Please recommend some French folk/acoustic music.

[Caleb]

I'd like to find some good French folk or old-time (if there is such a thing or its equivalent) music. It could be old or a modern act doing traditional French music. French-Canadian is fine too. I've been searching YouTube and it's a lot to wade through. Thanks for any help. My family is learning French, so I thought finding some good and simple music might help to supplement.

[whistler]

Not great sound quality but rocking tunes here:

[foldedpath]

A fun tune here -- La danse de l'ours (Bear Dance) -- that's worked its way into many Irish/Scottish sessions. Very easy to play:




I'm no expert on French music, mainly just cherry picking some of the Breton tunes that migrate into sessions like "The Wren" (An dro, although an dro is a generic dance name, so hundreds of tunes are named that).

David Surrette has a sheet music book: Traditional Breton Dance Tunes "Fest Breizh" with a good introduction text about the various dance forms. There's a lot more in French "folk" music than the Breton stuff, but for various reasons that's been the music heard most often in the Irish/Scottish session scene.

Edit to add: on reflection, I think I remember reading somewhere that Bear Dance isn't actually a French tune. Might be Belgian? Close enough to be played in Aix-en-provence anyway.

[jesserules]

There is a lot of traditional music in France, and it's not much like the stereotypical accordion stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwbBhYASLUs

nothing against accordions, mind you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy3LMXJ7bdE

You might start with this:

https://folkways.si.edu/folk-music-o...um/smithsonian

[Ryk Loske]

With French tunes i can't help you; but when i first started playing with Quebecois musicians i asked for a "starter" CD list and this is what was offered:

Charbonniers de l'enfer - Chansons a cappela (1996)
Lisa Ornstein - André Marchand - Normand Miron "Le Bruit court dans la ville (1997)
Entourloupe : Les choux pis des melons (2000)
Le Vent du Nord: Les Amants du Saint-Laurent (2005)
Genticorum - Malins plaisirs (2005)
Grey Larsen & André Marchand - The Orange Tree (1993)
Dam'déridé (2001) - Dam'deride (women's a cappela group- a rare thing in Quebec)
La Bottine Souriante - I'm not so crazy about their new stuff, but I'd highly recommend these two from the early 90s.
La Mistrine (1994)
Jusqu'aux p'tites heures (1991)
Ni Sarpe Ni Branche - Quand Ca Vient l'temps 1999
Les Frères Labri - Quand l'vent cire de côté

All of those are great and should lead you to others,

Ryk

[Ranald]

There is so much French-Canadian traditional music available, including folksongs galore, that it's hard to know where to start. Try Googling "French--Canadian folksongs" or "traditional French-Canadian music". Also, try "Gadelle" and "Barachois" for CD's of great Acadian musicians from Prince Edward Island, including folksongs. For instrumental music, try Jean Carignan, Phillippe Bruneau, Ned Landry, Henri Landry, Brunet & Beaudry, Genticorum (some songs), all from Quebec, except Ned Landry from New Brunswick.

Madame Bolduc was a famous Quebec singer/songwriter in traditional style. Here she sings a popular humorous traditional song, often played as an instrumental dance tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwDGu2SEUPY

A wonderful thing about French and French-Canadian folksong is that many songs have a great deal of repetition, so aren't hard to learn. Here's a well-known song about a mill -- note the rhythm (I'm not sure who the artists are):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72KBD9qZn5c

Gadelle playing and singing a folksong (a bandmate says the fiddler, Louise Arsenault, is "paid by the mile"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E24KfdYLo0

"Un Canadien Errant" (about an exile to the USA after the 1937 rebellion in Quebec -- also in Ontario, but the song is about Quebec) is anthemic in Quebec:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TyR-HenjrU

book, Folksongs of French Canada by Marius Barbeau:
https://www.amazon.ca/Songs-French-C.../dp/1432594494

Here's a good little bilingual children's song by singer/songwriter Angele Arsenault from PEI, but the video quality is poor (words available elsewhere online):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnRtXmBnzRQ

Children's collections are available too.

If you can sit still through French-Canadian music, call a doctor. This will be an enjoyable search, so have fun.

[Ranald]

And how could I forget La Botine Souriante from Quebec:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcbud6LZ1FA

[Ryk Loske]

[If you can sit still through French-Canadian music, call a doctor. This will be an enjoyable search, so have fun.[/QUOTE]

Boy is that the truth! Backing up Quebecois fiddlers is the most fun a rhythm guitar player can have.

Ryk

[Ranald]

With French tunes i can't help you; but when i first started playing with Quebecois musicians i asked for a "starter" CD list and this is what was offered:

Charbonniers de l'enfer - Chansons a cappela (1996) http://www.lescharbonniersdelenfer.c...ecordings.html
Lisa Ornstein - André Marchand - Normand Miron "Le Bruit court dans la ville (1997) http://www.trentesouszero.com/123-124.html
Entourloupe : Les choux pis des melons (2000) http://www.trentesouszero.com/139.html
Le Vent du Nord: Les Amants du Saint-Laurent (2005) http://www.leventdunord.com/pages/mu_index.html
Genticorum - Malins plaisirs (2005) http://www.genticorum.com/en/album_list.html
Grey Larsen & André Marchand - The Orange Tree (1993) http://www.trentesouszero.com/229.html
Dam'déridé (2001) - Dam'deride (women's a cappela group- a rare thing in Quebec) http://www.trentesouszero.com/189.html
La Bottine Souriante - I'm not so crazy about their new stuff, but I'd highly recommend these two from the early 90s.
La Mistrine (1994)
Jusqu'aux p'tites heures (1991) (For more on the group, go to: http://www.trentesouszero.com/008-93.html)
Ni Sarpe Ni Branche - Quand Ca Vient l'temps 1999 http://www.trentesouszero.com/071-72.html
Les Frères Labri - Quand l'vent cire de côté http://www.trentesouszero.com/037.html

All of those are great and should lead you to others,

Ryk

Great music, but for some reason, none of those URL's didn't connect me with the proper website. Most took me to a Spam page, advertising "Prohormones." I am able to find most of the music by Googling the names of the musicians though. This isn't happening with any other URL's on this page. Anyone else having the same problem?

Gotta go order my prohormones now.

[OneChordTrick]

Great music, but for some reason, none of those URL's didn't connect me with the proper website. Most took me to a Spam page, advertising "Prohormones." I am able to find most of the music by Googling the names of the musicians though. This isn't happening with any other URL's on this page. Anyone else having the same problem?

Gotta go order my prohormones now.

Sorry it took so long to reply, but it reminded me that I needed to restock

Seriously I get the same issue

[Ryk Loske]

I am sorry for the trouble with the links. I just copied that part of the body of an email i got some years ago from someone very familiar with Quebecois music. Since i have all the music mentioned ... and a ton more ... i haven't used the links in quite awhile.

I've removed the links so no one else has the problem.

Ryk

[Ranald]

[QUOTE=Ranald;1642618]
"Un Canadien Errant" (about an exile to the USA after the 1937 rebellion in Quebec -- also in Ontario, but the song is about Quebec) is anthemic in Quebec:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TyR-HenjrU

That should read "1837 rebellion".

I couldn't get the link for "La Danse de l'ours". Sometimes, it seems that things are blocked in one country that aren't in another. For others who couldn't link, here's a good version -- perhaps the same one posted by foldedpath in post #3. Great tune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClMKILbkS_w

[Caleb]

Thanks for all the suggestions. It gives me a great starting point. Much appreciated.

[Beanzy]

For French tunes I bought this for my fiddle playing
http://fiddlingaround.co.uk/Frenchfiddletunes.html

While I know they all could be played straight on mandolin, I’m only doing them on fiddle at the moment.
The reason for this is because so much of the interest & energy in these simple French tunes comes from how they are presented, an awful lot of that seems to be down to the bowing style used & each region has it’s own tricks. Once I have a good few of them figured out then I’ll start looking at how to translate the bowing feel to the mandolin. I presume this very divers regional variation is why we never hear about playing in ‘the French style’, there are too many to lock it down.
http://www.fiddlingaround.co.uk/French%20Fiddle/

Adding some interesting French fiddle recording and resources. http://www.aepem.com/produit/violons-du-cezallier/

[Dagger Gordon]

Not great sound quality but rocking tunes here:

The fellow with the long pony tail is Patrick Bouffard. He seems to me to turn up a lot in Youtubes.
I once went to a great festival called St Chartier in Central France and saw a lot of hurdy-gurdy (or la Vielle as it's called in France) jamming. Also some very interesting bagpipes from different regions of France and elsewhere. A lot of instrument makers had stands there.

It has now moved to a new site at Chateau d'Ars.
http://www.lesoncontinu.fr/en/home-2-2/

[OneChordTrick]

Here’s another take on Bear Dance, which I’d always assumed was an English tune but I guess that there was a lot of cross fertilisation in those days.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxp0hB...ient=mv-google

[Bertram Henze]

Malicorne.

[mandocrucian]

sampler/compilation of various artists -
https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-r...e-mw0000595893

Malicorne - 67 minute compilation. (My favorite French band) Plenty of stuff up on YouTube, including some of the full albums.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/legen...e-mw0000675458

The groundbreaking Malicorne lineups were in the 70s and 80s. Full 1 hour 45 minute Malicorne reunion concert (with the classic lineup) from 2010. Gabriel Yacoub is the main guy, and his solo stuff is really good. Fast forward to 23 & 26 mins in to get to some incredible hard core trad./medieval stuff!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malicorne_(band)

Am not up to date on French bands, but among the older stuff, you might want to check into Maluzerne, Melusine, Trio Violon, Jean Francis Vrod, Perlinpippen Folc, Lais ... Get a copy of the French Rough Guide CD (or CDs, Rough Guide sometimes updates the region with a new disc with a completely different set of tracks 10 years after the first compilation.)

NH

[Caleb]

While browsing some of the suggestions here, I found this great French-Canadian act:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...taGVcSbVPNm7bV

Thought some here might like a heads up.