A trip to Upper Brittany, whence came the ancestors of many French-Canadians, bringing with them a wealth of songs still sung in the Gaspé region. Philippe Durand and Yann Plunier introduce us to Breton history and culture. Jeannette Maquignon and friends sing work songs, songs to dance to, and laments.
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Chicoutimi carpenter Louis Boudreault epitomized the typical Quebec fiddler. He relates how he learned his trade and his introduction to music by his father, Idas. Having learned the dance music of the Lac Saint-Jean region from his great uncle Thomas Vaillancourt, he explains how good fiddlers learn by connecting with the dancers.
Fiddler and mother Georgina Audet made it her mission to preserve the island’s square dances. She relates how, despite the harsh living conditions and opposition from the church, her father passed on a precious repertoire of songs and square dances, which she now shares at dance evenings at the Château Bél-Air.
Farmer, singer, and fiddler Antonio Bazinet describes the hard life on rocky-soiled Laurentian farms and in logging camps. Songs and fiddle tunes such as “Envoyez de l’avant nos gens,” written by local forestry workers and based on an older theme, capture the period’s joie de vivre.
Musicians from Quebec’s Portneuf region adopted and adapted Irish fiddle and drum tunes. Road worker and fiddler André Alain; carpenter and accordion player Jean-Claude Petit; and bus driver, frame-drum player, and jig dancer Arthur Tremblay introduce us to their lively music.
Gaspé fiddler William Tremblay describes his lifestyle. In times past, Quebec’s quêteux—neither beggars nor homeless—had a social function. They were respected figures who brought news, told tales and stories, cast spells, and were often fine musicians. In exchange, they were welcomed, lodged, and fed.
Florent Lemay, a talented singer and gardener to the Seigneur of Lotbinière, recalls how songs were written back in the day. His neighbour, farmer Joseph Auger, maintained this old tradition of writing songs based on events and happenings in the parish, and Lemay inherited his compositions.
In April, at sugaring off time, farmers descended from the 1837 Patriotes in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu gather in their sugar shacks in a traditional celebration of spring in song. After the last sap is gathered, Josaphat Richer, André Richer and his clan host the families of local singers.
In Quebec, ruine-babines (literally, lip destroyer) is a common term for the harmonica. It’s also the name of a group of young musicians from the Montréal region. Gilles Garand, Louise De Grosbois, and friends embarked on an exploration of their musical roots, and they talk about their discovery of French-Canadian folk music.
Well-known button-accordion player Philippe Bruneau from Montréal tells of how he became an internationally recognized folk musician. His outstanding compositions dedicated to many of Quebec’s great musicians have become and inspiration for generations of young Trad musicians.
Northern Ontario was developed by French-Canadian lumberjacks and miners at the turn of the 20th century. Franco-Ontarian activist Michelle Trottier talks about their hopes and struggles to have their rights respected. A forestry worker sings of and condemns his exploitation. Fiddler Olivas Gagnon plays while his neighbours dance.
This was the name given to French-Canadian neighbourhoods that sprung up around textile mills in New England. Historian Richard Santerre and the family of Rita Paquin talk about their lives and how song nights have managed to preserve a certain Quebec heritage to this day.
Sexton Rosie Pratte, fiddler Charles Pagé, and the last French-speaking families of Old Mines (Vieille Mine), Missouri, talk about life in the old days. They are descendants of French-Canadian voyageur-traders who settled in the Aux-Arcs mountains (Ozarks). A fragile memory that persists…
An encounter with Métis ice fishers from Saint-Ambroise on Lake Manitoba. On Saturday night, we are invited to a dance called by fisher Louis Lamirande. Métis historian Antoine Lussier talks about life in his community, while former fisher Paul Lavallée sings of the accomplishments of Louis Riel and the Métis.
Initially, the Acadians lived peacefully with their ingenious system of dykes and aboiteaux, a technology they brought over from Poitou that allowed them to farm reclaimed tidal marshland without taking anything away from their Mi’kmaq allies. Ethnologist Charlotte Cormier describes what life was like, and Lamèque lumberjack Majorique Duguay expresses it in song.
Folklorist Charlotte Cormier relates how Acadians, having been dispossessed during the Expulsion, maintained their social cohesion and culture through oral tradition, including song. The struggle is not over, and many Acadians are concerned about the future of their people, but no one dares say the dirty words…
Three generations of Acadian fiddlers from Baie Sainte-Marie relate their experiences and their love of music. The fiddling tradition passed from the grandfather Alfred, a lumberjack, to the father Dennis, a caulker, to the son Johnny, a fisher and professional musician. An admirable legacy in one of the oldest Acadian communities.
Founded in 1780 by Acadian refugees, Chéticamp is today the largest Acadian community in Cape Breton (formerly Île Royale). The town’s history is related by well-known educator and Acadian activist Alexandre Boudreau, along with a story from the oral history by fisher Tom Chiasson. They express their concern for the future of the Acadians.
The French-speaking population of Port au Port was made up of Acadian exiles, fishers from Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, and Breton and French deserters. Their descendants preserved a spirit of freedom that can be heard in their music. As the great Newfoundland fiddler Émile Benoît said, Ça vient du tchoeur (It comes from the heart). A touching account!
Every Saturday morning on the KEUN radio station set up at Fred’s Lounge in Mamou, Revon Reed hosts local musicians. He talks about the lives of Cajuns and introduces the Deshôtels brothers, Madam Landreneau, CD Courville, and Nathan Abshire, who perform ballads, waltzes, two-steps, and blues numbers to laisser le Bon Temps rouler…
Radio host and writer Revon Reed relates that the Acadians, expelled from their land in the north, dreamed of owning land in Louisiana, and this became a hallmark of the culture. Fiddlers Aedius Naquin and Dennis McGhee talk about the life of a Cajun musician and their unique style of singing while playing, inherited from the troubadours of the Middle Ages.
Descended from slaves in the former French colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti), Creoles faced discrimination in South American society—too black for some, too French for others. They developed their own style of music: Zydeco. Delton Broussard and Calvin Carrière give us a taste of it, and singer Inez Catalon talks and sings about her life in Kaplan.
International star Zachary Richard talks about his journey as a musician, explaining how the American melting-pot ideology tried to eradicate Cajun culture in the U.S. After years of shame, young musicians such as the band Coteau and Michael Doucet are taking up the torch. Richard performs his resistance song “Réveille!”
"The commune of Gençay, in Haut-Poitou, invites you to an evening of music at the Dognon.” Singer Huguette Compagnon describes the prejudices faced by speakers of the Poitevin dialect. Ethnologist Michel Valière talks about his fieldwork and explains the urgency of preserving cultural diversity in France and around the world.
Educator and musician Jany Rouger introduces us to accomplished folk musicians from Bas-Poitou: basket maker and fiddler Paul Micheneau, and square-dance fiddler Maximin Rambaud, who leads the figures of old-style dances, a forerunner of the modern-day caller. Rouger explains why it’s so important to continue this tradition.
A trip to Upper Brittany, whence came the ancestors of many French-Canadians, bringing with them a wealth of songs still sung in the Gaspé region. Philippe Durand and Yann Plunier introduce us to Breton history and culture. Jeannette Maquignon and friends sing work songs, songs to dance to, and laments.
Bretons descend from the Celts, and France once banned their language and culture. An eloquent example for understanding, in reverse, the assimilation of certain French-speaking communities in the Americas. Philippe Durand refutes the mechanics of colonialism, and Emmanuel Kerjean and Lomig Denniou answer with melodies and call-and-response songs (Kan ha diskan).
Fiddler Junior Crehan de Clare tells us how after working in the fields and caring for the animals, there is sometimes a little time left over for music. Farmer James Gleeson, poet Liam O’Muirthliem, and the musicians and dancers of Gleeson’s Pub reveal what they have in common with Ireland: music and the quest for freedom.
Francophone culture in North America is largely rooted in music, songs and folk dances passed on from generation to generation. And there is a connection between the vibrancy of these traditions and their minority status, since French-speaking communities have been able to preserve their identities and fend off assimilation in part by holding on to their folk traditions. The development of francophone communities in the New World is better traced through their music—so intimately linked to daily life, work and events—than through history books. The films in this series pursue a goal, shared by many Quebec filmmakers, to shine a spotlight on a people whose voice and right to “memory” had been stripped away. In offering those who did not generally have access to public forums a place to speak, direct cinema developed an original discourse that ran counter to official statements from politicians, historians and academics—in short, those who tended to monopolize the usual channels of communication. In this sense, this series does not seek to perpetuate the myth of a French North America that disappeared in the mid-18th century, a myth maintained by US, English-Canadian and French historians. Rather, through sound and music, it depicts the ongoing presence of four French Peoples in North America: Quebecers, Acadians, Métis and Créoles. The originality of the North American French “sound” draws upon both French and Celtic influences. To better understand its roots, five of the films were shot in Vendée, Poitou; in Upper and Lower Brittany; and in Ireland. The 27 films in the series have clear archival value, but they also bear witness to a North America that would not be the same without its francophone influence. The filmmakers, André Gladu and Michel Brault, wanted to use francophone musical traditions to demonstrate how francophones contributed to building the North America we know today.
Pitou Boudreault, violoneux (English Version)Michel Brault et André Gladu 1976 26 minChicoutimi carpenter Louis Boudreault epitomized the typical Quebec fiddler. He relates how he learned his trade and his introduction to music by his father, Idas. Having learned the dance music of the Lac Saint-Jean region from his great uncle Thomas Vaillancourt, he explains how good fiddlers learn by connecting with the dancers.
