High Energy French Canadian Folk Music Ensemble Mauvais Sort To Tour Ohio
by Stephanie Dawson
Exceptional folk music needs no translation, as evidenced by Mauvais Sort’s international popularity. Translated roughly to “Bad spell,” Mauvais Sort hails from the city of Québec and plays an eclectic mix of folk, rock and pop music—a combination they like to call Folk ‘n’ Roll!
Mauvais Sort will perform five shows and participate in numerous outreach activities from November 12 - 23, 2010, as part of the Ohio Arts Council’s International Music and Performing Arts in Communities Tour (IMPACT). Performances will take place in Wapakoneta, Columbus, Wilmington, Cambridge and East Liverpool. All performances are free and open to the public.
Mauvais Sort offers a tantalizing taste of world-beat rhythms through the exhilarating sounds of an accordion, violin, guitar, bass, mandolin, drums, percussion and male and female voices. Experience the future of Québec folk music as Mauvais Sort founder Nicolas Geoffroy sings, dances, plays the guitar and mandolin and uses his feet to drum on a stomp box. You will be awed by the jaw-dropping finger work of Stéphanie Richard on the accordion; Patrick Giroux’s lightning fast fretwork on the fiddle; Guillaume Côté’s mastery of both pop and rock drumming; and David Gagné’s jazz bass skills.
The fall IMPACT tour will feature educational outreach programs in each community in libraries, schools, coffee houses, senior centers, etc., in addition to the performances. For more information visit the Ohio Arts Council’s website at www.oac.ohio.gov, call 614/728-4427 or e-mail Kathy Cain. IMPACT is a program of the Ohio Arts Council (OAC) and is supported by the Performing Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts with additional contributions from the General Mills Foundation and the Land O’Lakes Foundation.
Since 1998, IMPACT has been bringing international artists to Ohio each fall for a statewide tour of non-traditional venues, including places of worship. The fall IMPACT tour exposes new audiences to art forms from around the world through performances and festivals that unite communities around the state. IMPACT is designed to bring the best international performing arts groups to audiences in Ohio.
The OAC began the program in 1998 with the presentation of Barocco Andino, a Chilean music ensemble. In following years, the OAC brought international artists, such as Ragamala Music and Dance Theatre, Viva Quetzal, Cuerdas de Fuego, Real Tango, Eblen Macari Trio, El Arranque Tango Orchestra and Andes Manta to Ohio for a statewide tour of churches and synagogues. In 2004, the OAC initiated the summer IMPACT tour with performances of Kahurangi Maori Dance Theatre at festivals and other venues throughout the state and continued with America Indigena in 2005; Spoken Hand Percussion Orchestra in 2006; Barynya Russian Music and Dance Ensemble in 2007; Mamadou Diabate Ensemble in 2008; and Sones de Mexico in 2009. For the fall tour, the OAC will partner with statewide service organization Ohio Alliance for Arts Education.
About the Ohio Arts Council:
The Ohio Arts Council is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally and economically.
Click here for a listing of the full itinerary.
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