COLLAGE TRAD

FEB 10, 2024

The Square, Vancouver, Canada

http://www.gabrieldubreuil.com/collage-trad.html

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Take some of the hottest, award-winning, contemporary fiddlers from Western Canada, mix in complex arrangements and a thrilling rhythmic underlay and you’ve got… Collage Trad! This new gathering of virtuosity is a musical melting pot of local fiddle traditions with a dash of swing, a pinch of jazz, a sprinkle of rock and pure folk. Their music and spirit is uplifting and energizing. Collage Trad has developed an explosive, exceptionally tight, cohesive sound.

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This energetic and gripping musical experience is the result of a creative collaboration between six exceptional musicians with strong traditional music roots. Collage Trad is led by fiddler Gabriel Dubreuil. Gabriel is joined by fiddlers Mark Sullivan and Serena Eades with Andy Hillhouse (guitar), Allan Dionne (drums/accordion) and Wynston Minckler (bass).

“Collage” is defined as the art that results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. This talented collaboration offers a fresh take on fiddle traditions – an exciting prospect you have to see and experience for yourself!

Allan Dionne has been an active part of the Vancouver music scene for many years. Since obtaining a Bachelor of Music degree in percussion from UBC, Allan has performed with such notables as Ashley MacIsaac, Jocelyn Pettit, Alpha Yaya Diallo, Stephanie Cadman, Shona Le Mottee, Tim Readman and, of course, the Celtic-Funk band Mad Pudding, with whom he has performed at festivals worldwide. An accordionist and composer as well as a drummer, Allan is currently a full-time member of the Francophone trio Pastiche (accordion/percussion) and is currently active in the Vancouver Brazilian music scene (accordion/percussion), specializing in Forró and Choro. He also plays drum set in both the eclectic rockabilly-Mexican band Rocabrones and the progressive rock band The Undoing. In addition to recordings done with Mad Pudding, Shona Le Mottee, Tim Readman and Jocelyn Pettit, Allan has recorded with many other artists, playing drum set, accordion, bodhrán, and marimba.

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Andy Hillhouse has had a varied career in music since the early 1990s. He has been a touring bandleader in the Anglo-Celtic music world, a choral director, a music and culture scholar, and now a festival organizer. As a musician he toured North America and Europe through the 1990s as founder and manager of the folk rock/funk band Mad Pudding. As a specialist in guitar accompaniment for trad music, he has toured from Brittany to Mexico with several of the Celtic music scene’s most respected and exciting acoustic musicians, including champion Canadian fiddlers Pierre Schryer and Mark Sullivan, Irish flute player Nuala Kennedy, and Juno and Canadian Folk Music Award winners The McDades. His first solo CD, “Passages,” was released in 2017 and has an underlying theme of travel and transformation, alternating between traditional music, original songwriting, and song interpretations. He is currently the Artistic and Executive Director of the Harrison Festival of the Arts in Harrison Hot Springs, BC.

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Gabriel Dubreuil is a fiddler, multi-instrumentalist, composer, teacher, sideman, bandleader, producer (the list goes on). He has recorded on dozens of albums with acclaimed musicians and producers  and performed across North America alongside some of the worlds finest folk musicians. ​He is an alumni of Berklee College of Music (2016) where he received a degree in Jazz performance and American Roots music.  Gabriel is a founding member of Celtic-rock band Early Spirit. Early Spirit’s album “Unrelated” (2018) features guests Natalie MacMaster, Geoffrey Kelly, Leonard Podolak and Michelle Campagne. Early Spirit has since toured festival stages across Canada. Their second album was released in 2022. Gabriel’s second solo record  will also be released in 2024. Gabriel is the Executive Artistic Director for Vancouver’s North Shore Celtic Ensemble.

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Mark Sullivan is a 3x Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion. After capturing many fiddle titles in the Canadian contest scene, Mark quickly emerged as one of the finest fiddlers in the country.  He is sought after as an instructor, spirited performer, and band-mate to many leading acts in traditional music. "A force in the world!" as referred to by Irish fiddler and Grammy winner, Liz Carroll.  Mark hails from Bowmanville Ontario and grew up immersed in old time fiddle traditions, notably through the music of Don Messer and Graham Townsend.  In 2022, he released his second album of original fiddle tunes, "Promenade Home," which pays tribute to his early years playing alongside local musicians at country dances. Roots Music Canada has hailed his music as soon to become "beloved standards at fiddle sessions, not just here in Canada, but wherever great fiddle music is appreciated."  Mark is currently the President of the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Assn, and works alongside a committed Board to preserve & promote Canadian fiddling.  Mark Sullivan now lives in British Columbia.

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Serena Eades is a violinist and composer based in Vancouver, Canada. Best known as a member of Delhi 2 Dublin, she is also active as a session musician, performer, composer, and educator. And is the director of the Serena Eades Academy of Music. Serena’s early love for music grew through studying classical violin at a young age, later earning a Bachelor of Music degree collectively from Brandon University and Capilano College in Canada and La Universidad de Colima in Mexico in 2005. Her success and unique style brought her to Boston’s Berklee College of Music where she earned a Diploma in Professional Music in 2014.  Serena has an insatiable desire to explore music from around the world. Her unique style reflects a lifetime of studying western classical music and various folk idioms – primarily Celtic and Brazilian.  Serena is co-founder of Vancouver’s first and only Forro band Forro do Cana. Serena has performed with Dream Theatre, Alejandro Sanz, Tanya Tagaq, Patti Austin, Siedah Garrett (co-writer of Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror"), Tony Trischka, Alison Brown, Matt Glaser, Darol Anger, Gooral, CR Avery, Beat Circus, Mark Berube, Locarno, The Paperboys, Itamar Erez, and many others.  With Delhi 2 Dublin she has toured throughout North America, Malaysia, India, and the UK, playing stages from Burning Man and Glastonbury to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, San Francisco's famed Fillmore, to Vancouver's iconic Commodore Ballroom. As an educator for over twenty five years Serena has worked with many aspiring and inspiring violinists and fiddlers of all ages. 

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Wynston Minckler has quickly emerged as one of the foremost bassists in the Vancouver and Canadian music scene.  His devotion to music began when he was teenager after being exposed to the sounds of 50s and 60s jazz, the writings of George Orwell, Phillip K. Dick, and Jack Kerouac, and Eastern Philosopy.  He is a musical chameleon, performing in a diverse and eclectic blend of projects ranging from Jazz, songwriter, rock, rnb, open improv, and world music.  He has performed across Canada at festivals including the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, The North Country Fair, The Kispiox Music Festival, Artswells, and Buscadero Days in Pusiano, Italy. Wynston has had the opportunity to study with musicans such as Jodi Proznick, Andre Lechance, Darren Radtke, Laurence Mollerup, and David Brown and is very thankful to have spent time studying music at Capilano University.  He has also had the honour of sharing the stage with Brad Turner, Chad Makela, Malcolm Aiken, Ernie Watts, Phil Dwyer, Joel Miller, Don Thompson, Tyson Naylor, Bernie Arai, Evan Arntzen, and Markus Mosley.