French Canada (Quebec and Acadia) has a tradition of fiddle and accordion tunes (reels, jigs, marches, waltzes, and more) as driving as Irish and Scottish fiddle music, and as diverse and crooked as those of southern old time fiddle music. All instruments are welcome.
To receive announcements about the monthly East Bay jam and other events such as concerts by visiting Quebecois musicians, join the QueTradSF mail group at https://groups.io/g/quetradSF/
David Brown plays fiddle, mandolin and the one-row button accordion popular in Quebec (the same instrument as the Cajun accordion, but played in an entirely different manner). He fell in love with Québecois music after meeting Lisa Ornstein and members of La Bottine Souriante in the early 1980s, and was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet some of the older generation of musicians such as André Alain, Aimé Gagnon, and Jean-Marie Verret at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend WA. He also plays oldtime music and five string banjo, and assists in the organization of the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention and other local oldtime events.
Kerry Parker, born in Ontario, Canada, raised in Michigan — on Motown, the Beatles, Up With People and protest songs — has been exploring the fiddle for over 50 years and landed in love early in this century with the province of Quebec when alerted to its twisty tunes via the partially local group Les Têtes de Violon’s first CD “Airs Tordus”. She and Tony can be also heard playing fiddle tunes irregularly with The Probabillies.
Tony Phillips plays fiddle and mandolin — and octave mandolin, mandolin-banjo, electric mandolin, guitar, and whatever other stringed instruments he can buy, borrow, or steal. Like Kerry, he became entranced by French Canadian tunes after hearing the “Airs Tordus (Crooked Tunes)” CDs, and is a regular at David’s East Bay Quebecois jams. He also leads monthly oldtime jams at the Freight & Salvage.