Quebecois and other French-Canadian music is among the most dynamic of the traditional Celtic styles, because of the role dance and foot percussion plays in it. Because this adds a visual as well as an aural element, some of its impact is lost in the transition to a recording, but a good ensemble can largely overcome that limitation through energy, tune selection and other performance intangibles. Here are three varied examples of the form; let’s see how they do.
Vishten is a quintet from the tiny Canadian province of Prince Edward Island that plays a lively blend of Irish, Scottish and Acadian music. They’re young, but the core of the group has been together since 2000, and they have performed throughout Canada and Europe. Their experience and youth both are demonstrated in this charming disc, their debut from 2003.
The heart of Vishten is the duet vocals of sisters Pastelle and Emmanuelle Le Blanc; the former also plays accordion, the latter bodhran, flute and foot percussion. The disc launches with a sprightly suite of the traditional song “Mariez-moi,” Emmanuelle taking the lead vocal, paired with “Le Château Figeac,” a tune written by Pastelle. On the latter, the tune is played at times with accordion, whistle and mandolin in unison, with Pascal Miousse on the mando (he also plays fiddle on many tunes). Rounding out the group are Megan Bergeron on piano and occasional lead vocal, and the jack-of-all-trades Rémi Arsenault on guitar, bass and percussion. If you check out the group’s website you’ll learn that in performance everyone contributes to percussion at times, either with feet, drums or various pieces of furniture.
The rest of the disc contains several more tune sets – strathspeys, jigs and reels predominantly – and traditional songs, with varying combinations of instruments, plus a slow air (“Hills of Bounty”) as well as some jazz influence (particularly on “Le Mataou,” which calls to mind Varttina with its close three-part female harmonies and the modern tweaks to a traditional melody). The final track, “Hariat,” is a tasty chunk of Acadian/world fusion with snippets of mouth music and some rock-influenced percussion.
Vishten, then, is an up-and-coming group on the French-Canadian scene, injecting some youthful elements into their tradition-based sound.
(Vishten, 2003)
Matapat is one of the grand-daddies of the Quebecois music revival. On Que de Peine et d’Amour from 2005, long-time members Simon Lepage, Gaston Bernard and Tommy Gauthier are joined by several guest musicians on a variety of instruments not usually associated with Acadian music. Going for more of a world-music sound, they incorporate a fretless electric bass guitar, tabla, shakers and other percussion along with the more traditional fiddle, double bass, mandolin, accordion and percussion from feet and “bones.” The production is also very modern-sounding, with the result that many of the numbers sound like Quebecois crossed with jazzy Bela Fleck-style newgrass.
I don’t begrudge a long-lived ensemble experimenting with new sounds and branching out in other directions, but I have to say I prefer the more traditional arrangements, found here on “Valse Lorna,” an uptempo contemporary waltz, with fiddle and mandolin doubling the melody, and guitar and double bass setting the rhythm; the “Suite Jos Bouchard,” with guests Sabin Jacques on accordion and Jean-Francois Berthiaume on bodhran; and the delightful and well-known traditional song “Marie-Magamelle,” one of those progressive game songs in which an additional line is added to the rapidly sung chorus each time through. You can hardly go to a traditional concert in Quebec without hearing this one.
This disc has 21 tracks, many of them under three minutes in length, and more than a little variety in the sounds. The final track, in fact, is a Baroque-style trio fugue with Gauthier on violin, Bernard on viola and Lepage on double bass. Que de Peine et d’Amour is for the adventurous Quebecois fan.
(Intermede, 2005)
The Seattle-based trio of Eric Schlorff, Mike Schway and Clyde Curley makes an elemental, kitchen-dance version of Quebecois music on l’Orage (The Storm). This 14-track disc features Schlorff on harmonica and foot percussion, Schway on fiddle and Curley on guitar and mandolins. Schlorff also takes the vocals on a couple of songs, and fills in with bass and accordion on a few. Guest musicians sing and play banjo and “snare de filmcan.”
They dig deep into traditional Quebecois music, such as the set of quadrilles at track three, and one tune that also appears on the Matapat disc above, “Jos Bouchard’s Reel.” Schlorff takes lead vocals in the call-and-response song set “Le Bégayeux/Le Batteux.” The group also emphasizes this music’s Irish roots on tune sets such as the second track, “Wheels of the World/The Earl’s Chair/Trip to Nenagh.” On this one, Curley’s mandolin work is quite nice, and the fiddle and harmonica double the melody line impressively. And they do some contemporary songs, including Schlorff’s tune from which the disc takes its name, “L’Orage du Québec,” which is paired with the well-known Quebecois dance tune “Saint-Antoine”; and an instrumental “Waltz for Jolie,” written for Schlorff’s sister, with a nice diatonic accordion leading the melody. A great tune to close down a dance with.
I can attest to this group’s dynamic live performances, but due to its limited instrumentation, the music on the disc sometimes sounds a bit thin, particularly when compared with the other two discs reviewed here. Still, this is a lovely introduction to Quebecois music, particularly with the excellent liner notes that explain the songs’ origins and even gives some tips about the keys they’re played in. They’ve even thoughtfully provided full liner notes in French, as a PDF file on the CD. You can order this one (or book the group) by email.
(self-released, 2006)
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