Geneviève Nadeau has become a formidable manager, director and producer in Quebec’s vibrant Trad music and song scene
OTTAWA – Québécoise Geneviève Nadeau, of Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, is the recipient of the Slaight Music Unsung Hero Award for the 2022 Canadian Folk Music Awards (CFMAs). “Geneviève Nadeau is an artisan of culture and is thus a key component of a whole part of our culture. She is an essential worker in the shadows who certainly deserves a little light.” – Nicolas Boulerice
The Slaight Unsung Hero Award will be presented to Geneviève, who has dedicated a lifetime to promoting and fostering Quebec music, at the 2022 Canadian Folk Music Awards Concert, Friday, Apr 1st. Geneviève will be attending in-person to receive her Award.
About the 2022 CFMA Slaight Music Unsung Hero Recipient – Geneviève Nadeau
Geneviève Nadeau has become a formidable manager, director and producer in Quebec’s Trad music and song scene. She works every day to bring recognition to this rich and complex music by giving it new opportunities for exposure, a new image, a new brilliance.
She began her career by working at several Quebec Trad Festivals and became the first woman director of the Celtic music Festival de Cornouailles in France, a prestigious 100 year old event. Her knowledge and expertise led her to become an agent and eventually manager for the group Le Vent du Nord which she introduced to several international stages including the legendary Carnegie Hall in New York.
Returning to Canada, she founded La Compagnie du Nord with some of the band members, to leverage her experience and international contacts for the benefit of other artists in the Trad musical niche. She has built a successful and solid business with a team of incredible women who, together with her, produce hundreds of concerts a year in over twenty countries. She also produces records and music videos of all kinds and has founded her own publishing house to better support her artists.
She co-founded the Festival Chants de Vielles in the village of St-Antoine-sur-Richelieu that now welcomes some 5,000 festival goers annually over the three days of festivities. Each year, this event welcomes more than 60 artists from Québec and Canada, but also from France, Scotland, Ireland and the United States.
Finally, this lady of the shadows has given and still gives all her time and energy so that music and artists can shine, so that people from here can speak and sing about Quebec all over the world, without ever putting herself at the forefront, without ever looking for some kind of reward. It is also in this spirit that she sits on the board of the Folquébec association, which promotes the musical diversity of artists from our part of the world. It is for all these reasons that she deserves recognition for her immense work.