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French songs (17)
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C’est pu comme ça anymore (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1977 26 minSexton Rosie Pratte, fiddler Charles Pagé, and the last French-speaking families of Old Mines (Vieille Mine), Missouri, talk about life in the old days. They are descendants of French-Canadian voyageur-traders who settled in the Aux-Arcs mountains (Ozarks). A fragile memory that persists… -
Diane Juster: Foundation of a SongGilles Doiron 2024 4 minDiane Juster: Foundation of a song explores the legendary singer-songwriter’s profound relationship to melody, lyrics and emotion. In this intimate tribute, Juster, an untiring advocate for protecting and encouraging Canadian artists, reflects on a legacy of love from her parents, one she’s passing on to a new generation of artists.
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Envoyez de l’avant nos gens (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1975 24 minFarmer, singer, and fiddler Antonio Bazinet describes the hard life on rocky-soiled Laurentian farms and in logging camps. Songs and fiddle tunes such as “Envoyez de l’avant nos gens,” written by local forestry workers and based on an older theme, capture the period’s joie de vivre.
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Faut pas l’dire ! (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1976 26 minFolklorist Charlotte Cormier relates how Acadians, having been dispossessed during the Expulsion, maintained their social cohesion and culture through oral tradition, including song. The struggle is not over, and many Acadians are concerned about the future of their people, but no one dares say the dirty words…
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Fred’s Lounge (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1976 26 minEvery Saturday morning on the KEUN radio station set up at Fred’s Lounge in Mamou, Revon Reed hosts local musicians. He talks about the lives of Cajuns and introduces the Deshôtels brothers, Madam Landreneau, CD Courville, and Nathan Abshire, who perform ballads, waltzes, two-steps, and blues numbers to laisser le Bon Temps rouler…
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Il faut continuer! (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1978 27 minEducator and musician Jany Rouger introduces us to accomplished folk musicians from Bas-Poitou: basket maker and fiddler Paul Micheneau, and square-dance fiddler Maximin Rambaud, who leads the figures of old-style dances, a forerunner of the modern-day caller. Rouger explains why it’s so important to continue this tradition.
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Il allont-y disparaître ? (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1976 27 minFounded in 1780 by Acadian refugees, Chéticamp is today the largest Acadian community in Cape Breton (formerly Île Royale). The town’s history is related by well-known educator and Acadian activist Alexandre Boudreau, along with a story from the oral history by fisher Tom Chiasson. They express their concern for the future of the Acadians.
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J’ai chanté, j’ai déchanté et je rechante (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1980 27 minA trip to Upper Brittany, whence came the ancestors of many French-Canadians, bringing with them a wealth of songs still sung in the Gaspé region. Philippe Durand and Yann Plunier introduce us to Breton history and culture. Jeannette Maquignon and friends sing work songs, songs to dance to, and laments.
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Le P’tit Canada (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1979 29 minThis was the name given to French-Canadian neighbourhoods that sprung up around textile mills in New England. Historian Richard Santerre and the family of Rita Paquin talk about their lives and how song nights have managed to preserve a certain Quebec heritage to this day.
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Les Créoles (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1976 28 minDescended from slaves in the former French colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti), Creoles faced discrimination in South American society—too black for some, too French for others. They developed their own style of music: Zydeco. Delton Broussard and Calvin Carrière give us a taste of it, and singer Inez Catalon talks and sings about her life in Kaplan.
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L’en premier (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1976 26 minInitially, the Acadians lived peacefully with their ingenious system of dykes and aboiteaux, a technology they brought over from Poitou that allowed them to farm reclaimed tidal marshland without taking anything away from their Mi’kmaq allies. Ethnologist Charlotte Cormier describes what life was like, and Lamèque lumberjack Majorique Duguay expresses it in song.
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La révolution du dansage (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1976 28 minFiddler and mother Georgina Audet made it her mission to preserve the island’s square dances. She relates how, despite the harsh living conditions and opposition from the church, her father passed on a precious repertoire of songs and square dances, which she now shares at dance evenings at the Château Bél-Air.
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Les gens du plaisir (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1979 27 minIn April, at sugaring off time, farmers descended from the 1837 Patriotes in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu gather in their sugar shacks in a traditional celebration of spring in song. After the last sap is gathered, Josaphat Richer, André Richer and his clan host the families of local singers.
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Maroon - On the Trail of Creoles in North AmericaAndré Gladu 2005 1 h 25 minLouisiana's Creole culture helped shape the New World and contributed to the emergence of jazz. But what remains of this unique, mixed-race society, with roots in France, Africa, the Caribbean, Spain and America? Maroon searches for the origins of this little-understood and endangered culture and show how it is doing today. In this second part of his La piste Amérique series, documentary filmmaker André Gladu continues his exploration of the Francophone presence in North America. Maroon is a vibrant travelogue that goes back into history in order to shed light on the present. In French with English subtitles.
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Ma chère terre (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1976 25 minRadio host and writer Revon Reed relates that the Acadians, expelled from their land in the north, dreamed of owning land in Louisiana, and this became a hallmark of the culture. Fiddlers Aedius Naquin and Dennis McGhee talk about the life of a Cajun musician and their unique style of singing while playing, inherited from the troubadours of the Middle Ages.
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Réveille ! (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1976 27 minInternational star Zachary Richard talks about his journey as a musician, explaining how the American melting-pot ideology tried to eradicate Cajun culture in the U.S. After years of shame, young musicians such as the band Coteau and Michael Doucet are taking up the torch. Richard performs his resistance song “Réveille!”
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Votre histoire ça va être une chanson (English Version)Michel Brault & André Gladu 1978 24 minFlorent Lemay, a talented singer and gardener to the Seigneur of Lotbinière, recalls how songs were written back in the day. His neighbour, farmer Joseph Auger, maintained this old tradition of writing songs based on events and happenings in the parish, and Lemay inherited his compositions.
