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Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
I'm emailing a few, but I'm mostly leaving this one up to the rest of you, because I trust you, whatever way you take this. We also have some members on site here from the province of Quebec and the greater Canadian Maritimes who I've grown to respect and look forward to seeing contribute to this.
So, let's see you 'educate' in your best fashion. I'm always rattling on so in this case will open the doors wide and step back from it for a spell.
What does 'crooked' mean to you? Do you like or dislike this species of tune? What are your favourites, and the contrary ~ tunes, musicians, recordings?
Oh I so want to rattle a few off, but I said I won't, so I won't... However, I will admit I have enjoyed some lovely quirky tunes in my time...
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Hey "c"
Jeremy always props the doors wide open here so don't wear out yourself holding them open especially because you've been sick and need to conserve your energy. Anyway, I always think of crooked tunes as containing a number of bars or beats of music beyond what's expected or customary.
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
I agree with Laitch's comment about the crooked tune but I also believe one that is syncopated putting a high stress on an off beat to be quite crooked. There are plenty of syncopation examples which work (Frank's Reel) but others that just sound off, in my opinion (Catharsis). There is another Gmaj tune which I heard recently enough which had an awful off-beat in the second part, throwing the rhythm up in the air.
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
There's (The?) Roseville by Daithi Sproule with two extra crotchets inserted separately in the last part; nice tune. I think it misses something if it's streamlined into ordinary 3/2, or is it 3/4 time, and docked of these notes. Played as written, it's not the easiest of tunes to play in a session that doesn't know it already!
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
"Crooked tune" seems to me to be a very weak translation of « toune croche », "croche" being a highly idiomatic word in Québécois French, loaded with layers of meaning - bent, wrong, fishy, worthy of suspicion, deceitful, mendacious, and so on.
Anyway I can't be bothered with the (tounes croches) - I find them confusing and at bottom unsatisfying. Especially now that people are making them up deliberately rather than misremembering "straight" tunes.
Don't agree that the definition can be applied to ghastly syncopated tunes so long as they have the usual 8 bars per part with no extra beats in any of the bars.
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
When Breanndan Begley and Caoimhin o'Raghallaigh played their USA tour, one of their prized tunes was a crooked setting of A Fig for a Kiss, which came from Paddy Cronin. All it had was one extra beat, holding the final E note, but it gave it just some kind of twist to make it a really sexy, playable tune. Tough to get around at first, but now, it's second nature.
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
There's a Willy Taylor jig - at least I think it's one of his - that seems to have some notes missing (or is it added?) in the second part; it always gets played thus in sessions I go to, and I can assure you incompetence on the part of the regulars is not a factor!
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
I haven't counted and I'm enjoying the Highland Park a bit too much to bother checking, but I think a Billy Pigg tune called "The Surprise" has extra bars in it, which is great for buggering up unsuspecting guitar accompanists who are getting above themselves. In other words, guitar accompanists.
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
I'm surprised no one thus far has mentioned the "Guns of the Magnificent Seven," a great three part reel which drops a beat in the C part. Like the one Steve mentioned, it's entertaining to watch guitarists and bodhran players fall flat on their faces when you play it.
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Sometimes they hust come that way, without any cajolling. I think the best tunes of this nature come that way, more of a tickle than a large deep pothole, a hiccup or a burp rather than a full blown tummy ill wretch...
Here's one example as it came on me, and made its own decisions to be other than 'normal' ~
There are several collections out there that have a selection. Here is just one ~
"Danse ce Soir: Fiddle and Accordion Music of Quebec"
by Laurie Hart and Greg Sandell ~ includes CD...
~ 122 traditional and original tunes. The text (in French and English) contains a wealth of info - history, biographies, discography, extensive discussion of piano accompaniment, maps, festivals, analysis of styles, more. 192 pp.
While I like some of these 'new' tunes (20th C. forward) I am mostly in agreement with Jeeves Tones. You can tell when too much effort goes into it and they can sound very self-conscious and clumsy, for display. I like things you can dance to, and some of these you can, but others bring a wince and are more akin to the earlier mention ~ potholes rather than a tickle, uncomfortable rather than humourous. When you do something 'for effect', it can sound 'affected' and silly. But some are quite fun, have that humour in them rather than the egotistical notion that it's saying "see what I can do!"
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
This is a wonderful discussion. Eastern European dance rhythms, melodies deriving from irregular bar length lyrics and therefor serving the story, tradition passed down accurately from eccentric players, learning which improves the brain! All the best reasons to be a musician. Currently my favorite is "Chinkapin Hunting" as played by Chris Norman on "The Man With the Wooden Flute". Do we have an ABC posting of this tune? Would somebody please put one up? Thanks!
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Why do you say that 'Hommage a Omer Dumas' is a crooked tune? I consider that a straight tune.
A few of the crooked tunes I like include 'Tolka Polka' by Donal Lunny, 'Turlutte d'Antonio Bazinet' - just slightly crooked in the A part, and tunes from "Airs Tordus" vol. 1 and 2 edited by Liette Remon and Guy Bouchard with accompanying cd. My favorites from there include Eskimo's Reel, Reve du Queteux, Reel des Voyageurs, Galope de Joseph Couture, Reel d'Issoudun, Andre a Toto, la Tugue Carreautee, Gigue de M. Lasante, la Contredanse with A and B parts switched, la Pecheuse, Reel en Re d'Andre Alain, Cyclone, la Grondeuse (or Ronfleuse), and Bacon Reel.
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
I *love* ‘crooked’ tunes but find them quite difficult to play, as conditioned as I am by ‘straight’ tunes! I agree they need to be played really well to be effective. When played by those outside the tradition who haven’t grown up listening to them they can sound confusing rather than ‘crooked’.
I have 2 LPs called Old Native and Métis Fiddling in Manitoba (volumes 1 and 2), Falcon Productions, 1987. They were recorded in 1985/86 as part of a Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Recreation program and consist of field recordings of Manitoba traditional fiddlers of Saultaux (Native Indian) and Métis (mixed blood: Native Indian/Scots/Irish/ French Canadian) heritage. Old tapes were also included in the collection. The extensive sleeve notes are a book in themselve of certain forms of Canadian traditional music. It’s wonderful, genuine, full-bodied music which is comparable to the richness of sean nos expression in the Irish tradition.
" Old Native and Métis fiddling in Canada's Northwest is a unique phenomenon which is largely unknown outside of its own communities. It combines the tunes and some of the style of the French Canadian and Scottish fur traders (and later tunes from American, Ukrainian and other musicians) with some of the phrasing and expression of traditional Native music. This results in highly complex musical structures. The French-Canadian roots of the music are obvious, especially in the vigourous bowing and tapping of the feet in order to emphasize the rhythm. However the uneven phrase lengths of the phrases and the way the tunes are constructed owe much to the Native heritage of the musicians and make this style of fiddling unique to North America.
To many people, Native and non-native alike, the old tunes are considered to have ‘crazy rhythm’. Many players have moved away from the old style, finding themselves more attracted to the smooth, symmetrical fiddling they hear on the radio and on commercial recordings. Some just never hear the old tunes anymore and so forget them; while others, in trying to survive between two worlds of white and Native, have discarded some elements of their cultural past which might not seem in keeping with the ‘modern’ world. But some hang on tenaciously, insisting on playing the old tunes in the ‘old-time’ way. This collection is meant to be a tribute to the fiddlers, an inspiration to others and a means of passing on this complex and highly creative tradition to future generations.”
The notes explain the origins of tunes and their musical structures at length and in great detail. The musical and social histories of the musicians and other cultural influences make fascinating reading! Wish I were a fiddler to appreciate the subtleties!
Some tidbits:
- pitches are relative – (No A440 standard tuning)
- common tunings used for popular tunes but also players make up tunes for less common ones. They sometimes claim the tunes are ‘very old”
- superstition regarding open key tunes for fear of ‘possession’.
- areas with French heritage tend to have more irregular phrasing. ( “Asymetric tunes also seem to be fairly common in the more rural areas of the U.S. especially the western states”. – (See The Fiddle Book, Marion Thede, Oak Publications, 1967)
-“ less influenced by Scots-Irish style than the east, being more isolated for a longer time”.
- ornamentation in some ways similar to older Scottish styles such as heard in Cape –Breton.
- tunes may have ‘introductions’ – a chord or rhythmic motif or whole phrase of melody played before the tune gets underway.
- tunes are more often descending in structure rather than the ‘low’ part and the ‘high’ part of Scots/Irish tunes. Tunes may start with different parts on different occasions.
-much repetition of parts of melody but often in irregular sequences.
- overlapping phrase structures where the last section or note of one phrase seems to be also the beginning of the next.
- five beat phrases common in Ojibwa and Plains tribes music
- extended endings on one pitch
“It is probable that, in both Québec and the west, at least some of the influence toward uneven phrasing may come from the Native tradition. Early Québec society in the more northerly areas was quite intermingled with Native, and the fur trade routes of course went both east and west, bringing tunes and other cultural products from the west back into Québec as much as the other way around.”
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
"Why do you say that 'Hommage a Omer Dumas' is a crooked tune" ~ sorry Vonnie, I wasn't, I just like the tune. I was looking for something else by Philippe Bruneau and couldn't find it, and stumbled across that... It was offered as something from that listed source, but not as 'crooked'...
Here's one that sometimes gets given a bent, see the 'comments' ~
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
It seems tunes are not "misremembered" as jeeves tones suggests (and as I used to think) but are repeated more or less intact through generations as distinct musical structures -subject to variations and changes, of course.
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
HI, Ceol. Thanks for your e-mail. The 'airs tordus' tunebooks - and cd by Les Tetes de Violon (Fiddleheads?) I mention in my favorites were produced in 1997 by Trente Sous Zero - Thirty Below (Guy Bouchard's and Laura Sadowsky's company). If I have this right: http://www.qbc.clic.net/~thirtybe.
I should also mention for your friend's sake if interested that two of the tunes I list above are actually found under other names in the second volume. They list what I know as Cyclone as 'Reel en La d'Isidore Soucy' and Reel a Bacon as 'Reel en Re de Jules Verret'. Good night and good luck!
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
"La Grande Ronde, recueil de musique traditionnelle du Québec"
par Dorothée Hogan
40 Quebecois tunes, with recording avec : Pierre Chartrand, Michel Donato, Richard Forest, Gilles Garand, Sabin Jacques, Charles Johnson, Gabriel Labbé, Christian Laurence, Violaine Poudrier, Laura Risk
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Well, it took me some time to get to this one. I just did not play much crooked tunes but I love them. I have a friend who does lot of métis fiddling and he is always throwing those uneven bars around. Anyways, I just learned La Belle Catherine, from the répertoire of Louis "Pitou" Boudreau.
On this website, the tune is in 4/4 with 2 bars of the B part in 6/4. In her master's mémoire, Lisa Ornstein puts the tune in 2/4 and the crooked bars in 1/2.
Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
I'm emailing a few, but I'm mostly leaving this one up to the rest of you, because I trust you, whatever way you take this. We also have some members on site here from the province of Quebec and the greater Canadian Maritimes who I've grown to respect and look forward to seeing contribute to this.
Here's where it started ~
Discussion: Danse Antique
# Posted on March 23rd 2008 by LMichelle
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/17138
So, let's see you 'educate' in your best fashion. I'm always rattling on so in this case will open the doors wide and step back from it for a spell.
What does 'crooked' mean to you? Do you like or dislike this species of tune? What are your favourites, and the contrary ~ tunes, musicians, recordings?
Oh I so want to rattle a few off, but I said I won't, so I won't... However, I will admit I have enjoyed some lovely quirky tunes in my time...
( Keeping it 'short' for a change ~
)
# Posted on March 29th 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Don't forget to add the tune links and make them live...
# Posted on March 29th 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Hey "c"
Jeremy always props the doors wide open here so don't wear out yourself holding them open especially because you've been sick and need to conserve your energy.
Anyway, I always think of crooked tunes as containing a number of bars or beats of music beyond what's expected or customary.
Here's a site with both soundfiles and sheet music showing how one fiddler plays and transcribes a couple of crooked tunes.
http://tradquebec.over-blog.com/categorie-1078430.html
# Posted on March 29th 2008 by joesmith
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
I agree with Laitch's comment about the crooked tune but I also believe one that is syncopated putting a high stress on an off beat to be quite crooked. There are plenty of syncopation examples which work (Frank's Reel) but others that just sound off, in my opinion (Catharsis). There is another Gmaj tune which I heard recently enough which had an awful off-beat in the second part, throwing the rhythm up in the air.
# Posted on March 29th 2008 by PaddyCmusic
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
::throws up::
# Posted on March 29th 2008 by Dow
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
That's pretty much the standard response from any drunk Ozzie to anything at 1am on a Saturday.
# Posted on March 29th 2008 by joesmith
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Waste of good Bowmore. I shouldn't have read Paddy's post
# Posted on March 29th 2008 by Dow
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Not a total waste. It still can be used for removing grime from windscreen wipers.
# Posted on March 29th 2008 by joesmith
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
There's (The?) Roseville by Daithi Sproule with two extra crotchets inserted separately in the last part; nice tune. I think it misses something if it's streamlined into ordinary 3/2, or is it 3/4 time, and docked of these notes. Played as written, it's not the easiest of tunes to play in a session that doesn't know it already!
# Posted on March 29th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
"Crooked tune" seems to me to be a very weak translation of « toune croche », "croche" being a highly idiomatic word in Québécois French, loaded with layers of meaning - bent, wrong, fishy, worthy of suspicion, deceitful, mendacious, and so on.
Anyway I can't be bothered with the (tounes croches) - I find them confusing and at bottom unsatisfying. Especially now that people are making them up deliberately rather than misremembering "straight" tunes.
Don't agree that the definition can be applied to ghastly syncopated tunes so long as they have the usual 8 bars per part with no extra beats in any of the bars.
# Posted on March 29th 2008 by Jeeves Tones
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
When Breanndan Begley and Caoimhin o'Raghallaigh played their USA tour, one of their prized tunes was a crooked setting of A Fig for a Kiss, which came from Paddy Cronin. All it had was one extra beat, holding the final E note, but it gave it just some kind of twist to make it a really sexy, playable tune. Tough to get around at first, but now, it's second nature.
--DtM
# Posted on March 29th 2008 by Dan the Man
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
There's a Willy Taylor jig - at least I think it's one of his - that seems to have some notes missing (or is it added?) in the second part; it always gets played thus in sessions I go to, and I can assure you incompetence on the part of the regulars is not a factor!
# Posted on March 29th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
I love crooked tunes...they are so lovely...have such an exciting lift to them. if they are done well though ~ as with everything...
# Posted on March 29th 2008 by mehitabel23
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
I haven't counted and I'm enjoying the Highland Park a bit too much to bother checking, but I think a Billy Pigg tune called "The Surprise" has extra bars in it, which is great for buggering up unsuspecting guitar accompanists who are getting above themselves. In other words, guitar accompanists.
# Posted on March 30th 2008 by Steve Shaw
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
I'm surprised no one thus far has mentioned the "Guns of the Magnificent Seven," a great three part reel which drops a beat in the C part. Like the one Steve mentioned, it's entertaining to watch guitarists and bodhran players fall flat on their faces when you play it.
# Posted on March 30th 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Yes! a few more mendacious tunes for me and then a few fishy ones.
# Posted on March 30th 2008 by mcknowall
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Sometimes they hust come that way, without any cajolling. I think the best tunes of this nature come that way, more of a tickle than a large deep pothole, a hiccup or a burp rather than a full blown tummy ill wretch...
Here's one example as it came on me, and made its own decisions to be other than 'normal' ~
"The Jig In The Hopper"
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/6262
Fond of the crooked tune ~ Philippe Bruneau
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0000467
Hommage à Omer Dumas Composed by Philippe Bruneau
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhpc8HHlmWk
There are several collections out there that have a selection. Here is just one ~
"Danse ce Soir: Fiddle and Accordion Music of Quebec"
by Laurie Hart and Greg Sandell ~ includes CD...
~ 122 traditional and original tunes. The text (in French and English) contains a wealth of info - history, biographies, discography, extensive discussion of piano accompaniment, maps, festivals, analysis of styles, more. 192 pp.
While I like some of these 'new' tunes (20th C. forward) I am mostly in agreement with Jeeves Tones. You can tell when too much effort goes into it and they can sound very self-conscious and clumsy, for display. I like things you can dance to, and some of these you can, but others bring a wince and are more akin to the earlier mention ~ potholes rather than a tickle, uncomfortable rather than humourous. When you do something 'for effect', it can sound 'affected' and silly. But some are quite fun, have that humour in them rather than the egotistical notion that it's saying "see what I can do!"
# Posted on March 30th 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
This is a wonderful discussion. Eastern European dance rhythms, melodies deriving from irregular bar length lyrics and therefor serving the story, tradition passed down accurately from eccentric players, learning which improves the brain! All the best reasons to be a musician. Currently my favorite is "Chinkapin Hunting" as played by Chris Norman on "The Man With the Wooden Flute". Do we have an ABC posting of this tune? Would somebody please put one up? Thanks!
# Posted on March 31st 2008 by Pete Goehring
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Why do you say that 'Hommage a Omer Dumas' is a crooked tune? I consider that a straight tune.
A few of the crooked tunes I like include 'Tolka Polka' by Donal Lunny, 'Turlutte d'Antonio Bazinet' - just slightly crooked in the A part, and tunes from "Airs Tordus" vol. 1 and 2 edited by Liette Remon and Guy Bouchard with accompanying cd. My favorites from there include Eskimo's Reel, Reve du Queteux, Reel des Voyageurs, Galope de Joseph Couture, Reel d'Issoudun, Andre a Toto, la Tugue Carreautee, Gigue de M. Lasante, la Contredanse with A and B parts switched, la Pecheuse, Reel en Re d'Andre Alain, Cyclone, la Grondeuse (or Ronfleuse), and Bacon Reel.
# Posted on March 31st 2008 by vonnieestes
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
I *love* ‘crooked’ tunes but find them quite difficult to play, as conditioned as I am by ‘straight’ tunes! I agree they need to be played really well to be effective. When played by those outside the tradition who haven’t grown up listening to them they can sound confusing rather than ‘crooked’.
I have 2 LPs called Old Native and Métis Fiddling in Manitoba (volumes 1 and 2), Falcon Productions, 1987. They were recorded in 1985/86 as part of a Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Recreation program and consist of field recordings of Manitoba traditional fiddlers of Saultaux (Native Indian) and Métis (mixed blood: Native Indian/Scots/Irish/ French Canadian) heritage. Old tapes were also included in the collection. The extensive sleeve notes are a book in themselve of certain forms of Canadian traditional music. It’s wonderful, genuine, full-bodied music which is comparable to the richness of sean nos expression in the Irish tradition.
" Old Native and Métis fiddling in Canada's Northwest is a unique phenomenon which is largely unknown outside of its own communities. It combines the tunes and some of the style of the French Canadian and Scottish fur traders (and later tunes from American, Ukrainian and other musicians) with some of the phrasing and expression of traditional Native music. This results in highly complex musical structures. The French-Canadian roots of the music are obvious, especially in the vigourous bowing and tapping of the feet in order to emphasize the rhythm. However the uneven phrase lengths of the phrases and the way the tunes are constructed owe much to the Native heritage of the musicians and make this style of fiddling unique to North America.
To many people, Native and non-native alike, the old tunes are considered to have ‘crazy rhythm’. Many players have moved away from the old style, finding themselves more attracted to the smooth, symmetrical fiddling they hear on the radio and on commercial recordings. Some just never hear the old tunes anymore and so forget them; while others, in trying to survive between two worlds of white and Native, have discarded some elements of their cultural past which might not seem in keeping with the ‘modern’ world. But some hang on tenaciously, insisting on playing the old tunes in the ‘old-time’ way. This collection is meant to be a tribute to the fiddlers, an inspiration to others and a means of passing on this complex and highly creative tradition to future generations.”
The notes explain the origins of tunes and their musical structures at length and in great detail. The musical and social histories of the musicians and other cultural influences make fascinating reading! Wish I were a fiddler to appreciate the subtleties!
Some tidbits:
- pitches are relative – (No A440 standard tuning)
- common tunings used for popular tunes but also players make up tunes for less common ones. They sometimes claim the tunes are ‘very old”
- superstition regarding open key tunes for fear of ‘possession’.
- areas with French heritage tend to have more irregular phrasing. ( “Asymetric tunes also seem to be fairly common in the more rural areas of the U.S. especially the western states”. – (See The Fiddle Book, Marion Thede, Oak Publications, 1967)
-“ less influenced by Scots-Irish style than the east, being more isolated for a longer time”.
- ornamentation in some ways similar to older Scottish styles such as heard in Cape –Breton.
- tunes may have ‘introductions’ – a chord or rhythmic motif or whole phrase of melody played before the tune gets underway.
- tunes are more often descending in structure rather than the ‘low’ part and the ‘high’ part of Scots/Irish tunes. Tunes may start with different parts on different occasions.
-much repetition of parts of melody but often in irregular sequences.
- overlapping phrase structures where the last section or note of one phrase seems to be also the beginning of the next.
- five beat phrases common in Ojibwa and Plains tribes music
- extended endings on one pitch
“It is probable that, in both Québec and the west, at least some of the influence toward uneven phrasing may come from the Native tradition. Early Québec society in the more northerly areas was quite intermingled with Native, and the fur trade routes of course went both east and west, bringing tunes and other cultural products from the west back into Québec as much as the other way around.”
# Posted on April 1st 2008 by JNW
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
"Why do you say that 'Hommage a Omer Dumas' is a crooked tune" ~ sorry Vonnie, I wasn't, I just like the tune. I was looking for something else by Philippe Bruneau and couldn't find it, and stumbled across that... It was offered as something from that listed source, but not as 'crooked'...
Here's one that sometimes gets given a bent, see the 'comments' ~
"The Chinese Polka" / "Polka Chinoise"
Key signature: D Major
Submitted on December 21st 2006 by Kenny.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/6533/comments
# Posted on April 1st 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
"Old Native and Métis Fiddling in Manitoba, Volumes 1 and 2"
These are great recordings JNW... It has been sometime since I spun my vinyl of these ~ spirited!!!
# Posted on April 1st 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
It seems tunes are not "misremembered" as jeeves tones suggests (and as I used to think) but are repeated more or less intact through generations as distinct musical structures -subject to variations and changes, of course.
# Posted on April 1st 2008 by JNW
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Found a link to hear samples of Old Native and Métis Fiddling in Manitoba - recently released as CDs.
http://www.annelederman.com/cd_manitoba.htm
# Posted on April 1st 2008 by JNW
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
HI, Ceol. Thanks for your e-mail. The 'airs tordus' tunebooks - and cd by Les Tetes de Violon (Fiddleheads?) I mention in my favorites were produced in 1997 by Trente Sous Zero - Thirty Below (Guy Bouchard's and Laura Sadowsky's company). If I have this right: http://www.qbc.clic.net/~thirtybe.
I should also mention for your friend's sake if interested that two of the tunes I list above are actually found under other names in the second volume. They list what I know as Cyclone as 'Reel en La d'Isidore Soucy' and Reel a Bacon as 'Reel en Re de Jules Verret'. Good night and good luck!
# Posted on April 1st 2008 by vonnieestes
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
I'm still awake! Sorry, the hyperlink is incorrect. It's http://www.trentesouszero.com now
# Posted on April 1st 2008 by vonnieestes
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
"La Grande Ronde, recueil de musique traditionnelle du Québec"
par Dorothée Hogan
40 Quebecois tunes, with recording avec : Pierre Chartrand, Michel Donato, Richard Forest, Gilles Garand, Sabin Jacques, Charles Johnson, Gabriel Labbé, Christian Laurence, Violaine Poudrier, Laura Risk
http://www.trentesouszero.com/
http://www.trentesouszero.com/226-227.html
TB-227-B ~ Livre - Book - 148 pages
TB-226-CD ~ CD
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display.php/2378
# Posted on April 5th 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Crooked tunes ~ understanding, respect, favourites & the contrary
Well, it took me some time to get to this one. I just did not play much crooked tunes but I love them. I have a friend who does lot of métis fiddling and he is always throwing those uneven bars around. Anyways, I just learned La Belle Catherine, from the répertoire of Louis "Pitou" Boudreau.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/4625
On this website, the tune is in 4/4 with 2 bars of the B part in 6/4. In her master's mémoire, Lisa Ornstein puts the tune in 2/4 and the crooked bars in 1/2.
Nice tune!
# Posted on July 3rd 2008 by Carabus