Many bands have come to Marquette to entertain both the campus and surrounding community audience. Few, however, come to Marquette to make a difference for local students before, after and during their main performance.
Turning their week-long stay in Marquette into a learning experience for elementary students, Mauvais Sort, a folk ‘n’ roll band from Quebec, will perform and work within the community at schools in Marquette on Thursday. They will take part in workshops to teach students about different instruments, sing a few songs, and to give a short French language lesson.
Marquette will be the last stop to end a six-week tour for Arts Midwest World Fest (AMWF) who are featuring Mauvais Sort. Arts Midwest World Fest is an organization that features a band to perform six times each year all around the world.
“I originally started the band 11 years ago, while I was in high school. I got the name from one of my English teachers, who wanted me to do well for a band competition in Quebec. After we won first place, we later went on to meet new members and travel for AMWF,” said lead guitarist Nicolas Geoffroy.
Mauvais Sort, roughly translated to “bad spell,” is made up of six members: Eric Tessier as their sound engineer, Patrick Giroux on violin, Guillaume Côté on drums, Francois-Olivier Doyon playing bass guitar, Stephanie Richard on accordion and Geoffroy.
“We have tons of musical inspirations. It’s tough to name just one group. There are all kinds of bands we just love. Dave Matthews and Metallica are inspirational, as we like to mix up our rock section with the fiddle and other instruments accordingly to give it a more modern feel,” Geoffroy said.
Mauvais Sort has performed over 650 concerts in nine different countries thus far. They have produced a total of five albums, one of which was nominated at ADISQ for Traditional Album of the Year in 2003 with Jettatura and a Canadian Folk Music Award for Group of the Year with the album Koru in 2006.
“WNMU will be following these guys for the next few days while they work at the workshops. They have helped over 3,000 students so far, and will be interacting with over 1,500 here in Marquette,” Truckey said.
Their performance will be held Thursday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m. in the Great Lakes Rooms in the University Center. Admission to see Mauvais Sort perform costs $5 ahead of time for students or $6 at the door. Tickets for NMU staff and faculty and senior citizens cost $13 in advance or $15 at the door. General public admission is $18 in advance and $20 at the door.
