Vishtèn at the 25th annual Festival du Bois, Feb. 28-March 2. Vishtèn take the stage three times during the festival at Coquitlam's Mackin Park, Saturday at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 11:45 a.m. Tickets: $5-$50. festivaldubois.ca
It's a pleasing cultural exchange.
For more than a decade, Prince Edward Island-born Emmanuelle LeBlanc, a founding member of Acadian, celtic and folk music trio Vishtèn, has had the opportunity to play countless stages across Canada and beyond, given an opportunity to engage with audiences and share the music she grew up with.
"It's something that we all heard when we were kids and we all played and we just have a genuine connection and love for the music," she says, reached Tuesday from her hometown of Mont-Carmel, a primarily francophone community in the Evangeline area of southwestern P.E.I.
"It's kind of cool to play it and dig up these old songs that nobody's heard for a long time and play them and people are like, 'Wow, that's an old Acadian song? I had no idea.' There are loads of treasures that we still find today. It's passionate work, and at the same time, we allow ourselves to just be inspired by all the old airs and compose some new music. That's really our process and it just kind of happens naturally."
This week, Emmanuelle and the rest of her band, twin sister Pastelle LeBlanc and Pascal Miousse, a Magdalen Islands native - both of whom also currently reside in Mont-Carmel - are embarking on a five-week tour, starting tonight with a show in Leavenworth, Wash., and then three performances Saturday and Sunday as part of the 25th annual Festival du Bois, billed as the largest francophone festival on Canada's West Coast.
The festival kicks off tonight with a performance by Alexis Normand at Place des Artes, and runs through Sunday at Coquitlam's Mackin Park. The family-friendly festival is intended to highlight the French-Canadian pioneer and logging heritage of Maillardville, a Coquitlam community, and brings together a host of Québécois, francophone, celtic, folk, world and roots music artists. In addition to Vishtèn, this year's lineup includes the Yves Lambert Trio, De Temps Antan, North Shore Celtic Ensemble, Bon Débarras, Matuto and Alouest.
Vishtèn last played Festival du Bois more than a decade ago, just after Emmanuelle and Pastelle launched the band in 2000, at that time with a slightly different lineup.
"We're really looking forward to it. We had a great time last time," says Emmanuelle. "We've heard from musician friends that have been in the last years how it's just a great festival."
In addition to performing the new material they've been working on and hope to record in the coming year, Vishtèn will play songs from their last album, 2012's Mosaik.
"We decided for this album that, because we do traditional Acadian music mostly and traditional songs and things like that, we wanted, for Mosaik, to compose all of the music
for the album, so that was kind of a challenge to write every piece. Although, all of the songs are traditional text still," says Emmanuelle.
They recorded Mosaik with a producer from Quebec, Éloi Painchaud, and used different instrumentation than on their previous records, playing around with harmonium sounds, moog and electric guitar.
"It was a little more experimental and in a more contemporary direction than any of the other albums were. It turned out great, we're really happy with it. It just created a really nice sound," says Emmanuelle.
Following their West Coast dates, Vishtèn will head overseas for a string of performances in Germany, their first time playing in that country, representing yet another opportunity to share their passion.
