A marriage of Cajun and Metis French culture in St. Eustache

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This article was published 11/03/2010 (6058 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Performers from two distinctly different communities will join musical forces later this month as part of the Comite culturel Chemache’s ongoing efforts to grow French culture.

Hadley Castille, a Cajun fiddler from Louisiana, and Emile Lavellee, a Metis fiddler from St. Laurent, will be the featured performers at a March 18 concert that will take place at the St. Eustache Community Club.

Committee president Jeanne Bernardin said organizers are expecting a sellout crowd for the concert.

Bernardin said it was a real coup for the small St. Eustache-based organization to secure an artist of Castille’s calibre. Castille is well known among Manitoba francophones and has been performing at the Festival du Voyageur since 1980.

As a result of the interest in both Castille and Lavellee, the concert had to be shifted to the local community centre to accommodate a capacity crowd of 250 music lovers.

That’s a far cry from the turnout for last year’s concert, according to Bernardin.

“For our first concert I had prepared a meal for those that attended in May 2009 and we had one performer come in for 30 people,” Bernardin explained. “For this concert…I am expecting to have to turn people away.”

Castille said in a telephone interview from his home in Louisiana that he can’t wait to return to Manitoba. He said events like the concert in St. Eustache help francophone communities across North America build strong bounds with each other.

“I have a lot of friends up in there,” Castille said.

“Basically we are going to be bringing our culture over there (to St. Eustache) and trying to get some connections going to invite people to come to south Louisiana so we continue to exchange and grow our cultures.”

Castille, 77, said that culture helps bring together French communities that are divided by geographical barriers.
In addition to performing in St. Eustache, Castille will be conducting a workshop with local school children at the local school prior to hitting the stage and cooking an authentic Cajun meal for event organizers.

“We are going to inform them about the culture of the Cajuns down here in south Louisiana and how it came to be what it is,” he explained.

Bernardin said the pairing of Castille and Lavellee seemed like a musical match made in heaven.

“I thought the marriage of the Metis fiddle with the Cajun fiddle would be an excellent performance to bring to the community,” Bernardin explained.

The concert series was made possible by a grant from the Association Culturelle Franco-Manitobaine. The organization’s Art D’oeuvre program allows for francophone cultural organization, like Comite culturel Chemache, to apply for funding. Bernardin explained that the funding allows the committee to recoup half of the expenses from the performance.

Tickets for the concert are $20 and are available by calling 233-ALLO or by contacting Bernardin at 353-4277.

prescott.james@canstarnews.com