Community Arts and Traditional Arts

Traditional arts masters keep folk arts alive

Seven traditional arts masters are making sure it still gets done right - that traditional arts are passed on as they have been for generations. With the help of the Maine Arts Commission's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program, the masters are teaching their art forms to apprentices who will carry on the traditions. Together, they will ensure the voices of past generations will still be heard, that skills which were essential for the survival of past generations will not be buried under microchips and modern machinery.


	Lila Cancelarich, center, and other traditional arts apprentices learn traditional Acadian songs in Fort Kent. Photo by Keith Ludden.

The Maine Arts Commission's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program provides an opportunity for master artists to pass on their skills to qualified apprentices. Funds are available for the master artist's teaching fee, apprentices' supplies or travel costs, and documentation of the apprenticeship.

In the St. John Valley, Rachel LeBlanc has been teaching a group of women the French Acadian ballads she learned from her father. Some of the ballads, Complaints in French, speak of tragedies in the logging camps, some tell sorrowful tales of soldiers leaving for the Napoleonic Wars, many are centuries old. The master and her apprentices have been gathering throughout the summer at the home of folklorist Lisa Ornstein to learn the traditional tunes and lyrics. LeBlanc's daughter Lucie serves as a journeyman singer to the group. She says the songs are important, "because it's the story of our ancestors. We're retelling the story like they were."

In Ripley, Bud Kluchnik has been teaching Shawn O'Donnell, the art of making Canadian head yokes for working oxen. This summer, O'Donnell built a bow yoke from tree to harness. "Building this yoke, however, did more than teach one individual or allow a pair of steers to work," says Kluchnik. The project also taught O'Donnell about woodworking, safety, culture, animal husbandry and tradition.


	Traditional arts master Fred Légère plays the harmonica to accompany two dancing wooden puppets, which he has carved. Photo by Keith Ludden.

"If you wanted to, you could still do it the old way and you could do just as much," says Kluchnik. "It's a lifestyle... there's no personality in a tractor. You can't eat the tractor when you're done."

Franco-American music is well represented in the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program. In Jay, harmonica player and carver Fred Légère has teamed up with apprentices Joshua Anchors and Adele St. Pierre to pass on French music traditions. Légère plays harmonica to accompany the dancing of small wooden puppets, which he carves.

A little further west in Rumford, button-box musician Normand Gagnon is working with apprentice Steve Muise to preserve some of the Franco-American button-box tunes. Muise is a member of the music group called Northern Twist, or Boreal Tordu in French. Muise's band mate, Ron Bonnevie, is apprenticing with step dancer Cindy Larock, who is herself an alumnus of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program. Larock studied with Quebequois master step dancer and musician Benoit Bourque to refine her step dancing technique, which she is now passing on to Bonnevie.

In Portland, Cambodian musician Pirun Sen is continuing to teach the art of playing traditional Cambodian music to his apprentice, Anthony Chhem. For Sen, who spent eight years as a Buddhist monk, music is a form of meditation, a way of focusing his concentration and muting the daily distractions in life. For 20 years, he has recruited and trained Cambodian musicians in the Portland area, forming them into the Samaki Ensemble, which tours the state.


	Pirun Sen teaches traditional Cambodian music to his apprentice, Anthony Chhem. Photo by Keith Ludden.

Also in Portland, Oscar Mokeme is teaching traditional Nigerian healing practices to his son Obi. Mokeme is descended from traditional healers of the Igbo people of Nigeria. His healing practices, which Mokeme says are thousands of years old, include the use of masks to tell spiritual stories related to healing. Oscar is also director of the Museum of African Tribal Art in Portland.

The Maine Arts Commission's Traditional Arts program is always seeking to work with new traditional arts masters. Anyone interested in learning more about the program may visit MaineArts.com. They may also contact Keith Ludden, community arts & traditional arts associate, at 207/287-2713, 207/287-2360 TTY or keith.ludden@maine.gov.