Comments

Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Can anyone recommend some good CD's? Thanks

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by molaoch

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Start with the CommandoTrad videos on Youtube - they're GREEEEEEEAATT !!

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by Guernsey Pete

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Try Andre Brunet and De Temps Antan (http://detempsantan.qc.ca/); and Genticorum (http://www.genticorum.com/) for starters.

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by Ceolmhar

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/3483

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by pennhorse

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Is there a particular regional style you are looking for? Acadian? Quebcois?
One of my favourite CD’s is “11:11” from Vishten (PEI) and I second the suggestion about Genticorum. I’ve seen both groups live and they are just fantastic! Also, you might want to check out “Music from Québec and Acadie” from La Famille Leger (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lafamilleleger#) Great stuff! I must admit, this section of my collection is a bit lacking so I am interested in what others have to suggest

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by jsmith

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Here's where you get the stuff:

http://www.trentesouszero.com/

And I also highly recommend La Famille Léger. Great people !

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by pennhorse

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Thanks to you all.... I'm off to inflict grievous harm on my credit card.
Guernsey Pete.... Thanks... in fact, it's those videos that sparked my interest in the genre.

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by molaoch

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

No one mentioned La Bottine Souriante yet........ so I'll do it.

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by Henk Bos

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Raz de Maree http://www.tidalwavemusic.com/groupe/index.html

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by CreadurMawnOrganig

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Yves Lambert et Les Beberts Orchestra
Gilles Vigneault
Tireux de Roches
Reve du Diable
Freres Brunet
Freres Beaudry
Richard Forest
Benoit Bourque
Reveillons
Galant, Tu Perds Ton Temps plus many more

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by vonnieestes

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Oh, don't forget Les Charbonniers d'Enfer - who's who in Quebecois musicians

Dent de Lion
Manigance
Le Vent du Nord
Gaston Nolet
Montmarquette (hommage a)
Matapat
etc. etc. etc.

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by vonnieestes

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

I was trying out a banjo in a local music store once and ended up playing a couple of tunes with a member of Genticorum who was visiting. Lotsa fun and a nice guy.
(apropos of nothing, and name-dropping I suppose...)

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by grego

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

This is a very large subject, music from 'French Speaking Canada', and includes all of the Maritimes, including Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Îles de la Madeleine, Quebec, and stretching the full length of the continent from East to West... Here's another source ~

http://www.cranfordpub.com/

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by ceolachan

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Generally considered a must, for a start ~

Fiddle ~ Jean Carignan

"Archives 1, 2 & 3"
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/2324
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/2305
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/2325

"French Canadian, Irish And Scottish Fiddle Music"
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/2525

"Jean Carignan Plays The Music Of Coleman, Morrison And Skinner"
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/3369

Accordion ~ Phillippe Bruneau

"Philippe Bruneau: Accordéon Diatonique / Diatonic Accordion"
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/3616

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by ceolachan

Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music ~ free listens, MP3s

# Posted on August 17th 2010 by ceolachan

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Emile Benoit was a great French Canadian fiddler from Newfoundland and some of his CDs are available from

http://www.ambermusic.ca/artist_emile.htm

A youtube clip of him playing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS8Xllf7Nyk

# Posted on August 18th 2010 by jimtowat

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Thanks to everyone who chimed in, I am going to have to check some new things out myself!
Amen to the recommendation for Le Vent Du Nord, a very popular group right now, whose disks are pretty easy to find. Outstanding playing, great accordion work, lovely singing and some great arrangements.
And another amen on the recommendation for La Bottine Souriant, a personal favorite. Their album La Mistrine is a good starting point, and they also have some 'greatest hit' compilations available. A word of warning though--they are a trad band with a jazz horn section appended to it, kind of like a trad version of Blood, Sweat and Tears, the old jazz-rock band. So their stuff is not pure drop--but it is lots of fun.

# Posted on August 18th 2010 by AlBrown

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

I started my French Canadian adventure with a group called La Volee d'Castors - if you like Boutine Souriante, this is also a good choice.

A sample
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86hDAQxFZ5c

website:
http://www.vdc.qc.ca/

# Posted on August 18th 2010 by Janek

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Add Les Chauffeurs a Pieds to the mix...

# Posted on August 18th 2010 by vonnieestes

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

http://videos.letelegramme.com/player.php?sig=iLyROoaf8h_8
La Bottine Souriante fronted by Benoit Bourque, David Boulanger and Sandy Silva (formerly of Open House) gives you a taste of the kind of music and dance you observed in the CommandoTrad videos.

# Posted on August 18th 2010 by vonnieestes

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Thanks to "Pennhorse" and "jsmith" for the "La Famille Léger" recommendation. Thanks also to all those that provided info on so many great CD's. There are also many festivals where you can hear the music "live". Two that I would recommend are "Festival du Bois" on the West Coast and Mémoires et Racines" on the East Coast.
http://www.village2010.com/EN/home
http://memoireracines.org/organisme/organization/

# Posted on August 19th 2010 by legerdeuxmains

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

Try Bruno Kowalczyk.......plays excellent traditional

file:///D:/old%20hdd/Harmonica%20Players/BrunoRaymond.htm

# Posted on August 23rd 2010 by calmur

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

http://www.frenchship.com/

# Posted on August 23rd 2010 by calmur

Re: Traditional French-Canadian Dance Music

If you're interested in learning some of this wonderful music, there is a terrific resource in the blog site of Pascal Gemme, fiddler with the outstanding Quebecois band Genticorum:
http://tradquebec.over-blog.com/articles-blog.html

On his blog, there are mp3 files and sheet music for dozens of traditional tunes from the Quebecois traditional repertoire.

Also, if anyone is interested in taking this further, Andre Brunet from De Temps Antan runs a traditional fiddle camp for Quebecois music the third week of July each year - and it's not just for fiddles. Other melody instruments are welcome, as are piano and guitar accompanists.
http://violontradquebec.com/

There are also several festivals in Quebec for traditional music and dance: Festival Memoire et Racines, Chants de Vielles, Le Grand Rencontre, and more. If you're wanting a great summer vacation, Quebec is your destination! Also, Franco-American fiddler Donna Hebert does a French Accent fiddle camp week in New York State.

Many of the Ontario festivals also showcase at least one Quebecois band every year - check out Goderich Celtic College and Festival, Mariposa Folk Festival, Millrace and Summerfolk. The bands, Genticorum, Le Vent Du Nord, Les Chauffeurs a Pieds, De Temps Antan, Claude Methe, and others, have showcased at those festivals in recent years.

In Montreal, there are monthly trad. dances (see espacetrad.org) and there is a weekly session at Vices et Versa bistro on St. Laurent (Tuesday nights, September to May, beginning at about 9 p.m. - but get there earlier to get a seat!) This session was being lead this year by Veronic Plasse (a.k.a. Pitoune Boudreault of CommandoTrad fame) while Pascal Gemme is on paternity leave.

Do watch for more CommandoTrad videos coming up on Youtube - there will be an awesome one featuring musicians who attended Memoire et Racines and other Quebec festivals this past summer (2010), which will be published on YouTube later on in September.

Have fun with this awesome music everyone! Take it to your local session and pass the sheet music around. These tunes are way too good to be only played in a few sessions in Quebec!
Salut!
-elizabeth

# Posted on August 27th 2010 by fiddlereliz