Metis music celebrated at 22nd annual John Arcand Fiddle Fest

Metis music and culture are on display at the 22nd annual John Arcand Fiddle Fest. (Jim Barnsley / CTV Saskatoon)

The John Arcand Fiddle Fest near Saskatoon is where Métis music and culture pass from generation to generation.

Along with the traditional Métis Fiddle and Red River Jigging, there is the Métis Cultural Camp, which has beading, embroidery, art and storytelling. It also offers workshops for traditional fiddle playing and square dancing.

Organizer Heather Vishloff said the activities are for the young and old.

“These workshops are where inter-generational learning and exchanges occur,” she said.

“So we have the veterans in the field passing on their skills to the students who are young, they are old, they are adults. Everybody can participate and anybody of any different skill level is able to come here and learn, and take those skills back to the community that they come from.”

Along with the main stage and workshops, spontaneity also breaks out, Vishloff said.

“You also get jams that just break out everywhere throughout the facility and grounds, and it’s just an amazing environment to be in,” she said.

But the evening concert is what really fires up her heart.

“The concerts and the dances and everything,” she said. “All of the jams that break out, people just join in and watch, it’s participatory if you play an instrument, but if you don’t play it’s great to watch. The evening concerts have every different genre.”

The 22nd annual John Arcand Fiddle Fest is at its regular home at Windy Acres on Pike Lake Highway 60 south of Saskatoon, and runs till late Saturday night.