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There’s room for you on the Bout du Banc!
Sur le Bout du Banc is a weekly YouTube series featuring original and traditional tunes played by Québec fiddler Claude Méthé and guests. A documentary-style series about traditional music and the act of transmission, the series maintains a focus on traditional Québécois repertoires. Each episode features one or more guests playing a tune or singing a song together with Québec fiddler-singer Claude Méthé (and on occasion, series producer Dana Whittle).
The series began during Covid lockdown, when performers disappeared from site unless they went to great lengths to create a virtual presence. Claude’s partner Dana decided to film him playing different tunes, and when lockdown lifted, the occasional musical guest, passing through on a very « slim » tour or simply a visit would spend the night and have the time to join Claude for some tunes in front of the camera. The Bout du Banc kind of took off on its own, and while it didn’t start out on a fixed schedule, pretty soon evolved into a weekly endeavor. Once we could travel again, the guests multiplied, Québécois-dedicated sessions here and over the border began telling us that they were regularly learning tunes from us (and had even gone as far as to transcribe tunes). Since then, session members have joined us here a few times and in 2024, we will be going on the road to film some in-situe episodes both in the US and in Québec.
How it works
Decisions about what to play are frequently made on the spot but sometimes discussed briefly beforehand. Claude and guest(s) practice the repertoire they’ve decided on live, at the recording location, and there is a single take for each episode. The Bout du Banc is first and foremost not a performance – it’s real people of all kinds, from all over, getting together to play the traditional music they love. All of us make little mistakes while doing this (just like we do at a jam session), but we prefer to keep the little imperfections because that is human! The series has welcomed guests from all over Québec and Canada, the US, France, the UK, Ireland, Denmark and beyond. Players and singers are both amateurs and professionals and of all ages. The only requirement is to have FUN!
Subscribe
Visit le Bout du banc on YouTube to subscribe and see more episodes.
Subscribing to the Tradmédia channel may one day help us to cover our costs (equipment, travel, production), so we’d love it if you do so! If you click the bell, you’ll be notified of new episodes.