Accompanied by long forgotten musical instruments - cittern, mandore, oud, vielle and more - three troubadours bringing echoes from another era are coming to Vancouver. As part of the Jeunesses Musicales concert programme, Steve Grenier, Francois Rainville and Francois Perron transport us to far away places in the distant past - Europe and the Middle East between the 12th and 16th centuries. Their compositions are an enchanting and eclectic ensemble : an erudite and surprising blend of Celtic, Arabic, and Irish influences. The group Skarazula is not bound by any purist principles and they take great liberties in their music : adding a zest of feeling to the magic potion, the group manages to preserve the spirit of the medieval period in a re-creation of the past that is still very much alive today. "We play medieval music and we love to push the discovery a bit further to compose our own music, using instruments we make ourselves," explains Steve Grenier.

Legend has it that these three musicians fell into the medieval cauldron several years ago. Why Skarazula ? Because this word sounds like a magic and mysterious formula. It means “reed” and “fennel”, two ingredients that are supposed to be effective in warding off evil sprits. Skarazula came into being in 1999, and since then, the three musicians have covered a lot of ground together. Their first album, Ostara, sold over 5,000 copies in Quebec. Recently taken on by Jeunesses Musicales, which has a mandate to get young musicians heard and give them experience in performance, Skarazula is now doing concerts in a network of 13,000 schools across Canada. Their striking and natural manner of dressing in medieval fashion and wearing their hair long attracted the attention of film director Denys Arcand, who chose them to play in his last film, l’Âge des ténèbres (The Dark Ages). In it, the musicians play their own roles and four pieces from Ostara have been selected for the musical score of the film.

Saturday, March 29 at 8 pm | Western Front | 303 East 8th avenue | Vancouver (Canada)