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As a cosmopolitan province, Quebec is a home to various genres of music, ranging from folk to hip hop. Music has played an important role in Quebecer culture.[1][2] In the 1920's and 30's, singer/songwriter Madam Bolduc performed comedic songs in a folk style with Irish influences. Quebec's popular artists of the last century include Félix Leclerc (1950's), Gilles Vigneault (1960's–present), Kate and Anna McGarrigle (1970's–present) and Céline Dion (1980's–present).[3]'
When it was under French control, Québec was referred to as Le Canada. It was known as the advanced colony out of all the New France settlements. After some generations of French settlers being born in Canada, the colonists began to identify with their home country and call themselves les Canadiens (the Canadians) as distinct from les Français (the French), those native to France. The Canadiens brought with them a rich tradition of songs and dances from northern France, namely the regions of Île-de-France, Picardy, Normandy, Poitou, and Brittany. Influence from these regions and the Irish immigration to Quebec of the 19th century may explain the Celtic connection that Quebec still shares with Brittany, Ireland, Scotland and the Maritimes.[9]
As time went by, the French Canadians began to develop their own music, and also incorporated and transformed the styles of music played by the settlers from Great Britain, in particular the Scots, after the Conquest.[10] (One hundred of these songs were collected by Ernest Gagnon for an 1865 compilation, one of the first such collections to be published in Canada.)
Québécois lumberjacks playing the fiddle, with sticks for percussion, in a lumber camp in 1943.
Traditional music is infused with many dances, such as the jig, the quadrille, the reel and line dancing, which have developed in the festivities since the early days of colonization.[11][12] And in Quebec's culture, the following musical instruments are the most prominent: harmonica (music-of-mouth or lip-destruction), fiddle, spoons, jaw harp and accordion. Traditional Quebec music is characterized by podorythmie which means giving the rhythm with the feet,[13] and is currently provided by various contemporary groups performing mostly during Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations, the Quebec National Holiday and many local festivals.
Popular music
Perhaps the phenomenon in the popular music of that century was the career of La Bolduc, who became extremely popular singing satirical and sometimes racy songs based on the Quebec and Irish folk traditions, and who also was expert in the wordless vocalization known as turlutte.
By the 1960's, radio and television had begun to help disseminate French folk songs, especially after the 1967 foundation of the Centennial Collection of Canadian Folk Songs, including recordings of Quebec performers like Yves Albert and Jacques Labrecque, as well as AcadianEdith Butler.
The popular songwriters and singers of this period were Gilles Vigneault, Leonard Cohen (attended McGill University, d.2016, buried in Montreal), and Félix Leclerc, who brought more influences to the music of France-based singing stars like Jacques Brel. Leclerc, from La Tuque, and Vigneault, from Natashquan in the north of Quebec, became heroes for a new generation of Quebec youth. It was Vigneault's "Mon pays" (My Country), which became a rallying anthem for Quebec nationalism after a 1965 performance by Monique Leyrac, and established a tradition of Quebec artists supporting Quebec's independence movement. Many artists openly endorsed it, notably Raymond Lévesque, Pauline Julien and Paul Piché.
In the 1960's, the French Canadians of Quebec were beginning to self-identify as Québécois (Quebecers). See the Quiet Revolution. Another important nationalist performer during this period was Georges Dor, who enjoyed international success with the recording of his own composition, "La complainte de la Manic" ("The Ballad of Manicouagan"); other popular singers of the time include Claude Gauthier and Clemence Desrochers. Popular artists of the 70s included Harmonium, Offenbach, Plume Latraverse, Garolou and Beau Dommage, as well as Michel Rivard.
Country music, in both French and English (primarily the former), is prevalent in Quebec. An aspect of the overall Canadian country scene, it is the chief source of francophone country, inclusive of artists such as Renée Martel, Gildor Roy, Patrick Norman, Willie Lamothe, and Georges Hamel.
Progressive rock and fusion jazz band Maneige was founded in Quebec in 1972 by Alain Bergeron and Jérôme Langlois. The band was one of the Quebec progressive rock scene's longest running and consistent bands.[14] In 1974, Vigneault and Leclerc played on the Plains of Abraham with Robert Charlebois, who made heavy use of Quebec French in his rock and roll fusions. In 1976, multi-instrumentalist sisters Kate & Anna McGarrigle emerged on the international music scene with their blend of folk-rock and vocal harmonies added to self-penned songs in English and French, many of the latter co-written with Swiss-born poet Philippe Tatartcheff. The 1970s also saw roots performers like La Bottine Souriante gain critical and commercial acclaim within Quebec. Jim Corcoran and Bertrand Gosselin released La tête en gigue, an influential album that helped bring Quebec roots to crossover audiences across Canada, the United States and Europe. In addition to his musical career, Corcoran currently hosts a weekly show on CBC Radio One, which airs Francophone music from Quebec for English audiences across Canada. The early 1980s saw the formation of francophone synthpop/new wave groups such as Nudimension that became involved in the genesis of music video and MTV culture.[15]
The tensions between Quebec and English Canada have, at times, played out on Quebec's music scene as well. In 1991, Céline Dion won the Félix award for Best Anglophone Artist for her English-language debut, Unison, but refused it as she did not view herself as an Anglophone artist.
The Montreal International Jazz Festival has been hosted by the city since 1980 and is now the largest jazz festival in the world, attracting huge crowds of visitors each summer, half of which come from outside the country. For the rest of the year, the L'OFF Festival de Jazz de Montreal organizes jazz shows in bars across Montreal.
Classical music
The early part of the 20th century saw growth in opera, and the foundation of the Montreal Opera Company in 1910, and opera singers became popular.
Roch Voisine and Natasha St-Pier are two artists who also perform in France and are often mistaken for Quebecers. They are actually from New Brunswick and are of Acadian heritage, like Daniel Lavoie who is from Manitoba.
Musicals
Few musicals were made or adapted by Quebec artists. Among them, Luc Plamondon has had the brightest career as a songwriter, writing for the big ones (Céline Dion, Garou). The main musicals 'made in Quebec': Starmania, La Légende de Jimmy, Notre-Dame-de-Paris, Chicago (adapted into French), "Demain matin, Montréal m'attend", Dracula.
Le Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil develops its own musical pieces to go along with various acrobatic tricks. The music aspect of the show is essential as it sets a mood for performances and links one number to another.
Rouyn-Noranda is a city on Osisko Lake in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada.
The culture of Quebec emerged over the last few hundred years, resulting predominantly from the shared history of the French-speaking North American majority in Quebec. Québécois culture, as a whole, constitutes all distinctive traits – spiritual, material, intellectual and affective – that characterize Québécois society. This term encompasses the arts, literature, institutions and traditions created by Québécois, as well as the collective beliefs, values and lifestyle of Québécois. It is a culture of the Western World.
Gilles Vigneault is a Canadian poet, publisher, singer-songwriter, and Quebec nationalist and sovereigntist. Two of his songs are considered by many to be Quebec's unofficial anthems: "Mon pays" and "Gens du pays", and his line Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver became a proverb in Quebec. Vigneault is a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec, Knight of the Legion of Honour, and Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
"Gens du pays" is a Quebecois song that has been called the unofficial national anthem of Quebec. Written by poet and singer-songwriter Gilles Vigneault, and with music co-written by Gaston Rochon, it was first performed by Vigneault on June 24, 1975 during a concert on Montreal's Mount Royal at that year's Fête nationale du Québec ceremony. It quickly became a folk classic, and it has been played frequently at Fête nationale ceremonies since then. The chorus is by far the most famous part of the song: Gens du pays, c'est votre tour / De vous laisser parler d'amour, which, translated, says, "Folks of the land, it is your turn to let yourselves speak of love."
The Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue is a public university within the Université du Québec network, with campuses in Val-d'Or and Rouyn-Noranda. It takes its name from the region it primarily serves.
Articles related to Quebec include:
Lise Payette was a Canadian politician, journalist, writer, and businesswoman. She was a Parti Québécois (PQ) minister under the leadership of Premier René Lévesque and National Assembly of Quebec member for the riding of Dorion. Originally a journalist, Payette became a television host in the 1960s. She left politics in 1981 and returned to a successful career in television production and writing.
Richard Desjardins is a Québécois folk singer and film director.
Marjolène Morin, professionally known as Marjo, is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Quebec.
Isabelle Boulay, is a Canadian singer.
Marc Dupré is a Canadian singer, songwriter and musician from Quebec.
Diane Tell is a Canadian musician who was born in Quebec City, Quebec.
French Canadian music is music derived from that brought by the early French settlers to what is now Quebec and other areas throughout Canada, or any music performed by the French Canadian people. Since the arrival of French music in Canada, there has been much intermixing with the Celtic music of Anglo-Canada.
Incognito Tour was the second concert tour by the Canadian singer Celine Dion, who embarked on it to support her eighth studio album, Incognito (1987). The tour began on 11 January 1988 in Rouyn-Noranda, Canada, and concluded on 11 July 1989, in Quebec City, Canada. It encompassed over 80 shows and visited 27 cities in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario in Canada.A special date was held in Lausanne, Switzerland during the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 week.
Daniel Bernard is a Canadian politician, who has served three non-consecutive terms as Member of the National Assembly for the electoral district of Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue. First elected as a member of the Quebec Liberal Party in the 2003 Quebec general election, he served until he was defeated by Johanne Morasse of the Parti Québécois in the 2007 Quebec general election; he was then re-elected in the same district, defeating Morasse, in the 2008 Quebec general election, serving a single term and not running for re-election in the 2012 Quebec general election.
Christine Charbonneau was a French Canadian singer and songwriter.
Québécois are people associated with Quebec. The term is most often used in reference to either descendants of the French settlers in Quebec or people of any ethnicity who live and trace their origins in the province of Quebec.
Émilise Lessard-Therrien is a Québécoise politician, who is serving as a co-spokesperson of Québec solidaire since November 2023. She was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in the 2018 Quebec general election. She represented the electoral district of Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue as a member of Québec solidaire until her defeat in the 2022 Quebec general election.
Michel Rivard is a singer-songwriter and musician from Quebec, born in Montreal. His father, Robert Rivard, was an actor. Michel began his career at an early age appearing in a Canadian television series and in TV commercials.
↑ Univ of Washington, Canadian Quebecois Music (15 May 2023). "First Nations Music". jsis.washington.edu/canada/music-collection/first-nations-music/. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
↑ Univ of Washington, Canadian Quebecois music (15 May 2023). "The Metis Music". jsis.washington.edu/canada/music-collection/metis-music/. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
↑ University of Washington, Canadian Studies Center (15 May 2023). "Quebecois Music". jsis.washington.edu/canada/music-collection/quebecois-music/. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
↑ Univ of Washington, Arcadian Music (Canadian Quebecois Music) (15 May 2023). "Arcadian Music". jsis.washington.edu/canada/music-collection/acadian-music/. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
Brouillard, Marcel. Images de la chanson: un siècle chanté. [S.l.]: Éditions l'Essentiel; Ville Montréal, Qué.: Distr. Novalis, 2000. ISBN2-921970-06-6
Défossé, Félix. L'Évolution du métal québécois, vol. [1], No Speed Limit, 1964–1989. Rouyn-Noranda, Qué.: Éditions du Quartz, 2014. N.B.: Two more vols. are projected to complete this 3 vol. history of heavy metal music of Québec. ISBN978-2-924031-16-2
Duguay, Raoul. Musiciens du Québec. Montréal: Éditions du Jour, 1971. N.B.: The emphasis is on "classical" then contemporary composers and on those of "musique actuelle".
Lasalle-Leduc, Annette. La Vie musicale au Canada français. Québec, Qué.: Ministère des Affaires culturelles, 1964.
Lefebvre, Marie-Thérèse. La Création musicale des femmes du Québec. Montréal: Éditions du Remue-ménage, 1991. N.B.: Concerns women composers of Québec.
Rodrigue, Patrick. "Rouyn-Noranda, la Mecque du rock 'n' roll" & "Un Musée du rock 'n' roll pourrait naître à Rouyn-Noranda", Abitibi-Express, vol. 1, no 44 (31 mai 2011), p.4. N.B.: Paired ill. articles, each individually titled and separately accessible also on the newspaper's Internet site, describing Rouyn-Noranda as one of the two contrasting poles, the other being Montréal, of popular music in Québec.
Sévigny, Jean-Pierre. Sierra Norteña: the Influence of Latin Music on the French-Canadian Popular Song and Dance Scene, Especially as Reflected in the Career of Alys Robi and the Pedagogy of Maurice Lacasse-Morenoff. Montréal: Productions Juke-Box, 1994. 13 p. N.B. Published text of a paper prepared for, and presented on, on 12 March 1994, the conference, Popular Music Music & Identity (Montréal, Qué., 12–13 March 1994), under the auspices of the Canadian Branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music.
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