Acadian musicians teem with life in 'best' show
Gail Sjuberg, Gulf Islands Driftwood, , 13-May-98 When Albert Arsenault opened last Wednesday's Barachois concert by playing Oh Canada on a hand saw, it was a mildly provoking hint of what would follow. A slight tease, like the still-curled maple leaves of early April. From there an Acadian season burst apart and we were thrown reels which seized our bodies, crazy antics such as the first Salt Spring drum co-op, live lessons in Acadian history and culture, mesmerising music, vocals and stepdancing, ample audience participation, all tied together with stand-up comedy. There was simply nothing missing from this evening. I know I'm not the only one there to feel Barachois was the best musical show I've seen in years. No exaggeration! It would take some heavy memory mining to come up with something better. I went to the concert not planning to write about it, but as Barachois members are compelled to express their Prince Edward Island Acadian culture, I have to bellow from these pages about the experience. One of the first things I noticed was that these four people - Albert, Louise, and Chuck Arsenault (apparently not directly related) and Hélène Bergeron (Albert's sister) - genuinely appeared to be having the time of their life as they played a closet full of musical instruments, sang, danced, donned goofy costumes and joked with us and each other. Their joy and silliness was instantly infectious. I haven't laughed so much in public in a long time, nor been so completely entranced by a performance. That's even without understanding about 90 per cent of the lyrics, although the gist of the song was always revealed beforehand by one of the band members... I'm glad to note the Activity Centre was packed. But if Barachois was to return next week, there wouldn't be a big enough place for the event, because everyone in the last week's audience would be hauling everyone they know to the next show. |