I got a call out of the blue from a reporter at La Voix Acadienne, the French newspaper from the Evangeline Region in Prince Edward Island.  Did you notice he has the same last name of me?  We are not related as far as I know!!  So he wrote this great article about my motivational speaking engagements, my new show “I’m An Acadian-Canadian, Eh” and my new CD, “AcadieODYSSEY” which I am launching on May 19th.  Made my day.

Here is an English translation of the article:

Jeanette Arsenault lives the “Acadian” example

The new motivational speaker launches her new album “AcadieODYSSEY

Jeanette Arsenault has perhaps not officially lived in an Acadian region per se but she nevertheless considers herself a proud Acadian who has no hesitation in showing her pride.

A popular artist who has performed in other countries around the world, Jeanette Arsenault who lived most of her life in Ontario, left her Acadian mark pretty well everywhere she went.  Daughter of Armand & Priscille Arsenault, she remembers vividly the summers she spent as a young girl in Prince Edward Island – memories that serve her well today.

“For 5-6 weeks, my family would head down to PEI to spend time with our relatives”, she says in a telephone interview.  “My grandmother, Josephine (Arthur’s wife) was an incredible woman.  I learned so much from her and often use her as an example when do my presentations.”

Jeanette now does motivational speaking engagements and she offers inspirational messages to groups who hire her.  She’s been doing this for about a year and her theme is “Living YOUR Dream”.  She talks about her years working on Parliament Hill who dreamed of “being a musician”.  Finally, she decided to take her chances and it’s something she has never regretted doing.

At these conferences, which are usually geared to a particular audience, she talks a lot about her grandmother, Josephine, and of her 14 children.  She also speaks about her grandfather Arthur and how musical their household was.  She uses a lot of “Acadian” examples!

“I ask the audience to reflect on their own lives”, she underlines.  “I ask them if they are following their own dreams.  I ask them to remember the importance of following their own dreams in their own way.  I sing as well in order to highlight different aspects of my presentation.  It’s always so interesting.”

Up until now, Jeanette has worked with many women groups including the Canadian Federation of University Women as well as women in the military in Kingston.  However, her type of audience is open to anyone of any walk of life.  She is receiving more and more requests and her reputation is spreading by word of mouth.

NEW ALBUM “AcadieODYSSEY”

A new album is also on the horizon for Jeanette Arsenault will be launching “AcadieODYSSEY” on May 19 in Wellington, Ontario.  She plays the spoons, harmonica, does a little stepdancing and she sings her own original songs.  On stage, she is a bundle of energy.

“I have always sung and spoken about Acadians in my shows, since the beginning of my musical career.”, she states proudly.  “My goal as an artist is to share the Acadian culture with an English audience who know little or nothing about us.  My show is predominately English because my goal is to really have them understand my heritage.  Often people tell me that my show and stories inspire them to discover their own heritage.”

Jeanette has performed in hundreds of shows.  Notably she has sung for our Olympic athletes and opened for a women’s World Congress  in Helsinki.  Next October, she will present her show in Ottawa for the Association of Acadians in the National Capital Region.

“My dream is to head to the Eastern part of the United States, somewhat like the Acadians had to do during the Deportation and present my show all about my Acadian roots”, she says.  “That is my dream!”

Amherst Island, ON

There is something about water that draws us, calls us, pulls us to her shores.  My Acadian ancestry is closely tied to the water and I have always felt the tug, the connection, the urge to swim, walk along, or just sit on the shoreline.  I’m pretty sure it’s not unique to Acadians!  But probably unique to people like me who have ancestors closely tied to fishing and farming.

It’s more than just being drawn to the water for recreation & fun.  It’s a deep sense of longing to be by the water, it stirs up your soul right to the core.  Inexplainable but deeply felt with a sense of knowing that it’s real and tangible, almost at a molecular level.

I was not born in the Maritimes – like many of my displaced ancestors, I was born outside of the “Acadian” region.  But I feel the connection to my roots passionately and deeply.  Acadians don’t have a “land” per se – Italians have Italy, British have England, French have France – but our sense of belonging is tethered by our roots, our culture, our heritage & our history.  You can learn more about a little-known piece of Canadian History with “I’m An Acadian-Canadian, Eh!” – my tribute to our heritage through storytelling, songs with a bit of stepdancing, harmonica-playing & spoon clacking thrown in.  Contact me to bring the show to your area.  Here is a brief introductory clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqV2HkMn-XY&feature=youtu.be

As I was preparing the slideshow and figuring out which songs I wanted to sing, I thought about both spectrums of life – as children we start out with big dreams in our hearts and then, as adults, we look back on what we have accomplished.

Our lives start with “gonna/wanna/oughta” but how will it finish?   With “oughta/coulda/shouda”? or with “did it/tried it/got the T-shirt”.

Either way, we are going to come to a point where we will look back at what we set out to do and what we ended up doing.  I want a BIG collection of T-Shirts, don’t you?

Are you living YOUR dream?

Had someone guide me as best she could except when she stood right behind & I couldn’t see her!  We worked it out and TA DAH – I did it!  Backed it in straight too.  And best of all, didn’t smash her car parked on the other side of the driveway.  She was happy about that too…haha.

It got me thinking……

I am somewhere in the age range of … let’s just say over 29 and under 100.  I proved to myself that you are never too old to learn something new and that you CAN face a challenge you never thought you could handle.  Ok.  So it WAS just backing up a big truck but still….it’s the little steps that give you the confidence for the bigger steps.

What are you facing in your life?  A big challenge?  Or, a whole bunch of little challenges?  Take the wheel, inch forward, use help if you need to back up a bit, challenge yourself to try something new and trust that you will figure it out one way or the other.

Have you ever been to Prince Edward Island, Canada?  Can you say “fall in love”?  That’s what happens when you visit one of Canada’s prettiest provinces.

Did you know that there is an Acadian region called “Evangeline Region” on the Island?  That’s where my relatives hail from and I am just about finished the recording/mixing of my new Acadian album  to complement my new show “I’m An Acadian-Canadian, Eh!”.

You can expect to hear English, French & Latin songs, and along with some original and traditional songs.  You will also hear a bit of harmonica and a lot of spoon playing.  And for something completely different, you will want to check out The Mi’kmaq song.

If you’ve been to PEI, tell me what you loved best about it.

We sing songs like “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better”, “Ain’t We Got Fun”, “Sunny Side of the Street”, “Bicycle Built For Two”, “Up A Lazy River”, “Glory of Love”, “Bye Bye Blues” to name a few.  And we present it in a musical theatre setting with props & costumes.

I have always said that good songs never die – they just get sung by new generations.  They knew how to craft a good song back in those days – they paid such wonderful attention to the lyrics and the musical melody – no wonder they have stood the test of time.

What always amazes me are the songs written in the early 1930s, a time of depression and economic devastation but yet they wrote the most hopeful, optimistic and joyful songs.  We could learn a lot from that today – forget about anti-depressants:  write yourself a happy tune!

We drove through the Loire Valley & some of the places/historic sites we saw included Chateau Chambord, St. Cyr de Doret, LaRochelle, Ile de Ré, Carcassone, Aigues-Mortes, Nimes, St. Remy, Uzes, Arles, Aix-en-Provence, Ville Stes Maries, L’Espiglette, Pont du Gard, Les Baux de Provence, Châteauneuf du Pape, Gorges d’Ardeche, Cassis, Granes, Mirmande, Marsannes, Crest, St. Jean en Royan & finally by the time we dropped off the car in Grenoble, we had driven 4,444 kms.

Then we hopped on a train which took us through Switzerland, with a stopover in Geneva, change of train in Brig then down through Milan & over to Venice for 10 days in Italy.  Venice is kind of like Rome…but on water.  Boats zigzagging, crisscrossing everywhere – except there are no centre lines dividing up the highway!  There are all kinds of boats – taxis, buses, private, gondolas, cargo boats (you would see TVs, appliances, boxes of stuff zipping by).  We then took a train to Florence for a couple of days then on to Rome for 4 days.

The sights….the sounds….the fashion….the food….the wine…..the culture…..the arts…..the architecture……the landscape….. you don’t just see France & Italy – you experience it.  A feast for the senses.  The history!  Over here in Canada, we get excited if something is over 150 years old.  In Europe, you see buildings & structures that are 1,000 years old!!

I have far too many photos to post here.  I drove 4,444 kms and I probably took just as many photos.   I will go back.   Yearly.  I am hooked.

Trinity (Kim Inch, Renie Thompson & me) released our debut album, “God, Gospel & Girlfriends” in July 2012 at a jam-packed CD launch in Picton, Ontario where we are based.  We included some of our favourite songs such as “O Mary Don’t You Weep”, “How Can You Refuse Him Now?”, “O When The Saints” along with one of each of our original songs.

We had such a fun time for the photo shoot in the wardrobe department of the Regent Theatre which was wonderfully captured by artist/photographer (who calls herself “artsy-razzi” as opposed to paparazzi!).

You can find our new CD at cdbaby.com:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/trinity16

We are also at i-Tunes, Amazon, etc or locally in the Quinte area of Eastern Ontario and soon, you will be able to purchase it directly through Trinity’s website at www.trinityinharmony.com.  Stay tuned!

Do you like modern Christian music with a mix of traditional?  Do you want to support Canadian Independent Artists?  Then this is the CD for you!!

“I’m An Acadian-Canadian, Eh?” – is a tribute to my Acadian family roots and tells of the tragic as well as the triumphant part of little known Canadian history, including the legend of Evangeline, through songs & storytelling sprinkled with a touch of humour. The show was written predominately for an English audience because in my travels, I have learned that they do not know very much about Acadian history so that’s my mission – to share our rich culture with them.

I finally figured out how to select audio clips from my upcoming CD soundtrack, combine them with some photos, try to have the photos change at the right musical moment and make the photos relevant to the part of the song they portray.  Hats off to editors everywhere!! I have sure come to learn to appreciate your what it takes to do this work now!

I have presented this show 5 times now and have 4 more bookings for the Fall – 1 confirmed in North Bay & 3 to be confirmed (Barrie, Belleville & TBA in PEI).

If you would like to see this show in your area, contact me and we can bring it to your town or city, eh!

BPW Canada delegation, Helsinki Finland June 2011

BPW (Business & Professional Women) International’s World Congress in Helsinki, Finland a year ago this month was an unforgettable experience and one of the pinnacles in my musical career – to hear 600 women from over 60 countries around the world sing along with me on “Women of the World” was exhilerating.  A lot of them were in their national costumes, too, which were stunning to see.  Add to that the chance to sing my song in French, Spanish & Italian which really stretched my musical muscle!  You can view a clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJzKi99CJ7E

Heading to London, ON this weekend for BPW Canada’s Convention.  Always energizing to be with dynamic, smart & energetic women who are doing such tremendous work in advancing women’s rights,  education and who also mix in a whole lot of fun along the way.