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| For over 30 years, Edmond Badoux and Francy Vidal have been dedicated researchers of traditional village musics from the mountain regions of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile and Argentina. Committed to cultivating a deeper appreciation for this multifaceted musical tradition, the couple formed the performing ensemble Chaskinakuy in 1985. Since its founding, Chaskinakuy has toured in Switzerland, Canada, and throughout the U. S., performing in concerts, festivals, and university lecture series, and in collaboration with music, theater and dance ensembles in California, New York and Pennsylvania. Chaskinakuy has three times been awarded the California Arts Council's Multi-Cultural Grant and was selected for six seasons in the Council's Touring & Presenting Program. Musicians and music educators, Badoux and Vidal have presented their popular educational programs and workshops to over a quarter-million students nationwide. The duo is currently featured in the 2002 Schirmer Books CD and college textbook entitled, "Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples, 4th Edition". Badoux and Vidal have produced three recordings on the Chaskinakuy label, "A Flor de Tierra" (2002), "Cosecha"(1993), and "Music of the Andes" (1988). Artists' Background Edmond Badoux is regarded by many as one of the pioneers in presenting Andean music to North American audiences. A native of Switzerland, he was introduced to the music of the Andes in the early 1960's through recordings which were popular in Europe at the time. A graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, Switzerland, he moved to Canada in 1967 where he met fellow emigrants from Argentina and Chile and began learning a variety of Andean musical genres on instruments that he either acquired or handcrafted himself. He was a member of the Montreal-based musical ensemble Los Quinchamalífrom 1971-74 and performed across Canada and the northeastern United States in concerts and at folk festivals. While in Montreal, he co-founded the musical group Sukay in 1974, relocated to the San Francisco Bay area, and was the group's director until 1985. With the ensemble he performed throughout the U. S. and Canada and recorded two albums on the Flying Fish and Aural Traditions labels. Since 1975, he has made extensive trips to the Andes to research and collect traditional melodies and instruments, and to study with native musicians. A masterful multi-instrumentalist, he plays a full range of the traditional Andean wind, percussion and string instruments, including the Peruvian harp and charango. A highly respected craftsman of the Andean kenas, sikus, antaras, rondadores, bombos, wankaras, and redoblantes, he has made most of those that he and Francy Vidal use in performance as the duo Chaskinakuy. Francy Vidal is an 8th generation "Californiana" with roots in Mexico and in Europe. Born in Sacramento, her strongest musical and cultural influences stem from the childhood years spent alongside her mother who was choirmaster and organist at Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe church. Introduced to Andean music in the late 1960's and early '70's through popular and eclectic recordings, she went on to pursue Latin American studies at the University of the Pacific,where her knowledge of Latin America's peoples grew and her appreciation of Andean culture deepened. While living in San Francisco in the late 1970's, she acquired instruments from local artisans and began performing with fellow Andean musicians in schools and in her travels through Mexico and Guatemala. Her affinity for Andean highland musics has been cultivated over the years by her travels in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, as well as through her research of texts and recordings. A gifted flautist and percussionist, she plays a wide variety of the Andean flutes, panpipes and drums, in addition to the 10-string Peruvian mandolin. Website: www.chaskinakuy.com |
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