High energy, exceptional music with a good variety and delivered with wit – what more could folk fans want?
Le Vent du Nord
at The Haymarket, Basingstoke
on Friday, November 15
Review by STEPHEN OTTNER
THE first challenge in getting to see Le Vent du Nord, at the Haymarket, was breaking free from the clogged-up, queuing traffic in Newbury.
The second challenge was finding somewhere to park in Basingstoke. Fortunately, in the fifth car park we spotted a car moving out. Turns out it was Christmas lights switch on. Fortunately, we got to the Haymarket just in time for the start with the lights dimmed and the sound of the north wind blowing.
Five figures made their way on to the stage in darkness and they burst into a set of reels that set the tone for the rest of the evening.
Le Vent du Nord are a multi-award winning five-piece band who have brought their traditional inspired music from Quebec across four continents since 2002. They have built a strong UK following over the years as was obvious from full house for the last night of their short (eight gigs) UK tour. From the small sample that this reviewer spoke to, some audience members travelled from far afield.
The distinctive feature of the Québécois music is the driving rhythmic foot percussion delivered from a seated position.
Both fiddlers in the band are also masters of this skill and the evening’s performance included a call and response duel between them with much encouragement from the audience. The remaining three members of the band provided different combination of instruments – guitars, bouzouki, piano, hurdy gurdy, jews harp, bass, melodeon, mandolin.
Not only are all members of the band superb instrumentalists, but they all sing. Their vocal abilities were demonstrated in an a capella song with four members of the band clustered together, swaying in unison, providing a backing for the soloist delivered with great humour.
High energy, exceptional music with a good variety and delivered with wit, humour and audience engagement – what more could one want?
During the penultimate song the entire audience were on their feet and stayed there for the “final” song – unsurprisingly the audience demanded an encore. A possible disappointment for some of the audience was the band had sold out of their merchandise at previous gigs. Despite the lack of the retail opportunity the band still appeared to chat to members of the departing audience.
