University of North Dakota professor Virgil Benoit secured an Arts Legacy grant from the NWMAC to sponsor a French Canadian band and dance group from Winnipeg to perform at a French Canadian Metis Music and Dance Festival (AFRAN). That event is annual and is held the fourth weekend in August.

The group performed musical numbers and vocals that are traditional and contemporary among musicians of French Canada and their audiences in both Canada and the United States. Their performances were introduced with background pertinent to the group’s style, its musical instruments, and the place the songs and music hold in the Canadian, French-Canadian and Metis communities where the group plays and draws its inspiration.

Benoit discusses the history of the French in the northern United Sates and why history is relevant today.”