Festival a family affair for Campagne

St. Boniface

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This article was published 12/02/2025 (568 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Aline Campagne has a busy couple of weeks ahead, as the St. Boniface resident is preparing to appear at this year’s Festival du Voyageur in two capacities.

She’ll be part of the Terre Ferme WPG (la famille Campagne et amis) shows that will take place at Relais du Voyageur (Centre culturel franco-manitobain — 340 Provencher Blvd.) on Friday, Feb. 14 from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 15 from 1 to 4 p.m.

Campagne is also the choir director of Les Blés au vent, which will perform on Sunday, Feb. 23 from 3:45 to 4:15 p.m. at Tente Rivière Rouge Bell MTS (Voyageur Park).

For many years, the musical Campagne family held a show called FarmFest Terre Ferme in Willow Bunch, Sask., and the family has a long history with Festival du Voyageur.

“We’ll be offering a little taste of what was memorable about our little festival — the family vocals, the multi-generational aspect of it, and the family all together on stage,” Campagne said.

As Folle Avoine — which included Campagne and her siblings — “we played Festival many times in the early ’80s and have done special shows over the years, the last one just before the pandemic,” Campagne said, noting that members of her family also formed the groups Hart Rouge and La Légende de Calamity Jane.

“As Folle Avoine, we also performed at Folklorama and at universities and did the folk festival circuit, and we used to drag our sound system from one venue to another. We were a family group — consisting of six women and one man — and there were lots of vocal harmonies and energy. The music was upbeat.”

She said this year’s Festival shows will also have special significance because of the appearances of singer-songwriter Connie Kaldor, Campagne’s sister-in-law, and her nephew, Aleksi Campagne, as well as her niece Mia Gallant.

“It’s exciting. We have people coming in from Saskatchewan and Montreal, and we’ll have a few days rehearsing. So many years later, we’re all still singing and involved in music in different ways,” Campagne said.

Les Blés au vent is a longtime St. Boniface ensemble which marked its 50th anniversary last year with a concert at CCFM.

Campagne is looking forward to approximately 40 of its members performing on stage at Festival.

“For me, Festival is an important cultural event because it’s part of our community, front and centre, in a positive way. There’s lots of music, lots of celebration, and lots of joie de vivre,” Campagne said.

“It’s great that people still support the vision of the francophone community in Winnipeg.”

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