Stéphane Boudreau

Our search for Stéphane Boudreau started with a video of a Madelinot fiddler playing a great tune for the Mi-Carême celebration. Unfortunately, all the musicians wore masks and we had no idea who was playing the tune. Then we found another video where the same group of musicians were sitting in costume but without the masks. We send a copy of this video to our good friend Bertrand Déraspe and he told us that the fiddler in the video was Stéphane Boudreau, who had been one of his students and was his second cousin. The tune he was playing was Reel du Pic Dûre and Bertrand had taught it to him. The videos were made by Micheline Cyr, who made a whole series of YouTube video of the Mi-Carême celebrations of the Magdalen Islands. To view the videos, click on the links below:

Masked Musicians

Unmasked Musicians

On a trouvé le violoneux Stéphane Boudreau grâce à une vidéo des célébrations de la Mi-Carême aux Îles-de-la-Madeleine. On a demandé à notre ami Bertrand Déraspe s'il connaissait le violoneux et il nous a répondu que c'était Stéphane Boudreau, son petit cousin et un de ses anciens élèves. Le morceau qu'il joue s'appelle "le reel du Pic dûre".

Raymond Brideau

Roland Robichaud

Jam Pointe A Tom N.B: David Greely, Roland Robichaud, Gilles Losier, Sébastien Leblanc fiddles and Charlie Roby guitar. 

Daniel LeBlanc

Daniel Leblanc from Saulnierville Nova Scotia  plays fiddle, guitar and does vocals for the band Grand Dérangement. He started playing fiddle at 18 years of age and helped to form the band in 1998 after his solo album "Le Djable dans l'corps". Daniel Leblanc est de Saulnierville en Nouvelle Écosse et joue du violon, de la guitare, et chante avec le groupe Grand Dérangement. Il commença a jouer du violon à l'age de dix-huit ans et aida à former le groupe en 1998 après la sortie de son album solo "Le Djable dans l'corps.

Guy-Paul Larocque

Guy-Paul Larocque from Lamèque, New Brunswick, winner of the Maritime Old Time Fiddle contest in Dartmouth in 1993. Then 21 years later his wins the same contest again in the age 19 to 59 division! 

 See both videos below:

Corporal Guy-Paul Larocque at the studios of Radio Canada 

Amazing interview with Corporal Guy-Paul Larocque of the Gendarmerie Royale du Canada at Radio Canada (RCMP-Royal Canadian Mounted Police) following the deaths of three of his colleagues during a shooting in Moncton. At the regimental funeral, he played three fiddle pieces including one of his own compositions. Click on the link below to hear the interview (in French). At the beginning of the interview, he plays Ashoken Farewell and at the end Amazing Grace.

La Touche Particulière du Caporal Guy-Paul Larocque

Kenneth Saulnier

Kenneth Saulnier comes from Saulnierville, Nova Scotia. He first started to play mandolin, then guitar, banjo, then fiddle. As a fiddler, he has performed with the group 1775, Beausoleil Broussard, the duo Kenneth and Johnny. In 1992 he joined Suroît and toured for the next 8 years. He started his solo career in 2001. For more info on Kenneth, check out his great website at: http://kennethsaulnier.com/en.html

Johnny Comeau

Johnny Comeau has played fiddle for Les Méchants Maquereaux as well as being the fiddler for Cayouche. 

Donna Hébert

Franco American fiddler Donna Hébert traces her roots back to France, Québec and Acadia. Cited by Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick for outstanding artistic achievement, she performs with five bands, teaches fiddle at Smith and Amherst College and leads Fiddling Demystified workshops for schools, universities, conferences, and ASTA chapters. For more information on Donna as well as sources for her many recordings, check out her Website and her Facebook page.

Anastasia DesRoches

Anastasia DesRoches grew up in an Acadian family and started off as a dancer which led to fiddling which she took up at age 15. She started off playing the Scottish style, taking lessons from Kim Vincent and after taking studying music theory at a university she started transcribing tunes "for fun". Lucky for us, she decided to start collecting tunes from PEI fiddlers which let to a collection of field recordings now available at the Acadian museum in Miscouche as well as a tune book of her transcriptions of compositions from Acadian fiddlers. The book is called "Les Faiseux de Tounes - the Tunesmiths" and is available through the Fédération Culturelle de l'Île du Prince Edouard". It includes 300 compositions as well as biographies of the fiddlers and stories. The book as well as other transcriptions is available through her website at: http://anastasiadesroches.com 

Anastasia has been highly active in fiddling on Prince Edward Island and she was one of the fiddlers, along with Louise Arsenault on Eddy Arsenault's recording

Anastasia has been highly active in fiddling on Prince Edward Island and she was one of the fiddlers, along with Louise Arsenault on Eddy Arsenault's famous recording Party Acadien

Don Roy

Don Roy who is from Franco American roots is considered today one of the leading exponents of the Down East and New England style of fiddling, combining Québécois, Acadian, and Cape Breton styles as well as Bluegrass, Old Time, and Swing. His grandparent were from Québec and his wife, Cindy LaBrecque comes from Acadian roots. Don has won numerous championships, including the Massachusetts State Championship and the Maine State Championship and this multiple times. He manages a band, the Maine French Fiddlers, and is an instructor at the Maine Fiddle Camp, teaches privately and was invited to teach at the Port Townsend Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in 2013. For more information on Don Roy, check out his website at: http://donroyonline.com

Here's another great video from Adrienne Miller called Fiddle-icious-Community of Music that tells Don Roy's story quite beautifully:  https://vimeo.com/8240140