Harpist and vocalist Janelle Nadeau provides a refreshing approach to the harp. This classically-trained harpist plays a variety of Celtic, Spanish and popular music as well as her own compositions.
Janelle’s experience with co-writing opened new doors for her, encouraging her to use her voice, as well as the harp, to express her music. This born-and-raised Manitoba farmer’s daughter makes her career as a harpist in Vancouver but each August Janelle returns to the family’s grain farm to help with harvest. Janelle’s small town farming roots, coupled with her humorous and charismatic persona, guarantee engaging music that will capture the hearts of any audience.
Janelle is now branching out with the release of her debut CD, These Roads.
The album is a 12-song showcase of Janelle’s passion for harp-playing and singing. Three songs are traditional instrumentals, one is a vocal tune written by Manitoba artist Ruth Moody, and another is a previously unreleased song written by Manitoba music heavyweights Alana Levandoski and Jaylene Johnson.
However, Janelle is most excited to share the seven songs she wrote, or co-wrote with Johnson.
One of the songs, Grant Us Pardon, was influenced by Janelle’s 2013 visit to Rwanda. Janelle met with genocide victims, and also had a chance to meet with an African father who was forced into war.
Performers Ian Mackie (drum/percussion) and Stephen Fisk (guitar/bass/vocals) accompany Janelle on the CD - a fitting selection, as Fisk also produced and recorded the album.
While this is Janelle's first CD, she is already an accomplished musician. In 2008, Janelle graduated from the Harp Performance Program at the University of British Columbia. She has been touring western Canada and the Yukon for the last eight years with the acclaimed music group Winter Harp, which performs Celtic, medieval, and classical music. She has toured with the Canada National Youth Orchestra, Home Routes and Manitoba Arts Council, performed with the Vancouver Opera and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and even backed up Kanye West during a Vancouver performance.
Janelle is also especially proud of her work with the Health Arts Society, and has done about 200 concerts with them in care homes, hospitals, and palliative care centres. For instance, during one performance, Janelle recalls a stroke victim who hadn't spoken in three years. When Janelle started performing Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World, the patient started singing the lyrics.
Janelle’s interesting musical history has earned the respect, and notice, of others. Winnipeg radio host Ace Burpee (Virgin Radio 103) named Janelle one of 100 Most Fascinating Manitobans of 2013 (Janelle was #51 to be precise).
Janelle was also selected as one of five finalists in the On the Coast region of CBC Radio’s Searchlight contest with her song Leavin’ (co-written with Jaylene Johnson and Arun Chaturvedi).
Janelle Nadeau Group is..
Janelle Nadeau - Harp/Vocals
Stephen Fisk - Guitar/Vocals
Ian Mackie - Drums
"I really was impressed by Janelle’s talent, poise, humour and her all-around good sense in reading her audience." – Killarney Guide
"I am feeling so privileged that I just have to share this with you. I attended the concert put on by the Flin Flon Arts Council last night and I do not remember ever attending a concert that was so compelling, so beautiful and so haunting. I still have the wondrous strains rolling thru my mind. Thank you for your part in continuing to bring this high level of entertainment to our doorstep. A job well done." – Linda
"Nadeau’s natural soprano voice added its own charm, performing What Child is This with sweet innocence as well as expressive Friendly Beasts." – Winnipeg Free Press
"Janelle seems to become the song, rather than be a person reading music and playing an instrument" – Faye
