Several years ago we attended a not very well attended concert at the Cedar Cultural Center by a group from Canada called Vishten. About all I knew about them was they played a mixture of Acadian and Celtic tunes and one of the members played the piano accordion, not a button box. This was during my late in life attempt to play Celtic music on that same maligned instrument. (I had made a lame attempt at the button box but could not get the push pull thing down so I went back to the instrument of my youth.)
The empty seats in the venue missed out. The trio of Pastelle LeBlanc, her sister Emmanuelle LeBlanc, and Pascal Miousse kicked out great tunes and some great steps. And like any successful group they all looked like they were having such a good time playing and singing and dancing.
I was, of course, completely enamored with Pastelle and her accordion. And like her band mates she was comfortable on a number of instruments- bodhran, guitar, piano, and guitar.
Over the years I bought their albums and hoped to see them live again either here (though doubtful given the small crowd at the Cedar that evening) or at Celtic Colours on Cape Breton or perhaps on one of our trips to the Maritimes and their home province of Prince Edward Island. Pastelle was an instructor at the Acadia School of Traditional Music in Bar Harbor Maine a number of years, so maybe that would happen.
Didn’t.
Vishten live streamed concerts from their home during the time of the pox, 2020-21, and were featured in concert during the live streamed 2020 Celtic Colours Festival I tuned in to all of them. The concerts from Pastelle and Pascal’s living room in Charlottetown, PEI, remains one of my favorite “home” events. You could feel their desire to connect with an audience but also the relaxed presentation a live stream can offer.
Today I read that Pastelle had died, April 8th, of breast cancer. She was 42.
Here are a couple of links to check out if you are interested.
So funny’! As I was scrolling through my emails I just assumed this was something from Stone Mountain, was thinking I’ll bet John knows these guys. Then it became clear that this was a “Writing around the Music.” Dah! No surprise here other than the very tragic end of the story. So sad, so young and so talented.
Yes. This really hit me.