Carnegie Hall

Le Vent du Nord & De Temps Antan—two of Quebec’s most acclaimed traditional bands—have formed a supergroup, which has presented its festive folk and trad shows since 2016 throughout Quebec, the US, France, and Switzerland, and at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. In February 2018, the group received an Opus Award for Concert of the Year (World Music) from the Conseil québécois de la musique, and in November 2018 released a recording that earned a Félix Award from ADISQ (Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle, et de la video) for Traditional Album of the Year. The supergroup includes two sets of brothers who once performed as a duo: Éric Beaudry (of De Temps Antan) and Simon Beaudry (of Le Vent du Nord), and André Brunet (a former member of De Temps Antan, as well as La Bottine Souriante and Celtic Fiddle Festival) and Réjean Brunet, both currently of Le Vent du Nord.

The award-winning Le Vent du Nord (The North Wind) is a leading force in Quebec’s progressive francophone folk movement and a key group in the renaissance of Quebec’s traditional music. The group’s vast repertoire draws from both traditional sources and original compositions, while enhancing its hard-driving soulful music (rooted in the Celtic diaspora) with a broad range of global influences. Since its inception in August 2002, Le Vent du Nord has enjoyed meteoric success, performing more than 2,000 concerts on four continents and receiving several prestigious honors, including a Grand Prix du Disque Charles Cros, two JUNO Awards, an ADISQ Félix Award, a Canadian Folk Music Award, and Artist of the Year at the North American Folk Alliance Annual Gala. The group has appeared regularly on Canadian, American, French, and UK television and radio; played recently at such major festivals as Celtic Connections, WOMAD Chile, WOMADelaide, and WOMAD New Zealand; and collaborated and performed with a diverse range of artists, including Väsen, Dervish, The Chieftains, Breton musical pioneer Yann-Fañch Kemener, Québécois roots legend Michel Faubert, singer Julie Fowlis, and the trans-Mediterranean ensemble Constantinople. Le Vent du Nord also created a concert that bridged symphonic and Quebec traditional music. In 2018, the band—Nicolas Boulerice, Simon Beaudry, Olivier Demers, and Réjean Brunet—became a quintet when André Brunet joined the ensemble.

De Temps Antan (Of Olden Times) is regarded as the most powerful trad trio in Quebec. Its members—Éric Beaudry, David Boulanger, and Pierre-Luc Dupuis—have been brilliantly and skillfully exploring and renewing the Quebec traditional repertoire since 2003. Using fiddle, accordion, harmonica, guitar, bouzouki, and a number of other instruments, these three virtuosos blend boundless energy with the unmistakable joie de vivre found in traditional Quebec music. Their sets include ancient songs, new tunes, uncontrollable fits of laughter, dusted-down verses, and the occasional unplanned side trip. De Temps Antan has five albums to its credit—including Ce monde ici-bas, which earned an ADISQ Félix Award for Traditional Album of the Year (2014)—and has toured North America and Europe. All three musicians have been members of various Québécois groups, including the iconic La Bottine Souriante.