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Small World Project

FEATURE ENSEMBLE | WORKSHOP PRESENTERS

 

Sébastien Dufour, Patrick Graham and Frédéric Samson have been amazing audiences with an arsenal of small stringed instruments (ukulele, charango, banjolele, strumstrick), its mini-percussions and a double bass. The Montreal collective has made three critically acclaimed albums, each characterized by a unique, eclectic, borderless sound – a happy, humourous and energetic mix of different musical styles and traditions. .

 

Winners of the Opus Prize for the Concert of the Year in 2011 — Jazz and World Music, and of the Galaxy/CBC Rising Star Prize, Small World Project has graced the stages of many international festivals, including the New York Ukulele Festival, the Tahiti Guitar Festival, the Festival Cultural de Zacatecas in Mexico, the Festival de Guitare de Bayeux in France as well as the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Guelph Jazz Festival in Ontario.

 

The trio combine original compositions with unusual interpretations of Ennio Morricone and Jimi Hendrix and a variety of musical surprises, sometimes mind-blowing or at least mind-opening, and often witty and whimsical.

 

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Sébastien Dufour received his Master’s Degree in classical guitar Performance from Université de Montréal in 1998. He then proceeded to teach himself various string instruments and related styles from throughout the world. He is a founding member of MG3 (Montréal Guitare Trio), with whom he has performed across North America, Europe, New-Zealand and Australia in prestigious venues such as the BB King Blues Club in New York, the Rundetårnet in Copenhagen and the legendary Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He has recorded five albums with MG3 including a joint live album with the California Guitar Trio, released in 2011. Sébastien Dufour has performed onstage with renowned musicians and ensembles, notably the Québec Symphony Orchestra, Jorane, Le Vent du Nord, Solorazaf and Celso Machado. 

Patrick Graham has been called a “master improviser on percussion” who “…stands on the border of several forms of traditional and creative music, embracing the world of rhythm as a whole” (Le Devoir). The Canadian multi-percussionist’s playing synthesizes a dizzying array of influences, from Japanese percussion, Mediterranean frame drumming, Indian and Irish rhythms to an ongoing fascination with new and found sounds. Patrick has performed, toured and recorded with numerous Canadian and international artists including Autorickshaw, Small World Project, Trifolia, Bomata, La Nef, Trichy Sankaran, On Ensemble, Kaoru Watanabe, Ganesh Anandan, Carlo Rizzo, and Kohei Nishikawa, as well as dancers Hideo Arai, Geneviève Martin and Tomomi Morimoto. He is also active as an instructor, and has conducted workshops in Canada, the USA, India, Japan and China.

Frédéric Samson studied jazz bass performance at Cégep St-Laurent before completing a M.A. studies in ethnomusicology at Université de Montréal in 2001. He spent 6 months studying the Balinese gamelan music and drumming in 1997 and 1999. As a bassist, he performed live with several ensembles across Canada, Europe and Japan. In 2002, he recorded and produced a critically acclaimed album with the the jazz ensemble OVO, which also featured renowned saxophonist David Binney. Frédéric has performed with acclaimed artists such as Musa Dieng Kala, Rémi Bolduc, Le Vent du Nord, Solorazaf and Celso Machado.

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