The Lethbridge Folk Club is bringing in a taste of French Canadian culture to the Lethbridge College Cave, May 14 as they host Northern B.C. based duo Vazzy.
They were supposed to perform last year, but the show was cancelled due to slow ticket sales.
“It was different last year. It was in June and there were a lot of events happening. It was St. Jean Baptiste Day. May will be better,” said Suzanne Leclerc, who plays an array of percussion instruments including foot-percussion, harmonica, jawsharp, bodhran, doumbek and spoons. Her partner Bryn Wilkin plays a variety of string instruments including fiddle, tenor banjo, multi-oud plus bagpipes.
“So that brings variety to the set,” she said.
“A few people who bought tickets for the last show were disappointed we didn’t play, so we’re coming back,” she said, noting they are also doing a private dance workshop at De Cite Des Prairies on Friday, May 13 in addition to the Folk Club show.
They do quite a few dance workshops.
“We play traditional cultural French Canadian music. The concert will be more intimate. We play a lot more different instruments and we explain our songs. We play songs from medieval to contemporary music,” she said, adding French Canadian music and dance are closely related to traditional Scottish and Irish music and dance.
They will be playing a lot of music from their most recent CD “En Passant By The Way,” which was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award for best Francophone CD of the year.
“A lot of the pieces we play will be from that album,” she said, adding the duo are pleased with the reception the CD received.
“It’s a mixture of contemporary compositions and traditional tunes,” she said.
“We’ve researched our songs so they don’t appear on anybody else’s album. So we put our own twist on traditional arrangements,” she said.
She grew up listening to her family singing traditional French Canadian and Metis music and was immediately taken by percussion.
“ I learned foot percussion first. It was a lot of fun. I was really fortunate to grow up in a French Canadian household,” she said, adding her dad used to sing traditional music while she was growing up.
‘Metis music is really closely connected to French Canadian music. The voyageurs used to bring fiddles along on their expeditions,” she said.
“ And Bryn has a passion for many different types of music, so he can play everything from traditional music to middle eastern music, she said.
Vazzy and opening act George Fowler play the Lethbridge College Cave at 8 p.m., May 14. Tickets cost $25 for Lethbridge Folk Club members, $30 for invited guests.
