from Chéticamp Nova Scotia. He had a unique style of singing while playing the fiddle and was a contemporary of Placide Odo, also from Chéticamp. There are several recordings available of his playing at the Centre D'études Acadiennes Anselme Chisasson at the University of Moncton, as well as a cassette that is sold through the cultural center of Les Trois Pignons in Chéticamp.
Photo of a young Joseph Larade playing for a dance
There are more songs and tunes with sheet music and words by Joseph Larade at the Beaton Institute.
Alcide Aucoin was from Chéticamp and when not playing fiddle he worked as an electric welder. He moved south to Boston to find work and joined forces with Alex Gillis from Margaree to form the Inverness Serenaders and together they made some of the earliest recordings of Cape Breton music for Decca records. They also had a radio show on WYFX in Boston.
Marie Livingstone is an Acadian fiddler from PEI, sister of fiddler Edward Arsenault and married to Orrin Livingstone (that's her sitting second from the left). In addition to being a great fiddler, she is also a prolific composer of tunes, many of which are featured in Les Faiseux de Tounes an Acadian fiddle tune book with 148 new tunes, plus photos and biographies of the 34 composers.
Here's a recording of Marie Livingstone playing her composition, Eddy and Amand reel at a slow teaching speed.
Marie Livingstone's Hermine Gallant reel is also played by Pascal Miousse with Vishtèn. See post on Pascale for his version.
Rosalie "Rosée" Léger was a well-known and much loved fiddler from south east New Brunswick. She live to the ripe old age of 101 and was playing fiddle well into her 90's. She was part of a group of television series called "Pistrolli" and "Star d'un Soir" . She also made a cassette of her music and won several trophies.
Photo of Camille Thébeau from Fiddling in New Brunswick by Gary Copeland
Camille Thébeau is a well known fiddler from Rogersville in Kent County New Brunswick. He organized many bluegrass festivals, fiddle contests, and antique car rallies around "Little Nashville" in Rogersville. He was born in a family of 16 children and was a self-taught fiddler. One of his favorite fiddlers was Eddie Arsenault, as well as Eddy Poirier. He owned an antique museum as well as running the Ultramar Service Station. He also collected fiddles as well as the many awards and trophies that he won. His children are carrying on the tradition of dancing and fiddling.
Dicography:
"Camille Thébeau and Friends" Vol.2 Recorded live at "Little Nashville" in Rogersville, Cassette 74 (1988)
"Camille Thébeau & Friends" Cassette WRCA-6332, Recorded by CMS Studio, Moncton N.B. HUED Productions (1989)
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."
