2008 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards
Best Fiddle Album
Best Instrumental Album
2008 Native American Music Awards
Nominated for the Best Historical Recording
Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk
Alyssa brings her classical musicianship and passion for her Métis heritage together in her debut recording:
Oméigwessi Reel Métis: A Tribute to (Hommage à) Walter Flett.
Legendary Métis fiddler, Walter Flett, a champion of the traditional music that incorporates Celtic, Scottish, Irish Appalachian and French Canadian, fortunately passed on both his passion and talent to his sons, James Flett and Teddy Boy Houle. Walter's sons, have shared with Alyssa the hidden musical treasures of Ebb and Flow Manitoba that go back to the early fur-trade. And now, this young French Métis artist, Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk, carries the torch for her heritage.
In 2004, Alyssa was awarded the National Métis Youth Award for Arts and Culture for her work in promoting Métis culture through Métis fiddling performances across the nation. Alyssa’s fiddle can be heard on the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards for the 2007 awards ceremony.
A graduate of the Young Artists' Performance Academy of the RCM, Alyssa has won several awards for her classical music achievements: the 2006 Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival Strings Trophy Finalist, the 2004 Manitoba Music Festival Senior Strings Finalist, and a 2006 & 2007 National Finalist in the Canadian Music Competition, and 2002 &2003 National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation scholarships.
http://www.myspace.com/omeigwessi
http://www.metisfiddlerquartet.com
Alyssa is joined on this CD with James Flett, Scott Kemp, and her brother Conlin.
James Flett
Music has always been a big part of James Flett's life. Born and raised in Northern Manitoba, his musical career began at the age of 7, playing guitar in a band for country-dances all over rural Manitoba and Saskatchewan. After the family moved to Winnipeg, James played lead guitar for various bands such as Country Pride, the Ranville Trio, Reg Bouvette, Harvest and Red Wine. At one time James had his own band, Original Mind. Winner of the MIB Guitarist of the Year Award in 1978, MACA Country Band of the Year Award (with the Red Wine Band), MACA Tony Sianchuk Award (with the Al Desjarlais Band), and two-time winner of the MACA Instrumentalist of the Year Award (1981, 1982), James has done session work on several albums with various artists from Canada and the United Stated. Some of the highlights of James' career have been accompanying special artist Len Henry with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for a special fund-raising country music extravaganza in 1980, jamming with Al Cherney in Thompson, Manitoba in 1981, and jamming with North American Champion Fiddler Calvin Volrath. James has recently released two CD’s of his music.
Scott Kemp
A Graduate of the Humber College Jazz Studies Degree Program, Scott Kemp is a busy bassist within the Toronto music scene. He is a member of the Juno Nominated (and multiple award winning) Elizabeth Shepherd Trio. He has also publicly performed with musicians Michael Occhipinti, Lori Cullen, Swing Rosie, Amanda Martinez, Heather Bambrick, Tyler Yarema, William Sperandei, William Carn, Patrizio Buanne, and Julie Mahendran to name a few. Scott has also performed with Juno award winning big band NOJO and the Tiny Alligator Big Band. Scott has performed live to radio multiple times on CBC (Andy Barry show/Matt Galloway show with Elizabeth Shepherd, and Alan Neal’s ‘Fuse’ with Elizabeth Shepherd and blues artist David Gogo), as well as at Jazz festivals and music clubs in Canada, the USA, Japan, and the U.K. Scott is an active composer and he leads his own ensemble, The Scott Kemp Collective.
Conlin Delbaere-Sawchuk
Conlin is self-taught on Métis guitar, but has extensive classical music training on the acoustic double bass and classical singing. He is a graduate of the Young Artists' Performance Academy of the Royal Conservatory of Music RCM. His classical singing accomplishments include: the 2005 Davenport Music Festival Most Outstanding Singer and the 2003 & 2004 Hamilton Kiwanis Most Promising Intermediate Voice, and a 2003 National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation scholarship.
Conlin has performed in: the Magic Flute and Dido and Aeneas in the Glenn Gould School opera productions, and Dialogue des Carmélites in the University of Ottawa opera production. Conlin is the Métis guitar in his family ensemble, the Métis Fiddler Quartet.
As a tribute to Walter Flett, these musicians perform together as the Omeigwessi Ensemble.
Omeigwessi Ensemble
Omeigwessi Ensemble is a traditional Métis music group comprised of Métis elders and youths from Winnipeg and Toronto. Manitoba old-time music artists Lawrence ‘Teddy Boy’ Houle and his stepbrother Jimmy Flett join emerging Toronto musicians, Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk, and her brothers Conlin, Nicholas, and Danton (The Métis Fiddler Quartet) along with Scott Kemp to form Omeigwessi Ensemble. These musicians all come from diverse musical backgrounds, but all share a common thread beyond a love for music; they are all Manitoba born and their aboriginal ancestry is deeply rooted in Manitoba.
Omeigwessi was the nickname of Manitoba old-time fiddler Walter Flett, and it means Ukrainian in Ojibwe. Walter Flett (born in 1906) learned to play the fiddle from his father and older brothers. His fiddling style reflects the musical language of the Métis as far back as the early fur trade. Walter Flett passed on the fiddling traditions to his stepson, Lawrence Houle and his son James Flett. Omeigwessi Ensemble pays tribute to the late Walter Flett for his life long contributions to old-time Métis fiddling in Canada.
Shortly before Walter Flett passed away at the age of 80, Toronto based Canadian fiddler and musicologist Anne Lederman recorded him playing the fiddle in his ‘old time’ Ebb and Flow Métis style. Several years later, Alyssa encountered Anne Lederman’s fiddling workshop, and became reacquainted with her Métis traditional music. Anne’s teachings and her Métis fiddle recordings became a central focus of Alyssa and her brother’s Métis music repertoire development. They all absorbed the music, and The Métis Fiddler Quartet was born as a performing ensemble of old-time Métis music.
After years of studying old-time Métis fiddle tunes with Anne Lederman, Alyssa was awarded an Ontario Arts Council mentorship grant entitled Tracing My Métis Roots to study Métis fiddling and jigging with Lawrence ‘Teddy Boy’ Houle. Alyssa was invited to present her mentorship project along with Lawrence at the Métis Artists’ Collective’s Louis Riel Day Celebration of Métis Arts and Culture in a showcase of the Métis fiddle. This event received media attention and was broadcast on national APTN news on November 16, 2006. Alyssa was also interviewed in French on TFO for the show Panorama, and also for Toronto French newspapers l’Expresse and le Metropolitain. In the summer of 2007, Omeigwessi Ensemble celebrated Métis traditional music from Manitoba in a series of performances, workshops, and demonstrations to aboriginal communities in Toronto and Winnipeg. With this central generations theme, Lawrence Houle and his stepbrother Jimmy Flett gave tribute to their father and musical mentor Walter Flett alongside a younger generation of Métis musicians from Toronto (Métis Fiddler Quartet and Scott Kemp) playing music in the old-time Métis style of their father. During which they performed at Buffalo Jump Collective Aboriginal Day celebrations, Native Canadian Centre of Toronto year-end youth social, Toronto Habourfront centre for Canada, and The Métis Arts Festival at Black Creek Pioneer Village.
With Alyssa’s lead fiddle, the group recorded their first Métis fiddling CD entitled Oméigwessi: Reel Métis, a tribute to Walter Flett. This recording became available August 2007.
Omeigwessi Ensemble is a result of a continuous bond between Alyssa and "Teddy Boy" to keep this historic old-style Métis music alive through public presentations and by recording this music for future generations. The concept of an Elder and Youth collaborative exchange continues to be of public interest, particularly in the aboriginal community, and this Ojibwe Métis ensemble continues to receive requests to present.
http://www.myspace.com/omeigwessi
http://www.metisfiddlerquartet.com
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