Jean-François Bélanger

Over the years, composer and multi-instrumentalist Jean-Francois Bélanger has refined his own personal and poetic vision of traditional music. His finely-honed compositions have led reviewers to underscore his depth, originality and versatility.

After studying violin for a number of years, he began exploring rare and unusual instruments and taught himself the twenty or so currently in his collection. In recent years, his approach has centred principally on Scandinavian traditional music. The use of rarely-heard instruments such as the nyckelharpa, kontrabasharpa and tenorharpa, all Swedish keyed fiddles, give his recordings and performances a unique sound and pique the listener curiosity.

After three years of dedicated work, he finished recording a two-part instrumental composition, the first of which, Les vents orfèvres, is dedicated to aspects of the spirit and was released in 2014. The second part, more tribal and based on the forces of nature, was released in 2017. Along with three other album releases of his own compositions, Cap-aux-Sorciers, Avant la dérive and Les mauvais conseils, he has also collaborated on more than twenty recordings with other well-known musicians, among them La Bottine Souriante, La Volée d’Castors, Yves Lambert and Genticorum.