National Post from Toronto, Ontario, Canada • 37

ARTS LIFE NATIONAL POST. THURSDAY. MAY 1. THE HOBBIT British actor Ian McKellen will reprise the role of 6 Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson the wizard Gandalf in the upcoming movies based on JT offered me the part, and he confirmed that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, he told a film magazine.

AwC I would be reprising the role. Obviously, it's The 68-year-old star played the part in the hugely sue- 1 ar not a part that you turn down, I loved playing cessful Lord of the Rings trilogy directed by j' Gandalf." Del Toro will move to New Zealand for Jackson. Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del the next four years to work on both Hobbit films Toro has been named to direct two films with executive producer Jackson, according based on The Hobbit. "Yes, it's true," Mc- I i t0 New ne Cmema an(- Metro-Goldwyn- Kellen told Empire magazine. "I spoke to I I Mayer Studios.

Reuters Who wouldn't want to wear a long, white beard and cast spells? My worldbeat includes Quebec Poet staves la I I 1. 1 Connections, a music festival held every January in Glasgow that attracts 100,000 people. Genticorum played there in 2007, and the 2009 lineup is scheduled to feature other traditional acts from Quebec. "They're such a great band with a real vitality and they went down really well with the crowd. I think Celtic and traditional Quebecois music share the same immediate spontaneity, and the dance forms in particular are really similar.

Quebec's call-and-response songs are very like the Gaelic tradition." Another young Quebecois band, La Vent du Nord, is also in high demand at fes I UNIVERSAL Sigourney Weaver credits her success to being willing to take on different types of roles. Alien star redirects career in three new films An actress in her prime off poverty in exotic Edmonton In the third and final instalment of our series on Canadians honoured by the Guggenheim Foundation with a 2008 fellowship, Adam McDowell speaks with British Columbia-raised, Edmonton-based writer Tim Bowling. Though he's written three novels and a memoir Qast fall's The Lost Coast: Salmon, Memory and the Death of Wild Culture), Bowling's first love is poetry. He explains how his Guggenheim grant will help get the verses flowing. Congratulations on being the only Canadian writer to win a Guggenheim Fellowship this year.

What do you think won it for you? A Thank you. This was my first application, so I was doubly surprised. I'd like to believe it's purely the quality of my poetry that swayed the advisors. I think maybe it's a benefit being outside of the United States. You're a bit of an unknown quantity, so they might judge you purely on the basis of your work.

Being in Edmonton as opposed to other parts of Canada is even more off the radar. I don't know if it's exotic, but it might be to someone in New York. 0 What did you propose work on in your Guggenheim application? A Poetry. I focused on that because it's really what I would prefer to work on. I specifically asked to write poems about my background in salmon fishing on the Fraser River.

I'm pleased that the selection committee wasn't put off that I'm writing about a place that's not commonly written about in North American poetry. Poems are never simply about what they're about. The Fraser River and salmon fishing is a way into the traditional poetic obsessions with mortality and time and memory. What does the award help you do? A Well, it's a huge relief. I've lived for years pretty hand-to-mouth.

It does exactly what the foundation's mandate is: It'll certainly allow me to finish a manuscript. I've got three kids, I'm always delighted when I can buy myself some time to write poems. I live pretty cheaply, so I can make go pretty far. The time it gives me is wonderful. Artists are always translating money into time.

I Iowever, my wife says poetry's a great motivator wait, not poetry, poverty. You can see how close those words are. 0 So you're all ready to write some poems now? A You can't force poems, but they do come. They will come. National Post amcdovelliginationalpoiit.eam lUMHirr Tim Bowling is the only Canadian riter to in Guggenheim fellowship this year.

4 I Traditional times find an audience on global stage By Brad Frenette Alexandre de Grosbois-Garand's father "was playing the harmonica in the birth room when I was born. And my mother was playing harmonica while she was pregnant And they were both playing fiddles around that time, too. And there were always big music parties at my parents' place." So it's not surprising that Alexandre grew up to become the singerflutist of the Montreal-based folk band Genticorum. In fact, his experience as the son of Quebecois music promoter and musician Gilles Garand was typical of the pre-referendum nationalism that was in full sway in La Belle Province at that time. Now, as the toddlers of 1980 come of age, the jovial chansons of Quebec are enjoying the attention of the world music community.

Alexandre's band, formed in 2001, has just released their third album, La Bibournoise. Genticorum mined the musical archives or found songs at foot-stomping, fiddle-wagging, live music house parties for their songs. The traditional takes on the album evoke vivid images, from a song about a monk's clandestine manoeuvre to get his lover into the monastery, to a song about a cat who foils the bird-and-rodent wedding menu of a poor couple. As with other folk canons, the traditional Quebecois songs often take on a history of their own, with new verses, melodies and instrumentation added over the years by generations of musical interpreters. "We try to stick to the spirit of the music," says Alexandre, The traditional Quebecois songs take on a history of their own "but also enrich it with our different backgrounds and personalities.

It's not the fixed tradition like classical music so we can do pretty much what people have always done and change a few notes. We have so many ways to learn music now with CDs and internet and MP3s. People before would go to a dance evening or a party, hear a sound or tune, come back home and try to remember it" The band has brought their music (a mix of "party music and slow waltzes or to festivals in places as far afield as Australia, Denmark, Scotland, Egypt, Malaysia and Israel. "Genticorum gave a brilliant performance," says Donald Shaw, organizer of Celtic Quohrcol band I.c Will translate well tivals around the world, and recently topped world music godfathers Peter Gabriel and Youssou N'Dour on the BBC Radio 3 world charts. "Our music is world music the second we go out of Quebec," says Nicolas Boulerice.

La Vent du Nord have toured extensively. "Scotland responds very well to our music. And all the Scandinavian countries. Maybe because we both know winter." Roddy Campbell, editor of the Canadian worldfolk music magazine Penguin Eggs, reckons that it might be a bit early to call Quebec music the next big thing in world music, but he does note that "Quebec bands are certainly receiving critical praise for their recordings in both the European and U.S. folk press.

Acts like Le Vent du Nord, Genticorum, Yves Lambert, Charbonniers de l'Enfer and Les Chauffers a Pieds play most of the major European festivals." The ubiquitous New York-based world music label, Pu-tumayo, which has recently released blanket compilations from Israel and Africa, recently announced an upcoming compilation to mark the 400th birthday of Quebec City. The album, due in June, will feature Le Vent du Nord and other artists from the province, with partial proceeds directed to Jeunes Musiciens du Monde, a Quebec-based school that provides children with training in traditional music. For Alexandre, the appeal of the traditional songs of the Quebecois is clear. "Quebecois music is rich and fun. The kids always love it, and I think that's a very good sign.

I think people who don't like it are people who listen to with a misconception. Especially in Quebec, where people think it is good only for Christmastime and St. Jean Baptiste Day. You don't have to make it fall into a time of the year, and I think the success it gets all over the world reflects that reality." I Genticorum play the Palais Montcalm in Quebec City today, the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, tomorrow, and the Hying Cloud Folk Club in Toronto on May 4. For audio and video samples, visit National Post bfrenetteiifnutionatimst.com KAPTIMK (illlMON du Nord (1 ml llu-ir music in cold climates.

plays a scientist investigating the discovery of an extraterrestrial planetary life form which could lead to mankind's the melodrama The Ice Storm, the political comedy Daw and a string of indie pictures in between. To put a fine point on it, she earned Oscar nods the same year for the dramatic biopic Gorillas in the Mist and the social studies comedy Working Girl. Not surprisingly, Fey is a big fan. "We were so shocked and pleased that she agreed to be in the movie," she says. "She is really funny and very warm.

And she got to improvise a lot, which she enjoyed." Weaver confirms she had fun. "The Baby Mama set was such a free and relaxed atmosphere," recalls the actress. And quite a contrast, by necessity, to Avatar, in which By Bob Thompson Hollywood, as usual, is desperately seek-ing young actresses, but there a few ladies in their prime who continue to keep busy. Susan Sarandon, co-starring in Speed Racer, is in demand. Meryl Streep, featured in the summer musical Mamma is too.

And then there's Sigourney Weaver, who is having a year of living actively. The 58-year-old has a co-starring part in Tina Fey's Baby Mama, which was No. 1 at the box office last week. She just wrapped James Cameron's 3-D sci-fi epic Avatar in New Zealand and she's currently shooting the Tim Allen comedy Crazy on the Outside, So much for the fading-star syndrome, although this trio may be an exception to that rule. And Weaver thinks she knows why: All three are willing to take on different roles.

"Once you're over 40, the parts are much more interesting," she says. "And I don't want to speak for them, but I think we like to keep at it, and we're not that snobby about what we do." Variety certainly was the hallmark of Weaver's career before she was 40. Her break through came at age 29 playing the heroic Ripley In Alien, which led to three nvne Alien scl-fi terror flicks and an Oscar nomination for hvr Aliens performance. Over the years, she's been highlighted in such diverse roles as the Ghost hu.iters films, demise. "We picked up like we'd never been apart, like an old married couple," she says.

"I admire him. He invented these 3-D cameras, operated them on almost every shot." The actress reports that her director also "designed the whole concept of this different world and invented so many of the creatures" existing in another dimension. But Weaver admits she hesitated when Cameron first invited her to take the role. She knew the filming, mostly in New Zealand, would be isolating as well as gruelling (because of the special effects demands). "He had thought about making my character a man as well, but had decided In the end that he wanted the person to be a woman," she says When she finally read the script she was overwhelmed.

"I teased him because, to me, I'm channeling Jim Cameron, this brilliant, approach-driven, idealistic perfectionist," Weaver says. "But that same somebody has a great heart underneath." This is in sharp contrast to her latest role In Crazy on the Outside, the comedy she's filming In her hometown of New York Citv. "I play Tim Allen's sister," Weaver says smiling. "He gets out of prison, but I've told everyone he's been an artist In residence at the Louvre. So she's really obnoxious, but means well, too." National Pont bthomimon at nationaltutHt.com Vncc you're over JO, ihc parts are more interesting Cameron reunited with his Aliens star.

She says the two-decade wait was worth it. And, she adds tcasingly, so will the wait for Cameron's breakthrough 3-D blockbuster tentatively scheduled to be released next May. "It was quite an adventure," says Weaver. "Avatar was a demanding shoot, but It was very exhilarating because we were all doing something we had never done before. You look at these 3-D dailies and they're so beautiful." In the scl-fi thriller, Weaver.