Introduction

In 1982, Gilbert Parent created Les Bûcherons, a bilingual company which offers schools, festivals, communities and businesses exceptional and unique opportunities to become aware of and appreciate French-Canadian culture, history and folklore.

Since their inception, Les Bûcherons have given about 5,500 performances worldwide. They have entertained at schools, festivals, for various community and corporate shows. Notable performances include:

• Festival International de LaFayette
• Festival de Musique Internationale de la Nouvelle-Orléans
• World Petroleum Congress - before the Canadian Prime Minister and other world leaders
• World’s Plaza during the Edmonton 2001 World Championships in Athletics
• Federal Liberal Caucus barbeque
• World Expos: Vancouver, Canada in 1986, Brisbane, Australia in 1988 and Seville, Spain in 1992

Please see the Media Page for sample videos and music.

Meet the Performers

Gilbert Parent

Gilbert Parent is a native French-Canadian from the Peace River area. He has a Bachelor of Education from the Faculté St-Jean (University of Alberta) and taught for the Edmonton Separate School system. Gilbert began his career as a singer with La Gigue Electric and danced with Les Blés d’or and Les Danseurs de la Rivière Rouge, before forming the Edmonton jig group La Girandole. Gilbert plays the guitar, accordion, musical saw, spoons and various percussive instruments. His compositions have earned him a $1,200 prize during the Saint-John Baptist Festival in Red Deer and a $1,500 award at Festival du Bois in British Columbia.

Ian Porteous

In 1970, Ian was born in Lethbridge, Alberta and in 1995 He graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering but his passion for guitar and banjo playing took him to Nashville to study the country and bluegrass styles where he developed his “Foundation Music Coaching” program.

Recently Ian has gravitated towards the strategies and principles of accelerated learning. By fusing Canadian History and French Canadian culture, he educates in a very dynamic way with song, dance and animation. His approach is one of high energy, intense and precise personal development and inspiration.

For the past six years Ian has been specializing in Artist in residency programs where he has a unique ability to get students and staff alike to take part in an incredible team effort where the Social Studies curriculum is brought to life through artistic performance.

Roger Dallaire

Roger Dallaire is a native French-Canadian from St-Paul, Alberta. He is a musician, actor, ventriloquist, a director… Essentially, he’s very involved in folk and performing arts. He studied at the The School of Physical Theatre in Toronto. Roger has known some success as an artist, most notably for his performance at the “Jeunes pour Rire” festival in Montreal, his mime for the art gallery, Vivificare, in Toronto, his play, “Une situation emmerdante” at the Timms Centre for the Performing Arts in Edmonton, his tale, “Mon p’tit coin sous l’escalier” for the theatre company, Unithéâtre, and his recent creation, “Le pardon du pendu.” Roger plays the accordion, banjo, spoons, bones, dancing man and jaw harp.

Daniel Gervais

Daniel has been playing the violin since the age of five. He plays a variety of fiddle styles and classical violin. Daniel is currently working towards a B.Mus/B.Ed. at the University of Alberta as well as performing, recording and teaching. Daniel has had the opportunity to tour with Clinton Pelletier as well as Zéphyr, a French-Canadian dance group, performing at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., Mondial des cultures in Drummondville, PQ, and Folkmoot USA Festival in North Carolina. Daniel has also appeared on countless television and radio programs such as Good Morning Canada and various CBC broadcasts. In November 2002, he travelled to London, Ontario to receive the Conservatory Canada Speake Medal of Excellence for Grade 8 Strings for having attained the highest mark in Canada for that particular discipline. Daniel was honoured to have competed at the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Championship in August of 2003, representing Alberta. In 2004, Daniel returned to this competition and was a top eleven finalist. In the spring of 2003 Daniel released his debut album Flying Fiddle. Daniel's second album entitled Endless Possibilities was released in April 2005. Just recently, Daniel was selected by the Regroupement artistique francophone de l’Alberta for a provincial tour under the title of “COUP DE FOUDRE”. He was also nominated for “Young Performer of the Year” at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.

---

A printable version of this page is available.