Late Night in Gaspésie's National Park - Québec, Canada

Night. Sleep. Silence. Everything quiets down in the Winter months in Québec, and as you cross Gaspésie's National Park at night, it does feel like the whole region is fast asleep.

Not a moose in sight

A moment to reflect and to offer a lullaby to sleepers from other time zones. In the vast and completely deserted National Park of the Québec Peninsula, the feeling that the whole world is in a deep sleep, sets in.

You're very much like these trees [fast asleep], Six time-zones away from these [melodies], may they find you [in your dreams]

Let your Rêveries, and your peaceful slumber, be scented with words from your dearest lover,

Comme le sommeil infin [de Gaspésie], si paisible si loin d'ici, rêve de moi ou de mots [qu'je t'ai dit]

"Like the infinite slumber of Gaspésie, so peaceful, so far from here, dream of me or of words I shared with you."

A peninsula, if you're not familiar with the term, is a area of land, not quite an island but still surrounded by a lot of water. And East (and North) of Québec City, lies the huge almost-island that is Gaspésie.

A view of the night-time coast-line south of the National Park.

This region of Québec is actually bigger than the country of Belgium, and that's where these ukuleles are carrying on their Northern Adventure. Gaspésie. Not Belguim. And in the heart of it, right where Brussels should be, only trees, light snow, and the company of a few rivers, and entertainingly, a ukulele or two.

On a big adventure, ukulele needs rest too

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The nice people behind Cloud Music Ukuleles  are making this adventure #GoingNorth and its lullabies possible

Share your thoughts and sleepy feelings in the comments below !

The Big Arrival in Québec, Québec

Welcome to Québec, musical travellers !

It's in Québec, the Region, and in Québec, the city, that these Ukuleles have landed to kick start their big Northern Adventure.

Technically, they landed a bit West of the capital of French speaking Canada, and then drove up a bit. But the more dramatic part of the arrival was the end of the flight itself: flying over the coast of Greenland.

Where mountains and rocks morph into a blanket of snow, South Greenland

A fitting introduction, considering the theme of this particular adventure (#goingNorth, remember?). Introductions taken care of, the heart of the stay in Québec for my two stringed companions, is taking part in the Uke Fest du Nord, the most Northern Ukulele festival of the globe!

Masterclasses, Open mics, Concerts... all Ukulele-d up for the pleasure of players of the region and various music lovers. To give you a sense of what went on, you can view one of the songs performed there, with a couple of Québecois, either side of a singing European backpacker:

It could seem unusual to have a French-English musician sing an original song about the charm of Ukrainian City Lviv's old walls in French-Canadian Québec. And it is unusual, actually. Good point. But it is also fitting.

Much of Québec's history is hidden inside of its historical city walls, high up in the "haute-ville". The only remaining city walls North of Mexico! And this you may know already, if you've had the pleasure if joining André and these ukes for the Québec Podcast!

Listen to the Ukulele Road Trips Québec Podcast

Guest André, who is, as you will hear, knowledgeable on all matters Québecoises, is the founder of the Ukulele club of Québec, of the Uke Fest du Nord, and also of the most Northern ukulele club of the known Universe, all the way up in Inuit land!

André learning "Inuktituk" while the kids learn Ukulele

Having been assigned many months in the most Northern reaches of the Québec region, he decided to import his passion for music&ukes up there too. 

You can read more about that in the printed annual review-Magazine of the Iniuit villages. Only thing is, you have to fly up there to get your hands on one. Your best move is probably to just let André tell you about it in the Podcast.

So it's in and around Québec's old walls, music and ukuleles flying peacefully around, that the adventure does start.  

Sound the beginning-of-Road-Trip trumpet! 

So it's in and around the walls of this (relatively) old fortress that the adventure starts, as the notes and ukuleles float calmly around the Winter air. 

We're Off ! Woooo! And you can get a postcard from uz on the go! True story. I doodle on them between writing songs and gazing at river banks.

While you ponder, a melody on beginning new adventures:

Decorating the Ukes at the School of Visual Arts - Reykyavik, Iceland

Right before my flight off to Canada and to the Ukulele Festival of Québec, I decided to pop by, unannounced, at the Myndlistaskólinn í Reykjavík, the Reykyavik School of Visual Arts, or as I now refer to it, "that nice really arty place with the amazing view over the sea".

The idea was to get a few students to decorate my Ukuleles with winter-y art-y motives before I embarked on this Northern Road Trip. And the plan went really well, surprisingly.

This is mainly due, I'm guessing, to the great Icelandic open-mindedness. I said hello a few times and then was in the privileged company of the full-time drawing students' class. This is a pretty fantastic proof of Icelandic willingness, which shall be discussed in the Podcasts no doubt, when I make it back to the Island.

Class Teacher Bjarne with students, with a view on the sea

A few of the students quite liked the idea of decorating my ukuleles, and before they started doing so, the teacher asked me if I could play them a song. Unluckily for them. It probably interfered with their concentration more than anything, but they were too kind and polite to actually mention it. Which is very nice of them.

Both Ukuleles got graced with a little snowflake, the smaller uke, getting a bonus (I think) Rjúpa, which is a cute local sea bird they sometimes eat at Christmas.

And that same soprano, lucky thing, also got a wonderful Icelandic-Hawaian inspired woodcarving motif. Icelandic art-student Bergrun carved all the way around it, with an attention and a natural ease that were mesmerising to watch.

And as to make my first stay in Iceland stand out even more in my memory, a young artist drew the very scene of my first video filmed a 30 minute walk away from the school, on the top half of my little ukulele. (You know, the "Going North" video/song)

Ukulele tattoos. The soprano is here about to receive the drawing you can see in the banner at the top of the page.

A Icelandic figure carved into the back of my Cloud Music Tenor Ukulele by Ragnar Blaer Art. Hopefully it's a friendly Icelandic spirit. It's travelling with me anyhow.

I was able to ask a few questions to the head of the drawing department as well as to one of the main teachers, Bjarne. Extracts of both conversations will be in the upcoming Reykjavik podcasts, but while you wait here's the second one, with Bjarne, to quench your curiosity about this school and its students:

And just as Bergrun scratched the last carving into my ukulele's woody flesh, I had to rush off to the airport.

So it's with great gratitude to Bjarne's students, and with beautiful & inspiring artistic additions to my lot, that I head onward to Canada and to the Ukulele Festival of the (different) North: the Québec City Uke Fest du Nord.