03/16/2026
Fiddle/Other Instruments & Rhythm/Chord Workshop
The VFS are hosting a French Balfolk Fiddle/Other Instruments & Rhythm/Chord Workshop with the band Vinta on Sunday afternoon 2:00-4:00, April 12th. The workshop is open to everyone - VFS members and non-members.
Vinta is a fantastic band from Ontario who will be visiting Victoria for the workshop, a house concert and a dance on April 13th & 14th. Check them out here: https://www.vintamusic.com/
The workshop will be made up of three concurrent sessions: two for fiddle and other instruments (Intermediate/Advanced), and one for rhythm/chord players.
Each session will run for 45 minutes, then the two fiddle/other instrument groups will switch for the 2nd 45-minute session. The rhythm/chord players session will run for the full 90 mins. The 3 groups will then come together for a 30-minute session where everyone plays together.
Cost for whole workshop: $35 VFS members; $40 non-members.
To register, email to [email protected] (specify either the Fiddle/Other Instruments or Rhythm/Chord sessions and note the instrument you will be playing), along with your payment of either $35 or $40 via etransfer to: [email protected]
Vinta is Nathan Smith, Emilyn Stam, John David Williams, and Robert Alan Mackie, four brilliant performers and close friends at the cutting edge of European traditional music in Canada. Nearly a decade of these four musicians hanging out at fiddle jams around Toronto has culminated in this quartet, bringing new intensity to old tunes, and growing new tunes from old sources. A band of multi-instrumentalists and genuine scholars, Vinta is making music that is powerful, profound, and fiercely danceable.
Since forming in 2020, Vinta has performed at Mariposa Folk Festival, Gatineau Hills Fiddle Festival, Campbell Bay Music Fest, and Algoma Trad. They have released 9 EPs of traditional music and a beautiful 30-minute concert video with Sound Still Productions. Their first full-length album of original music “Beacons” is the recipient of the Canadian Folk Music Award for Instrumental Composers of the Year, 2024.
What is Balfolk? Balfolk music is a modern, lively, and often improvised genre rooted in traditional Western European folk dances—particularly from France, Belgium, and Scandinavia—revived for social, contemporary dance events known as "bals". It blends traditional acoustic instruments like accordions, fiddles, bagpipes, and hurdy-gurdies with modern, often hypnotic, arrangements.
Vinta, Canada-based chamber folk quartet playing traditional and original instrumental music on fiddles, clarinet, accordion, upright bass. Exciting music for concerts, festivals, and balfolk dances.
