Daniel Heïkalo: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• Arthur Bull
• Eugene Chadbuorne
• René Lussier
• Pierre Tanguay

• Arthur Bull & Daniel Heïkalo

Genres:

Type1, New Age Music, Rock Music, World & International Music

Decades Active:

1980's|1990's|2000's

Although active since the 1970s, Daniel Heïkalo remains largely unknown, even from avant-garde music fans. A true original, he always seemed to be more concerned with creating art than making it available to the public. A talented guitarist, flutist, drummer, and musique concrète composer, Heïkalo approaches music from free improvisation, mostly, but often throws in ethnic elements and surprising home-made instruments. He also photographs, draws, and writes poetry, and has exhibited and published in all of these fields.

Heïkalo was born in 1954 in a French-speaking low-class neighborhood of Montréal. His father had Acadian, Ukrainian, and Abenaki blood, while his mother, although of unknown origins (she was adopted), had the tastes of a gypsy. The word also applies to Heïkalo who since his teens embodies the hippie/gypsy artist type.

Creativity and art were a natural part of his upbringing. He wrote and drew throughout his teens and in the mid-'70s took part in the post-L'Infonie Montréal avant-garde music scene, co-founding the Ensemble de Musique Improvisée de Montréal. But as things were about to coalesce with the inception of Ambiances Magnétiques, Heïkalo relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1982. There he perfected his guitar playing, taught flute, and dozens of other things. His first real break came in 1993, when his CD, Thoughts for My Father, received critical acclaim and was even nominated for an East Coast Music Award. He began to play more concerts and festivals, usually as a solo act. Around 1996 he started to collaborate with guitarist Arthur Bull and in 2000 the duo released Dérapages à Cordes on Ambiances Magnétiques. This album and an invitation to play at the ~2001 Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville gave Heïkalo his first international exposure. He also released two CDs on his home imprint Heïkalo Sound Productions during the same period : The Art of the Prepared Guitar, a set of solo performances from 1996-1999, and Endroits Inquiétants, a collection of electro-acoustic works.

- François Couture, All Music Guide