27) One hundred years of traditional music in Quebec: second phase

We are now at the second phase of this sound anthology of traditional music of Quebec covering the years between 1940 to 1960, a collection which comes to us from the collaboration between Radio-Canada, the National Library of Canada and M. Gabriel Labbé. By publishing part of his collection, M. Labbé has generously shared his discoveries and his love of this music with a greater public. As for the first boxed set, we have here two records for a total of two hours of listening time and 45 tracks, which are presented in chronological order.

The first disk begins in 1940 with the Reel du forgeron by Omer Dumas et ses Ménestrels and ends in 1945 with the Set americain by accordionist Théodore Duguay, while the second begins in 1946 and ends in 1959. Four basic categories of music figure in this collection: fiddling, accordion and harmonica tunes, and orchestral ones. We can find the fiddle recordings of Rosaire Girard, J. O. La Madeleine, Jos. Bouchard, Isidore Soucy, Victor Morin, Gérard and Laurent Joyal, Adalbert "Ti-Blanc" Richard, Fernand Thibault, Edmond Pariseau and Jean Carignan.

On the accordion, we can hear the Trio Pigeon, Gaston Dufresne, Théodore Duguay, Gérard Lajoie and René Alain. Little attention is given to the harmonica, one track features the playing of Jean-Ludger Foucault. As for the orchestras, we have Omer Dumas et ses Ménestrels, Tommy Duchesne et ses Cavaliers, Henri Houde and his ensemble, l'Ensemble Hubert, La Famille Soucy and finally Gérald Joyal et ses compagnons.

The booklet which is provided with the collection gives information on each musician as well as the date of each recording, but the name of the original recording company is not, as it was with the first boxed set. As well, M. Labbé's comments are biographical in nature and give little information on the repertoire which was played at the time; this was also a problem with the first collection. Yet, between 1940 and 1960, the external influences brought about by the medias of recordings and radio had a considerable influence on numerous traditional musicians.

Several of the recordings in this boxed set are eloquent examples of this. Although there is a short comment on this period, it dwells superficially on these influences, and in my opinion, in the two forthcoming volumes, efforts should be made to elaborate in depth so as to provide adequate analysis, which would then permit unitiated readers to further understand the situation during this period.

For instance, it would have been most interesting to deal with the origins and the formation of the orchestras which began to develop during this time. Nevertheless. this second boxed set is a precious document for those who are interested in our musical heritage, and there are some very beautiful interpretations.

par Éric Favreau