Acadian folk rockers Les Hay Babies are making a northern stop as part of their tour of western Canada.
The band, which hails from New Brunswick, is set to play a sold out show The Black Knight Pub in Yellowknife on Monday at 8pm.
Guitarist Vivianne Roy said this is Les Hay Babies first time playing in the Northwest Territories capital.
“It’s just nice to discover all kinds of parts of Canada and especially to go and reach out where there’s Francophone communities,” she said.
Roy said Les Hay Babies started out as a trio between herself, Julie Aubé and Katrine Noël with acoustic guitar, banjo and ukulele that formed for a high school battle of the bands contest.
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“We all went to different schools but once we met each other, it just clicked. And we were all kind-of like little weirdos in our school,” she said, adding they later found out through DNA testing that they are cousins.
“We were all solo artists but we thought it’d just be funner to tour together and have a band together.”
Les Hay Babies has since grown to a five-piece rock band.
The band released their fourth studio album, Tintamarre, in October 2024.
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Tintamarre, meaning racket or din, is an Acadian tradition of marching through the community making as much noise as possible, often taking place on National Acadian Day or August 15.
Acadians are descendants of French settlers who arrived in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island between 1604 and 1755.
Roy said the band wrote their latest album in Louisiana and were influenced by “all kinds of music.”
“That album is kind-of just like a portrait of back home,” she said, adding it is Les Hay Babies first album about l’Acadie, referring to the Acadian cultural region.
“I think there’s so much space to explore modern Acadian music,” she added. “It’s kind-of a neat thing to be able to help develop that and to be able to bring it all around.”
