Quebec’s Le Vent du Nord Blows Into Farmington

Location: Old South Church—First Congregational Church of Farmington

Address: 235 Main Street, Farmington, ME 04938

Date: 12 May

Quebec’s award winning and highly acclaimed five-piece band, Le Vent du Nord will be performing at Old South Church Concert Series on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13. The doors will open at 6:15pm. The evening’s performance will begin at 7pm. Due to the high demand for this amazing it is highly recommended that tickets be purchased online through the Eventbrite link or reserved by calling 207-491-5919. Tickets will be available as walk-ins at the door as space allows. General admission adult tickets purchased online or paid in advance $28, general admission walk-ins at the door $33. Online Seniors (65+) and Students tickets (12 yo+, current college id required) $20, Senior/Student walk-ins $25. All ticket sales are final. No refunds will be issued.

This French-speaking band is considered a leading force in Quebec’s progressive francophone folk movement. The band’s deep repertoire draws from both traditional sources and original compositions, while enhancing it’s hard-driving soulful music founded in the Celtic migration with an extensive range of global influences.

Since first launching in August 2002, Le Vent du Nord have enjoyed meteoric success, performing well over 2,200 concerts over 4 continents, released 12 albums and racking up several prestigious awards, including a Songlines Music Awards – Americas (2023) that reinforces the place of Le Vent du Nord as a leader in traditional music and songs from Quebec, a Grand Prix du Disque Charles Cros, two Junos (Canada’s Grammys), three Félix (Quebec), an OPUS (Quebec) a Canadian Folk Music Award, and “Artist of the Year” at Folk Alliance Annual Gala.

The group exhibits its great finesse and flexibility, appearing regularly on Canadian, American, French, and UK television and radio, and participating in a wide variety of special umusical projects. They’ve collaborated and performed with a diverse range of artists including: Harry Manx, Vasen, Dervish, The Chieftans, Breton musical pioneer Yann-Fanch Kemener, Quebecois roots legend and master storyteller Michael Faubert, the Scottish band Breabach, singer Julie Fowlis, and the trans-Mediterranen ensemble Constantiople.

Not content with standard approaches to tradition, Le Vent du Nord has also created a symphonic concert that, according to Voir Montreal, “puts all traditional folk naysayers to shame.”

On stage these five friends [Nicolas Boulerice, André Brunet, Réjean Brunet, Olivier Demers, and André Gagné replacing Simon Beaudry in March 2024] create intense, joyful and dynamic live performances that expand the bounds of tradition in striking global directions. This is the modern sound of tradition, a music of the here and now.

“…featuring button accordion, guitar, fiddle, the band’s sound is defined by the hurdy-gurdy, which adds an earthy, rough-hewn flavor to even the most buoyant dance tunes.” Boston Herald

“20 years is a longtime in any career, but Le Vent du Nord is still blowing up a storm. Sail on!” Alex Monagham, FOLKWORLD (UK) March 2022

“The band ran through all the faucets of their show-the foot stomp, hurdy-gurdy, Jew’s harp, call and response singing, powerful massed choruses and great Celtic-based instruments with twin fiddles. Add the guests to this heady list and you start to guess at the excitement level they generate! Plus they are great showmen to boot!” Fergal Wood, Irish Magazine-April 2023

“With their track record, energy and vision, the boys have at least another 20 years in them. And God knows Quebec will give them the space” World Listenning Post 343-April 2022 (NYC)

(…)”all bangers from French speaking Canada’s finest. Whether traditional or original, the music is deftly played with crisp call-and-return response vocals and warm-bath harmonies. (…) Li Robbins, Songlines Music (UK) -April 2023

FMI and official band videos visit www.leventdunord.com