MONT-CARMEL, P.E.I. — The 11th edition of the Grand Ruisseau Song Festival, organized by the Coopérative de développement culturel et patrimonial de Mont-Carmel, will come to a close Sunday night.
The fourth and final performance will begin at 7 p.m – a songwriters’ circle – and will feature Jeannita Bernard, Michel Lalonde, Gary Gallant and Fayo.
A nurse by trade, mother, grandmother, owner of a tourism business, Bernard has been writing songs since she was young. Even with her busy lifestyle, she managed to take part in numerous recording projects as well as national and international tours. Her songs are often inspired by everyday life and many, more specifically the ones from her Christmas album, are still current even though they were recorded over 25 years ago. She resides in Saint-Philippe in the Évangéline area with her husband and their eldest son.
Lalonde is an award-winning franco-Ontarian singer and one of the founding members of Garolou. He took part in each of its recordings as well as all its tours since 1976. In 1983 he launched his solo career and since that time has recorded three albums: Délit de suite (1988); Amour fou (2011) and Comme un engin (2019). He was one of the founding members of the group La Raquette à claquettes and recorded two albums with this group. For the last few years, he has called Prince Edward Island his home.
Gallant is originally from Saint-Timothy, a village often included in the area called Mont-Carmel in the Evangeline region of P.E.I., where he works on a farm and contributes to the music scene. With his experience in both of these fields, he writes, composes and shares with a local and authentic point of view that is universal at the same time.
LeBlanc is an Acadian singer/songwriter known under the nickname Fayo. Originally from Dieppe, N.B., he has a folk/rock style perfectly blended with Acadian dialect. He has performed on stages across Canada as well as in Belgium, Switzerland and France where he promoted his albums La fièvre des fèves et Accent aïgu. Since 2010, Fayo calls Mont-Carmel his home.
This free songwriters’ circle performance will be streamed live at Facebook.com/CDCPMC, beginning at 7 p.m. This will mark the closing show of the 11th edition of the Grand Ruisseau Song Festival which took place virtually this year due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
