Singer-songwriter Vaero holds tight to her heritage
Veronique Poulin was raised on French fiddle tunes.
Growing up in Zenon Park, about 260 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon, her grandfather was a folk singer-songwriter. Henri Poulin could rouse a crowd with jigs and reels.
“I think any Fransaskois person that still lives their culture has heard of him or has a story of him ... on a table somewhere singing some songs or just getting a whole bunch of people riled up dancing,” said Poulin, known as Vaero on stage.
Her grandfather was the one who taught her to have fun with music.
Even at the end of his life, strokes having stolen his speech and Alzheimer’s having robbed him of memories, there was one thing Henri never forgot.
“He was always able to hum a tune,” said Poulin.
When his grandchildren would play for him, “He’d have tears in his eyes and he would try to sing back with us, but all you could hear was the melody ... He never lost touch of his musical side.
“That just goes to show how important music is, when all else fails ... Music is that sixth sense I think.”
Poulin, who is also one-third of Saskatoon band the Young Benjamins, was seven when she started playing piano. By 11, she’d picked up the violin and joined three of her brothers in a fiddle quartet to play community functions. At 15, she first tried her hand at songwriting.
Music is a way for Poulin to express herself — her melodies often reflect “the emotion I’m feeling at the time.”
And her lyrics reflect her Fransaskois heritage. More often than not, Poulin writes in her first language.
Growing up, she spoke French at school, at home and in the community.
When people would speak English to her parents, “I’d be like, ‘Who is that weird person? That’s strange,’ ” she said with a laugh.
Though she started learning English in Grade 1, in Zenon Park “we were kind of a bit of a bubble,” said Poulin.
“When I was younger, I just always thought that everyone had that kind of (francophone) experience.”
In high school she realized that wasn’t so.
Unlike her parents’ generation, she didn’t have to fight to keep her language. But when she moved to Regina to study music education in university, she became conscious of the effort required to maintain her culture: She felt her French slipping away due to lack of practice.
“That’s when the Fransaskois community really became a lot more real for me ... to keep that cultural part of me,” said Poulin.
“It’s just about being true to myself and working as much as I can on being who I want to be ... and I think language has a huge part in that, in helping you to be yourself and to express yourself.”
To share the love, Poulin works with Fransaskois cultural organizations and works in French immersion classrooms as an educational assistant. She serves as artistic director of the francophone pavilion at Saskatoon’s cultural FolkFest. She’s also a part-time music teacher.
“That’s kind of my way of giving back.”
Poulin is working on her second album, an EP she’ll record in Montreal, all in French (barring one bilingual song). After that, she’s planning an English album.
Expect a “melancholic, minimal, but very melodic” sound. Poulin describes her genre as “atmospheric folk,” and has become more comfortable with her sound since her last EP in 2010.
Looping pedals help her orchestrate her own solo symphony, “stretching melodies and having these slow tempos I can play with,” said Poulin. “Now I’m thinking more about textures and tones and harmonies and kind of putting (listeners) in a space where they’re able to relax and just listen instead of party.”
But playing her fiddle, her roots are never far away.
Catch Vaero in Prince Albert with the Benoit Paradis Trio on Oct. 30, 8 p.m., at Wesley United Church; in Regina Oct. 31, 8 p.m., at Carrefour des Plaines, again with the Benoit Paradis Trio; and in Saskatoon Nov. 6, 10 p.m., at Amigos Cantina with Twin River.