Naissance
Antoine Dufour is emerging as one of Canada’s young stars of acoustic, fingerstyle guitar. With a recent CD of original material that was released to critical acclaim, along with appearances and awards at major festivals, Antoine is building a national reputation for innovation and creativity. He will be touring across Canada in 2006 as a member of the International Guitar Night, an all-star evening of the best original guitarists/composers in North America. Dufour was born in the little town of l’Epiphane, near Montreal. He started playing guitar at the age of 15. He studied at the CEGEP of Joliette, where his teacher made him listen to Leo Kottke, Don Ross and Michael Hedges. His life and his vision of the guitar changed, and since then he has been completely devoted to fingerstyle steel string guitar. His musical style is a mix of the powerful rhythms of rock, the sensibility of classical music, a funky groove, and a pure folk melody. Dufour recently played at the 2005 Montreal Jazz Festival and at the 2005 Canadian Guitar Festival, where he was awarded 2 nd prize in the Fingerstyle Guitar Championship. He has appeared in concert and given workshops throughout Quebec, produced a video in Fall 2003, and released his 2 nd CD in 2004. Dufour’s style continues to develop, bounded only by his imagination and his technical dexterity. As he says, “The acoustic guitar is an instrument which has a very rich sound, and offers infinite possibilities to the player.