The band Poitin is known for its spirits, in this case, spirited music. The band from the Fargo/Moorhead area will be entertaining at the Chautauqua and French-Canadian/Metis Festival.
Poitin (pah-CHEEN) will perform Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 28 and 29, at 1 p.m. daily in the big tent at Old Crossing and Treaty Park near Huot. It’s appropriate that the band is called Poitin (Gaelic for homemade whiskey) because their music is a spirited blend of Irish, Celtic, French-Canadian, and Metis music.
The six-piece band plays fiddle, banjos, guitars, mandolins, Irish bouzouki, bodhran, harmonica, bass, and drums. The Metis music of the Red River country dates from the early days of the fur trade, well into the early part of the 17th Century.
Some traders were fiddlers in their native Ireland or France or Scotland or Britain, or eastern Canada. Some of the trappers and traders took Native American women as wives. Their descendants, called Metis (may-TEE) or “Mixed,” inherited many musical traditions.
Poitin is committed to helping preserve some of this traditional music by performing and recording it. Poitin released their fifth album “Banks of Red River’ in 2013, highlighting the correlations between the Irish and the Metis Red River traditional music. If the travelers who camped at the Old Crossing more than two centuries ago could hear Poitin’s music, it would sound familiar to them. Modern-day visitors to the festival will also recognize some of the toe-tapping tunes.
The festival opens on Aug. 27 at 6:30 p.m. with a potluck picnic followed by a bonfire with music by Dan Schmitz. Throughout the weekend, there will be activities for children, displays, and demonstrations. French food such a Tourtiere (meat pie) and bread made in the earth oven will be available.
Silent auctions will be held Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free, and the public is welcome to all events in the park. The Old Crossing and Treaty Park are on Red Lake Co. Road 3 and seven miles northeast of Gentilly on County Road 11 or 10 miles southwest of Red Lake Falls. The festival, presented by AFRAN (Association of the French of the North), emphasizes the French heritage of the Red River Valley.
For more information on the Chautauqua and French Festival at Huot, MN., visit www.frenchcanadianafran.org or contact Jerry Amiot at 218-289-8889 or Virgil Benoit at 218-253-2270.
This activity is funded, in part, by a grant from the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council and the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature from the vote on Nov. 4, 2008.
