13) The musical heritage of Joseph Arthur Pigeon.

"Monsieur Pigeon, could you come and replace M. Montmarquette? He is indisposed and cannot finish the evening show." As history tells us, Alfred Montmarquette, as was the case for a great number of his peers, was not a member of a temperance league in Montreal . So it was that his friend and colleague Arthur Pigeon was often called upon to finish a dance engagement which the hard-drinking Montmarquette was unable to complete. Pigeon, his accordion under his arm, in answer to the wishes of enthusiastic late-night dancers would then leave his home on Henri-Julien Street to replace his friend on the bandstand. Little has been written about this musician who was the understudy of one of Quebec's greatest musicians during the first half of the 20th century.

Joseph Arthur Pigeon was born in the parish of Notre-Dame-du-Québec, the 11th of September 1884, the youngest of the three children of Louis Pigeon and Herminie Mérineau . He had two older step-brothers, Joseph and Honoré, the children of Herminie, the widow of Joseph Hunault . Louis Pigeon, who was a stone-cutter, finding no work in Quebec City during the spring of 1888, moved with his family to Montreal, a move was probably much appreciated by his wife Herminie who was from Saint-Eustache, would have been much closer to her relatives. The Pigeon family settled on Clark street, near Beaumont avenue, a few blocks south of Jarry Park. When he was six, Arthur began school at Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix parish school, but left when he was ten. Money was short, and all able members of the family had to work, but Arthur had also lost an eye when he was six, he had a difficult time reading because of this impediment. At the time, he was also intensely occupied with learning to play his older brother accordion. He would arrive from school, hole up in an upstairs room and play on it in sercret. As his mother was hard of hearing, she was not aware of this, but Honoré eventually noticed a note his instrument had gone off-key and decided to buy a new one. When his little brother asked if he could have his cast-off one, Honoré readily gave it to him, but when he heard him play it, he immediately realized why it had come out of tune in the first place.

Arthur shared his older brother's love of music and he accompanied him all over the city to play. Every Sunday they would go Parc-Jeanne-Mance where fiddlers and accordion and harmonica players gathered. Honoré would often be asked to play his Opening March to begin the session. They would also go to Sohmer Park for amusement, and to hear the music which was played there . Arthur would spend hours listening to the marches, galops, and walses played by the "Bande de la Cité", the park's official band. He would come home humming the tunes and then replay them on the Ludwig accordion which his brother had given him. A few years later, when he was 14, Arthur began to play with the group which met at Parc-Jeanne-Mance. He also accompanied his brother in duets at dance halls.

It was at a dance in the Mile-End neighbourhood that Arthur met the young Albina Cloutier, whom he married the following year. Seven children were born from this match: Arthur (1903). Philias (1905), Albina (1906), Laura (1908), Azilda (1909), Lucienne (1913) and Simonne (1916). A short time after their marriage, the young couple moved to Saint-Domingue Street, near Bellechasse Street, and Arthur began working as a labourer at the L.Villeneuve sawmill, which was close to his home . His growing family did not stop him from accepting musical engagements to the great appreciation of the dancers, as well as that of his wife, who found the extra income helpful. He continued to frequent Sohmer Park, where his children could play while he joined friends in making music, among who was P'tit Plante, who had quite a reputation as an accordionist and with whom Arthur played tunes regularly.

After the beginning of the First World War, friends pointed out to Arthur that he could easily make more money working in a munitions factory, so in 1916, he left the sawmill and took a job as a machinist at the Peter Leahy Factory. His salary jumped from eight dollars to 110$ a week, a period of prosperity for him which was to last 30 months. After the armistice was signed, Arthur returned to his previous job, where he stayed until 1926. He then went to work for the City of Montreal Public Works, and with the money he had saved, he purchased a house on Henri Julien Street, near Villeray Street. The family had shrunk, as his eldest son had married during the previous year and they had lost the young Laura, who had died of a lingering illness a few years before. The second son, Philias married Alice Desnoyers in 1928. In turn, the other children left the family home in the following ten years.

In 1931 was an eventful year for Arthur Pigeon. In June, his daughter-in-law, Alice gave birth to the twins Philias and Marcel, to whom Arthur was to pass on his musical heritage. During the fall of that year, he met Alfred Montmarquette whom he had previously heard at the Bonséjour Market and at the National Monument, as well as from his Star label recordings. Little is known of this meeting other than that the two men became good friends and played together, sharing the tunes of their respective repertoires. However, much as Pigeon enjoyed Montmarquette's playing, he kept his own style and continued to do his arranging. A new phase in the musical life of Arthur Pigeon also began that year, when his daughter Lucienne wed Henri Wattier, a young man from St. Edouard parish. As Henri had learned to play the fiddle from his father, he got on famously with his father-in-law. Arthur had almost always played solo, but he began to play regularly with Henri, although he played only on a C accordion, which complicated matters somewhat for the fiddler. In 1937, when the Wattier couple moved to the second floor of the Pigeon house, the two men would make music together after work.

The two had begun taking engagements soon after their meeting and it is said that the crowds loved them. They met the pianist, Edmond Moreau, a small and jovial man, and an excellent player who was familiar with a large musical repertoire, and who soon joined them. In 1936, they met Mr. Rose, manager of the Compo Company Ltd, who convinced the trio to come for an audition. Soon after, they signed their first contract under the name "Les Trois Copains" and their first recording, released towards Christmas in 1936, was such a hit that their contract was renewed until 1940 . In 1940, the trio, by then called the "Trio Pigeon" was approached by RCA Victor to record on the Bluebird label . With this company, they also rerecorded ten titles which they had recorded earlier with Compo. During this time, the trio continued to play on radio shows and for dances .

After seven years of this intense musical activity, Arthur Pigeon fulllfilled another lifelong dream and quit his job with the city of Montreal to buy some land a few kilometers from St. Canut, where he took up farming, planting mainly wheat and oats, an activity which he pursued until 1952. But he did not give up his musical activities, and remained active in the local nightlife of the region, and as well, he taught his grand-children, Philias and Marcel, how to play the accordion. At home the two boys had been sharing their father's accordion since they were twelve. At their grandfather's home in St. Canut, they each had an instrument at their disposal. Talented students, by 15 years of age, they were playing for local dances and weddings.Their musical careers were to be interrupted for a short period a bit later when each of them married. In August of 1951, Philias wed Denise Morin, and two weeks later, Marcel married Rita Boucher. They then devoted themselves almost exclusively to their families, and almost ceased playing. Marcel was then employed by Morsan Textiles, a company with which he remained until his retirement. Philias worked with Howwick Inc., which he left in 1964 to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

In 1952, Arthur Pigeon returned to live in Montreal so as to have access to better medical treatment for his wife, but in spite of this, Albina died in April of the following year. After her death, Arthur went to live with his daughter, Albina, who was also recently widowed. He died on the 27 June 1966, and is remembered as a bon-vivant, an excellent singer and dancer, but especially as a musician who cared passionately for the music which he had learned from his brother Honoré.

As for Philias and Marcel, they returned to playing music during the summer of 1979 after attending a concert given by the traditional music band, Éritage. The twin brothers became friends with the band's accordionist, Raynald Ouellet, who helped them find instruments in C as made by Marcel Messervier. The two became more aware of the musical legacy which had been passed on to them by their grandfather Arthur. In January 1986, Philias, Marcel and their families were invited by the ethnomusicologist Carmelle Bégin, at the Canadian Museum of Civilisation to participate in the making of a film documentary concerning three dances which the Pigeon family did at family gatherings, the Valse-lancier, the Valse-quadrille and the Varsovienne.

As this documentary became known to a greater public, the folk dancing troup Les Danseurs de l'Île de Jésus, invited Philias and Marcel Pigeon to produce a recording of dance tunes. This first volume of Musiques d'autrefois was finished by January of 1989, and included a few of tunes from the family repertoire. Six years later, the Pigeon brothers again recorded other airs from their repertoire in the second volume of the series.

par Mario Boucher

The author is the director of the research project "Anthologie de la musique traditionnelle du Québec for the Fédération des sociétés d'histoire du Québec".

Notes

1. Alfred Montmarquette (New York 1871-Montreal 1944) was then a musician of reknown in Montreal.
2. The spelling the latter's first name varies from Herménille, Hermine and Herminie. Her great grand children agree on the unusual, but more familiar derivative of Herminie .
3. Honoré was Joseph's godfather, athough the parish priest notes Honoré Pigeon, he signs Hunault. He was nicknamed Médée by family members.
4. Open from 1889 to 1919, this important Montreal amusement park was located o Notre-Dame Street, between Panet and Salaberry.
5. Established in 1875, the L. Villeneuve sawmill, which is now the Villa Nova renovation center, was situated at #2, rue Bellechasse.
6. This recording with Starr (#16036) has on the A side "The Iroquois reel" and on the B Side, "The St. Camille Reel".
7. With Bluebird, recording B-1204 has on side 1, Le set de Tarzan, of which the first part is the Iroquois reel; side 2 has the second part of the Tarzan Set.
8. Amongst other events, they play for a few radio shows sponsored by the Living Room Fruniture Company which are broadcast live from the Théatre Château on CKAC.