Alexis Chartrand, fiddle
Nicolas Babineau, guitar, fiddle

Chartrand – Babineau, a young Québécois duo, is Alexis Chartrand and Nicolas Babineau. Nicolas and Alexis have been fiddling their native province’s traditional tunes since they were kids, but as they have grown into adulthood, they have experimented more with arranging, coming up with completely new approaches to the music. There are crooked tunes with odd rhythms and timing, tunes that make you cry, tunes that fill you with joy. There are twin fiddles in unison, as well as tunes where Alexis shows off his singular virtuosity on the fiddle while Nicolas plays a superb accompaniment on guitar.

Alexis has traced a singular path across the Québécois traditional music scene. Known for his pensive reworkings of Québécois fiddle tunes, he has pioneered the use of baroque violin and bows for the interpretation of this repertoire. His partnership with multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer Nicolas Babineau has led to the release of three albums, and to many concerts in Québec, Canada, the United States and Sweden.

Nicolas Babineau is a multi-instrumentalist and a sound engineer appreciated for his sensitive and versatile musicality. Trained as a classical violinist at the Conservatoire de Musique de Trois-Rivières, he also studied folk and jazz music with fiddler Tommy Gauthier (Yves Lambert Trio). However, it is the musical universe of traditional Quebec fiddlers, their inimitable style and their repertoire of unsuspected richness, that inspires his approach to fiddling today. On guitar, Nicolas is an accompanist known for his remarkably concise minimalist approach. His duo with Montreal fiddler Alexis Chartrand, which highlights the melodies inherited from 20th century fiddlers, has performed in Quebec, the rest of Canada, the United States and Sweden.

Since the making of his first album at the age of 13, Nicolas has participated in the sound recording, mixing and production of some fifteen albums of traditional and folk music. Co-producer of the two Babineau/Chartrand albums, of a duet album with Jean Duval and of Alexis Chartrand and Colin Savoie-Levac’s album Le Tranino, Nicolas is inspired by his background in classical music to capture the immediacy of real, unedited performances and to offer recordings that are prized for their hushed and intimate atmosphere.