Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, the French-Canadian band Le Vent du Nord arrives Saturday for a concert in Rochester.

"We are like French Celtics," keyboardist Nicolas Boulerice of Le Vent du Nord said on the phone from Canada.

Le Vent du Nord performs traditional roots music of French-speaking Quebec.

However, explained Boulerice, "Our music is mainly influenced by the Irish. When they came during the 19th century, they were Catholic like the French. It helped to have that bridge with the cultures."

Over the years, those cultures mixed and traded, especially their musical affinities. As a result, Boulerice said, "If we start to play a reel, it's an Irish reel, but in a French way."

Throw in the Scottish and Acadian influences of Canada's Maritimes, and Le Vent du Nord, although singing in French, is like a multi-lingual musical phrase book. The band has toured North America and Europe, and in 2004 won a Juno Award (the Canadian Grammy) for Traditional Album of the Year for "Maudite Moisson." In 2005, Le Vent du Nord did a Canadian television special with the Chieftains.

Meanwhile, Le Vent du Nord's French music has spread to its English-speaking Canadian cousins, as well.

"I think they like it," Boulerice said. "It's part of the difference in our big country. I think in Quebec we are quite a bit different than the rest of Canada. Our roots are older than the west's roots."

For that reason, he said, English-speaking Canadians often find the music of Quebec to be exotic.

"Sometimes it can be exotic for Quebeckers, too," he said. "Many people still don't know about the traditions. They say, 'I heard my grandfather sing something like that. What is that song?'"

Coincidentally, songs their grandparents sang are a prime part of Le Vent du Nord's repertoire.

"Sometimes it's just family stuff," Boulerice said. "I look at the songs of my grandfather or grandmother." Other band members -- Simon Beaudry on guitar, Rejean Brunet on bass and accordion, Olivier Demers on violin -- also rummage through their family songbooks.

And if there happens to be something Gaelic there, all the better, especially with St. Paddy's Day just around the corner.

-- by Tom Weber