John Arcand says fiddle music is alive and well in Western Canada.
The master musician was speaking on his land just southwest of Saskatoon where he hosts his yearly music and cultural festival.
Sixteen years later, the John Arcand Festival has grown into one of Western Canada’s largest fiddle events, attracting thousands of people and some of the best players from all over the country.
It also features a number of cultural workshops too.
John Arcand says a lot has changed in terms of the facilities they are able to offer:
“We have a nice, big building now. Where I first started it was a was a fifty-foot tarp for a roof and a fifty-foot dance floor.”
His wife and main organizer, Vicki Arcand, adds she believes the event has grown in popularity because they have tried to listen closely to what people want to see in this type of music and cultural festival.
“The growth has been exponential in so many ways, the numbers, the days. We used to be two days, now we’re four days, we used to have 12 workshops, now we have 87.”
John Arcand adds there’s more fiddle players now than in 1965.
He says back then fiddle players were almost non-existent.
