Mix of humor and music a delight
Greg Burliuk, The Kingston Whig-Standard, Kingston, Ontario, 30-Jun-98 Someone should have told Barachois. After all, this is 1998. We may not live in the big city but we are urbane. We're used to sophisticated technology. How dare these four Acadians from Prince Edward Island think they could entertain us with their feet, their fiddles and their humour? No synthesizers, no techno gadgets, not even an electric guitar? Also no boredom. Their concert last night at the Grand Theatre was one of the most entertaining and delightful I've been to in the last few years. Chief among the delights was it's unpredictability. Take the dancing, for instance. Yes, we've all seen stepdancing by now, but admit it, once you get past admiring the dexterity, doesn't it become a little tedious? Not with Barachois. Their red socks flashing, they danced while seated and playing their instruments. Fiddler Louise Arsenault dances and fiddles so fiercely it's a miracle she doesn't jump out of her clothes. When they dance standing up, the group executes a whole series of intricate moves that seem to incorporate square dancing and a few other styles. And when Albert Arsenault had a comic dance with an axe (including balancing it on his nose) he brought down the house... Not last amidst all this laughter and dancing was the music. Most of us have heard Cajun music and certainly Cape Breton fiddle tunes. Acadian is a brisk cousin of these. The accent is definitely on rhythm, however. There was the odd ballad sung but mostly the tunes were high energy and fast. As in Cape Breton music, the piano is mostly used as a rhythm instrument and it was amazing to watch Hélène Bergeron-Arsenault's hands fly over the keyboards. Chuck Arsenault has a beautiful, mellow voice when he's not clowning around. I've never seen anyone play the fiddle with as much joy as Louise Arsenault. And Albert Arsenault is a rhythm-master extraordinare. |