Alex Kusturok is a Métis fiddler from Manitoba and the son of three-time Canadian Grand Masters champion Patti Kusturok. He won the Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Championship in Alberta in 2013 and has placed in its top three four times. He has also won the Manitoba fiddle championship five times. He performs and teaches the Red River Métis style his mother carries.
Why Kusturok matters
Métis fiddling is a living dance tradition, and it needs young players who can hold a crowd. Kusturok is one of them. He grew up inside the tradition, proved himself on the Western Canadian contest circuit, and now teaches the style to the next group of kids. For a jammer, he is the easiest way into the Red River sound: the tunes are on video, and the player is still out there playing them.
Life and career
Kusturok grew up in Manitoba in the household of Patti Kusturok, a Red River Métis fiddler who won the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship in 1994, 1995, and 1996. She kept a fiddle sized for him in the house from age three and put him in lessons, but she did not force practice. He picked it up on his own, went to fiddle camps, and started competing.
The Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Championship in Alberta became his main stage. He placed fifth in 2009 and third in 2010. In 2013 he won the championship. He placed third in 2017, when he also won the traditional class, and second in 2018, when he also won the Alberta open class. The 2018 results listed him from St. Paul, Alberta. He has also won the Manitoba fiddle championship five times.
He plays house concerts and festival stages across Western Canada. In 2022 he played Red River Jig at a fiddle festival hosted by the B.C. Old Time Fiddlers. He and his mother have played together in public for years. He also teaches, and his introductory fiddling lesson appears in a Métis cultural video series called Keeping Our Tradition.
Playing style
Kusturok plays the Red River Métis style. Its heart is Red River Jig, the tune every Métis dance fiddler must carry, and he has it on video at dance tempo. He also plays the older Métis jigging tunes, the fast tunes used for step dancing, and he has posted a set of them on video.
He learned the style at home. Patti Kusturok describes her own playing as Métis at the core with seasonings from Cape Breton, Don Messer, and Ontario fiddling. She credits her smooth sound to a loose bowing wrist and fingers that move on the bow. Listen for the same loose wrist in his house concert video. His contest results show the other side: the Grand North American championship class demands a clean waltz, jig, and reel plus a tune of choice, and he has won or placed in that class five times.
Influences and legacy
His first and largest influence is his mother, Patti Kusturok, the first woman and the first Western Canadian to win the Canadian Grand Masters. Her own influences were Calvin Vollrath, Reg Bouvette, and Graham Townsend, so those players sit one step behind him. The Grand North American contest put him beside a strong group of Western Canadian fiddlers, including Ben Plotnick, Trent Freeman, and Ethan Harty. Through teaching and video he now passes the Red River style to Métis youth.
Signature tunes and songs
Red River Jig Old Métis jigging tunes.
Awards and honors
Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Championship, fifth place (2009) Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Championship, third place (2010) Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Championship, champion (2013) Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Championship, third place and traditional class winner (2017) Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Championship, second place and Alberta open class winner (2018) Manitoba fiddle champion, five titles
Watch and listen
Kusturok plays Red River Jig at a 2022 fiddle festival. Watch his feet and his bow arm keep the dance pulse together.
A full house concert from November 2017, posted by Patti Kusturok. Listen for the short, driving bow strokes on the reels.
What to learn from Kusturok
Learn Red River Jig from his 2022 video. It is the one tune every Métis fiddler must know, and his version is clean and at dance tempo. Learn it by ear from the video, part by part, and count the beats as he plays them. The technique to steal is the loose bowing wrist his mother teaches. Keep the wrist soft and let the fingers flex on the bow. That is where the smooth, pulsing sound of the Kusturok family comes from.
Sources
Patti Kusturok: Red River Métis fiddler talks legendary career, Manitoba Métis Federation Winners, Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Championship, Wild Rose Old Time Fiddlers Association Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Championship, Wikipedia Canadian Fiddle Hall of Honour: Patti Kusturok, Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Association Past champions and results, Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Association Patti Kusturok, Wikipedia Patti Kusturok official site
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more Canadian fiddlers. His mother Patti Kusturok is the leading voice of the Manitoba Métis style. John Arcand carries the Saskatchewan Métis tradition. Andy DeJarlis recorded the Red River style a generation earlier, and Calvin Vollrath shaped the Alberta contest scene where Kusturok won his title.