A performance of Métis traditional music and dance is coming to the Battlefords Thursday, Feb. 10 with all proceeds shared by the Raise the Roof CUPlex fundraising intitiative and Métis Child and Family Services.
On stage in the McKitrick Community School gym will be the Métis Child and Family Jiggers from Edmonton, accompanied by accomplished musician Calvin Volrath.
The show begins at 6:30 p.m. with the doors opening at 6 p.m.
Métis Child and Family Jiggers promote the Métis traditions of music and dance by performing at various functions and events. Some of the traditional dances of the Métis include the Drops of Brandy, the Duck dance, Reel of 8, Reel of 4 and of course the Red River Jig, which is the dance most widely known.
The dancers have been performing since 2004 and are selected from interested children in the greater Edmonton area.
Métis fiddle music is an oral tradition handed down from generation to generation. From time to time listeners will find rhythm is supplied by toe tapping or spoons and the uneven, irregular beats of the fiddle creates a bounce in Métis jigging that is as unique as the fiddling itself.
The Red River Jig was by far the most popular dance tune in Rupert's Land and is still played and danced by many Métis across Canada. Métis dancing has survived only as long as the tunes can be remembered in the fiddle and the younger generations carry on that tradition.
Historians claim that the Red River Jig began and has been performed since the fur trade era of the 1700s. The earliest known recording of the Métis tune called the Red River Jig was made by radio station CJRC in Winnipeg, Man. on Jan. 18, 1940. Both the Scotch and French old timers approved the recording as authentic, but did not claim ownership of the tune. They all agreed, however, that the tune most likely came with the Métis voyageurs from Quebec. To ensure the preservation of Métis Fiddling, John Arcand of Saskatoon, has written the music to these tunes in recent years.
