The Confederation Centre’s 2007 Charlottetown Festival celebrates Acadian culture this summer with three high-energy shows, starting on July 11 with the Island Acadian group Les Girls.
Louise Arsenault and Helene Bergeron, former members of the retired troupe Barachois, team up with the all-female Acadian group Clack’Azing to transport audiences to an Island-style Acadian soiree in the Centre’s Studio Theatre, July 11 to 14 and August 22-25, at 7:30 p.m.
The seven members of Les Girls present a show featuring fiddling, percussive footwork and traditional songs. Arsenault, who plays fiddle, and Bergeron, who plays keyboard, are joined by Samantha Gallant, fiddle; Janelle Richard, guitar; Stephanie Collicutt, vocals and bass; Robyn Richard, piano and Paige Gallant, mandolin and fiddle.
All cousins, the five younger members have been playing together since they first took up music. One of the great grandmothers of the girls is Leah Maddix, renowned Acadian singer and songwriter featured on Acadian historian George Arsenault’s compilation of Acadian field recordings, Acadian Folk Music of Prince Edward Island. In fact, Les Girls performs one of Maddix’s songs during the show.
On Sunday, July 22, at 7:30 p.m., the Maritime group Ode à l’Acadie takes over the Mainstage Theatre with a French show that pays tribute to Acadian songwriters and music through theatre, cinema, music, poetry and dance. Islander Patricia Richard and New Brunswick natives François Émond, Nicolas Basque, Louise Vautour, Monique Poirier, Isabelle Thériault and Christian “Kit” Goguen play a wide array of instruments and sing a variety of songs, from old-time folk songs to the latest hits topping the Acadian music charts. They perform music by renowned musicians such as Angèle Arsenault, Eddy Arsenault, Marie-Jo Thério and Zachary Richard.
Produced by Festival acadien de Caraquet for the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Acadie in 2004, Ode à l'Acadie has played more than 200 times in New Brunswick, P.E.I., Quebec, Ontario, France, Switzerland and Burkina Faso, Africa.
Island Acadian singer and songwriter Angèle Arsenault perform her classic songs and new material in a rare onstage appearance on Sunday, August 12, in the Mainstage Theatre. A native of P.E.I.’s Evangéline area, Arsenault has released 15 albums, and is now recording two new albums, one in English and one in French.
Tickets for Les Girls are $20 per person, for Ode à l’Acadie $30 and for Arsenault’s concert $25. Tickets for all three shows are available at the Confederation Centre Box Office, by phone at 1-800-565-0278 and online at www.confederationcentre.com. The performance by Ode à l’Acadie is supported by Tourism PEI.
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