Submitted By: Elsa Poitras, wife of PCMNO Executive Senator Joseph Poitras
With excerpts from: www.ottawafestivals.ca and www.annelederman.com/
Anne Lederman. (Photo from folkmusicontario.ca.)
Click here to view a larger version of the picture.
The fiddle has always been an important part of Métis culture. The fiddle continues to play a prominent role in Métis celebrations today. Helping to keep the tradition of Métis fiddling alive is Anne Lederman―a fiddler, singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, researcher, and teacher.
While not Métis herself, Lederman teaches fiddle and has devoted herself to the collection and preservation of old Métis fiddle music. She likely has one of the largest known collections of old Métis fiddle music.
When enrollment is high enough, Lederman teaches classes on Métis and French Canadian Fiddle at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Click here to learn more about enrollment.
Lederman has also released a four-record archival set of recordings titled Old Native and Métis Fiddling in Western Manitoba. The music was gathered between 1985 and 1986, when Lederman returned home to Manitoba to study and record the music of First Nations and Métis fiddlers. This historic set of recordings was re-released in 2004 as a double CD set on the National Museum’s Archive label.
Lederman has been involved in a number of Canadian folk music groups including Muddy York, the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, Come From Every Way, and Fiddlesong. She was also the resident fiddler on the CBC drama Road to Avonlea, and has appeared on The Vinyl Café and other programs on CBC Radio.
Lederman has performed at folk events, concerts, and festivals throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe. She has released five albums under her own name and appeared on over 50 others, and is the founding Artistic Director of World Fiddle Day Toronto and World of Music Toronto.
Most recently, on October 23, 2016, Lederman received Folk Music Ontario’s 17th Annual Estelle Klein Award for her work. Named after Estelle Klein, an early founder of Canada’s folk festival-scene, each year the award is presented to an individual or group that has made significant contributions to the folk music community in Ontario. For more information on Anne Lederman, please visit www.annelederman.com.
Published on: December 1, 2016