June 3, 2019

Greater Sudbury, June 3, 2019 – On Thursday, June 6, at 10:30 a.m., over 1,300 grade 6, 7 and 8 Francophone students from some 30 Greater Sudbury, Sudbury East, North Shore and other Northern Ontario schools will gather at Bell Park’s Grace Hartman Amphitheatre for the St-Jean Baptiste concert featuring the Francophone music group Les Rats d’Swompe and Fjord. The concert is presented through the collaborative effort of the Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario (CSCNO), the Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord de l’Ontario (CSPGNO) and Laurentian University.

This quality 90-minute performance will mark the launch of the numerous St-Jean Baptiste activities to take place in Greater Sudbury this month. With the presentation of this concert, partners want to expose students from French language Catholic and public schools to a Francophone cultural experience and to reinforce their links with Francophone community partners.

The members of Les Rats d’Swompe band are French-Canadian musicians, proud to share their passion for traditional fiddling, sing-along songs and old-time musicianship. Based in Ottawa, the trio is one of the rare musical groups that keep the folklore buzz alive in Francophone Ontario. Les Rats d’Swompe will take the stage to perform some of their original compositions along with covers of songs from the French-Canadian folk repertoire.

Originally from Greater Sudbury’s Blezard Valley and proud of their Franco-Ontarian roots, Nikola Goulet, Meagan Bigras and Michel Roux previously founded their music group Fjord when they were students at École secondaire catholique l’Horizon. Their unique, lively ballads are a funky blend of folklore, jazz and acoustic ambiance. Fjord took home a first place at the 2018 edition of La Brunante and had the pleasure of performing at the 2019 La Nuit sur l’étang concert. The three members also received several awards during the Quand ça nous chante festival in 2018.

Media Contacts
Brigitte Morin                                                 Carole Dubé
External Relations Coordinator                   Director of Communications
Conseil scolaire catholique Nouvelon        Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord de l’Ontario
(705) 673-5626, ext. 389                               (705) 671-1533, ext. 2233
(705) 690-9740 – cell phone                         (705) 929-3117 – cell phone