Quebecois | Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada
The award-winning and highly acclaimed band Le Vent du Nord are a leading force in Québec’s exciting and progressive Francophone folk movement. The group’s vast repertoire draws from both traditional sources and original compositions, while their highly rhythmic and soulful music, rooted in the Celtic diaspora, is enhanced with a broad range of global influences.
Since first launching in August 2002, Le Vent du Nord have enjoyed meteoric success, performing well over 2,200 concerts over 4 continents, released 12 albums and racking up several prestigious awards, including a Songlines Music Awards – Americas (2023) a Grand Prix du Disque Charles Cros, two Junos (Canada’s Grammys), three Félix (Quebec), an OPUS (Quebec) a Canadian Folk Music Award, and “Artist of the Year” at Folk Alliance Annual Gala.
The group regularly appear on Canadian, American, French, and UK television and radio and have participated in a wide variety of special musical projects that exhibit their great finesse and flexibility. They’ve collaborated and performed with a diverse range of artists including: Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis, Harry Manx, Väsen (SE), Dervish, The Chieftains, Breton musical pioneer Yann-Fañch Kemener, Québécois roots legend and master storyteller Michel Faubert, the Scottish folk band Breabach, and the trans-Mediterranean ensemble Constantinople. Not to mention all traditional Quebec bands they invite on stage on their annual La Veillée de l’avant-Veille (music & dance party downtown Montreal).
Le Vent du Nord look beyond the standard approaches to tradition in their collaborations and they’ve also created a symphonic concert that, according to Voir Montreal, “puts all traditional folk naysayers to shame.”
On stage these five friends [Nicolas Boulerice, André Brunet, Réjean Brunet, Olivier Demers, and André Gagné replacing Simon Beaudry in march 2024] create intense, joyful and dynamic live performances that expand the bounds of tradition in striking global directions. This is the modern sound of tradition, a music of the here and now.