Ep 4: One Nation, Many Fiddlers - Brianna Lizotte and Alicia Blore

Host Matt LeMay recently got to spend time filming a documentary with an amazing group of Métis musicians as they were recording an album of new and traditional songs at the Tragically Hip’s Bathouse studio, just outside Kingston, Ontario. Among the musicians there were two of the most in demand fiddlers right now and our guests on this episode:Alicia Blore is Toronto based, with roots in Manitoba. She played at the most recent swearing in of Prime Minister Trudeau and his cabinet, and was part of the live tribute to fiddle master John Arcand at Batoche in 2023, among her many other accomplishments. Brianna Lizotte is from Alberta and also a John Arcand protogé. Last year she played for Pope Francis at the Vatican during the visit of Canadian Indigenous groups seeking an apology from the pope for the harm inflicted on children at church run Residential schools. Bathouse studio is a lovely old 19th century Inn on Lake Ontario. Stone walls, hardwood floors covered in persian carpets, and a studio jam-packed with decades of Hip memorabilia. In that environment, working with the Tragically Hip engineer Niles Spencer, the music just flowed.At the end of the second day of recording, LeMay sat down with Lizotte and Blore in the Hips cozy upstairs rehearsal studio to talk about where Métis fiddling came from, where it is today and where it’s headed.Many of the songs you'll hear in this episode were performed by Blore and Lizotte along with fellow Métis musicians Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk, Danton Delbaere-Sawchuk and Liam Blore For more on the work of the MNC, visit metisnation.ca