Get ready for some “Festival Frenzy” with the Métis Fiddler Quartet

The Métis Fiddler Quartet plays June 22 in Iqaluit as a pre-Alianait festival event. The four-sibling classically trained group is one of Canada’s top aboriginal performance groups, who use their music to share their Métis culture. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE METIS FIDDLER QUARTET)

Conlin, Danton, Nicholas and Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk of the Metis Fiddler Quartet were waiting eagerly for their trip north as they prepared to fly to Iqaluit for a series of concerts and workshops in Iqaluit.

The quartet, who play guitar, cello and fiddle, are set to perform at a pre-Alianait festival show, dubbed “Festival Frenzy,” June 22 at Nakasuk School in Iqaluit.

The group, comprised of four siblings who play Métis fiddle music, are hoping not only to share their music, but to learn about the local culture, Conlin Delbaere-Sawchuk said by phone earlier this week.

Originally from Winnipeg, the fiddlers, now based out of Toronto, will offer a traditional percussion workshop (“making music with the bare essentials” is how they put it), a spoons workshop (using spoons to make music) June 23, as well as a Métis fiddle workshop.

“We’ve always wanted to reach out as far as we could with our music,” Delbaere-Sawchuk said.

And, when approached with the opportunity to play in Iqaluit, he and his siblings jumped at the chance, he added.

“That for me, is really important, it’s like being able to realize a dream of mine,” he said about bringing their music to Nunavut.

Delbaere-Sawchuk said anyone interested in participating in their workshops is welcome, but people who own a fiddle should come with the instrument so they can share and trade tunes.

He said he and his siblings, who are Métis, believe in the importance of sharing their fiddle music, as well as acquiring and interpreting new music from other people and cultures.

The four, who have played together professionally as a family group for eight years, learned Métis fiddling from older Métis fiddlers across Canada, Delbaere-Sawchuk said.

They’ve also studied jazz and classical music, he said.

You’ll hear the combination of that musical training and their Métis roots during their Iqaluit show. They’ll be playing songs from their new album called “North West Voyage.”

You can preview tracks from the album here.

Throat singer, drummer and singer/songwriter Sylvia Cloutier will also perform during the show, which starts at 6 p.m.

Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at Arctic Ventures. Elders and children 12 and under can attend for free.

For more information, you can also go to the Alianait festival website.