Category Archives: Context

03/25/25

Cajun Music

Cajun Music is the characteristic folk music tradition of the Louisiana Francophone community, known as Cajuns. It is characterised by particular instrumentation, including diatonic accordion, fiddle and acoustic guitar. The music of the Cajuns has become a hallmark of Southern American culture, and alongside jazz is one of the most distinctive genres of Louisiana’s musical tradition.

 

The story of Cajun music begins with the earliest French settlements in what was then known as Louisiana, starting in 1682. The French established colonies along the Missisippi and Illinois rivers and the Gulf of Mexico, and while settlers from France were reluctant to move into the unprofitable colony in the early 18th century, many French-Canadian settlers did settle there voluntarily. In 1762 and 1763, the French ceded the territory to England and withdrew from North America, shortly whereafter Louisiana was subject to Spanish occupation. Around 780 Acadians moved to Louisiana from Maryland and Pennsylvania (where they’d been deported), and 1600 more were deported from France after escaping from England. Nonetheless, most of the Francophone immigration from Canada and elsewhere in the USA during this period was voluntary. Immigrants at this time introduced a repertoire of traditional songs to the region (which would soon spread westward); many of these can be traced back to France. Spain returned Louisiana to the French in 1800, who then sold it to the USA in 1803 for $15 million; it then had a population of 50,000 who would soon be joined by 10,000 Francophone refugees from Cuba. By the 1830s, the Francophone population was a minority in Louisiana, and the economic importance of the port combined with Americanisation led to a gradual loss of Francophone culture, culminating in the prohibition of French from schools after WWII. Unfortunately, fewer than 2% of the Louisiana population today still speaks French. All this is to say, rather than a unified group of Acadian deportees, the Francophone population of Louisiana has always been diverse and incorporates a massive variety of cultures and traditions (not to mention the many Indigenous people who adopted the French language and way of life); the musical tradition reflects this diversity of styles and influences.

 

In the 19th century, diatonic accordions were introduced to Louisiana and were quickly adopted by Cajun and Creole musicians. During the early 20th century, while the Francophone population was a minority, there were numerous ethnographic recordings made of Cajun music by the likes of Alan Lomax. Cultural exchange with Texas began in the 1930s with the rise of Louisiana’s oil fields, and so the music of the time adopted elements of Texas’s popular country music. The music was actually disseminated widely through the mid-20th century; Harry Choates (a fiddler)’s song Jolie Blonde became a national hit in 1946. Other groups like Leo Soileau, the Hackberry Ramblers, and the Dixie Ramblers enjoyed some commercial success. However, only during the 1960s and 70s did Cajun culture qua Cajun culture become a point of interest to many; following the second world war, the accordion was reintroduced.

 

During the 1970s, Cajun culture and identity came under renewed interest, including Revon Reed’s Lâche pas la patate (1976), a book portraying the French population of Louisiana; by the 1990s, Cajun music was increasingly being disseminated by revival groups. Zachary Richard released Cap Enragé (1996), his first internationally acclaimed Francophone album, and artists such as the Lost Bayou Ramblers and Bruce Daigrepont became important; festivals such as the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival and Festival international de Louisiane served to preserve these traditions. The band BeauSoleil also became a national hit, winning several Grammy Awards for their work in the 1990s. Indeed, the Grammy Awards have incorporated a separate category, “Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album,” in 2007. The Council for the development of French in Louisiana had founded the Festivals Acadiens, an annual festival, and Action Cadienne, an association for preserving the French language, was founded in 1996 by Zachary Richard and others. Under Jean Lesage, the Quebec government had signed a ‘cultural cooperation agreement’ with Louisiana and established quasi-diplomatic relations until the 1990s. While Cajun music never really died out, as a living tradition it has changed drastically over the centuries, and this can be heard in the 100 years of recordings available.

 

Suggested sources:

Wikipedia, History of Cajun Music. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cajun_music

Wikipedia, Zachary Richard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachary_Richard

The Canadian Encyclopedia, French-speaking Louisiana and Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/french-speaking-louisiana-and-canada

Explore Louisiana, Cajun Music in Louisiana. https://www.explorelouisiana.com/articles/cajun-music-louisiana

 

Further reading:

Zachary Richard (1950–)

Parlez-nous à boire

 

Suggested Listening:

Zachary Richard, Cap Enragé. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wUPjs1a9RvE

 

03/13/25

Fur Trade

Fur Trade: A Key Canadian History

[3] The fur trade has played a critical role in shaping Canada’s history, beginning in the early 1600s and stretching over nearly 250 years. This busy trade involved primarily European traders, mainly the French and British, who worked closely with Indigenous peoples. The Indigenous communities were essential to making the trade successful. The soaring demand for beaver pelts drove explorers further into the heart of the Canadian wilderness, paving the way for new trading routes and settlements. What’s fascinating about the fur trade is how it promoted strong economic relationships between Indigenous and European communities, sparking cultural exchanges that influenced both sides.  In addition, music played a key role for traders to express their culture and for Indigenous peoples to come together [2].

Indigenous Women in the Fur Trade

[1] Indigenous women were essential to the success and sustainability of the fur trade. Their contributions went far beyond just managing the household; they were critical to both survival and commerce. These women took on critical tasks, such as making clothing, preserving food, and creating valuable trade goods, all of which helped their families and trading partners thrive. One important aspect of their involvement was through what’s known as mariage à la façon du pays, or “marriage according to the custom of the country.” These marriages promoted connections that allowed European traders to access Indigenous resources and social networks, which were key to successful transactions. These unions weren’t just formal agreements; they brought families together, established mutual support, and nurtured relationships across cultures. The dynamics of power in these partnerships were quite remarkable. Indigenous women wielded major influence and were adept at negotiating deals that benefited their communities. They ensured their perspectives were considered in trade discussions. Acting as cultural bridges, these women not only reinforced family bonds but also played a crucial role in shaping the fur trade and its impact on Canadian society.

Trade Goods and Cultural Exchange

The fur trade was an exchange between European traders and Indigenous peoples, deeply shaping cultural interactions. Key items like iron axes, flintlock muskets, and glass beads played major roles. Iron axes changed how Indigenous communities made tools and processed wood, while glass beads became popular decorations. These goods weren’t just materials; they represented new tech that made daily tasks easier. Reciprocity was at the core of these trade relationships, with both sides adapting to fit each other’s needs. Indigenous peoples often welcomed European goods, changing their practices and economies in the process. As competition heated up between French and English traders, their strategies evolved. The French built on existing Indigenous trade networks, while the English, represented by the Hudson’s Bay Company, aimed to establish direct access through trading posts. So, the fur trade wasn’t just about economics; it sparked a rich cultural exchange [4].

Music’s Role in the Fur Trade

[4] Music played an essential role in the fur trade, acting not just as a source of entertainment but also as a way for both traders and Indigenous peoples to express their culture. It created a unique space where diverse groups could come together, promoting social bonds that crossed cultural lines. A standout song from this time is “The Red River Valley,” [2] which beautifully captures the feelings and experiences of those involved in the fur trade. Dating back to the mid-19th century, the song touches on themes of love and longing, striking a chord with those who had to leave the lively trading center at Red River. The lyrics often reflect the connections built between Indigenous communities and European settlers, displaying how music can weave together shared stories and emotions of both joy and sorrow amidst the complexities of trading life.

References

[2] Daniel Robert Laxer. Listening to the Fur Trade. McGill-Queen’s Press – MQUP, 2022.

[3] Foster, John, and William Eccles. “Fur Trade | the Canadian Encyclopedia.” Thecanadianencyclopedia.ca, 23 July 2013, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/fur-trade. Accessed 4 Mar. 2025.

[4] Inouye, Frank T., and Harold A. Innis. “The Fur Trade in Canada.” Ethnohistory, vol. 4, no. 4, 1957, p. 465, https://doi.org/10.2307/480329.

[1] Kenyon, Walter. “Trade Goods: Indigenous Peoples | the Canadian Encyclopedia.” Thecanadianencyclopedia.ca, 7 Feb. 2006, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/indian-trade-goods. Accessed 4 Mar. 2025.

Related Sources

Glover, Fred. “Fur Trade in Canada (Plain-Language Summary) | the Canadian Encyclopedia.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 15 Jan. 2020, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/fur-trade-in-canada-plain-language-summary. Accessed 4 Mar. 2025.

Berthelette, Scott. “Women and the Fur Trade | the Canadian Encyclopedia.” Www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca, 30 Jan. 2023, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/women-and-the-fur-trade. Accessed 4 Mar. 2025.

Suggested Sources

[2a]YouTube Recording of Red River Valley (2014): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrCK_EVjcZ0

[2b]YouTube Lyric Video of Red River Valley (2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFgKB5p8F7U

03/13/25

L’Aumône refusée

Link: On Canvas (no online copy)

Lyrics from Liner notes to CD (via Discogs)

Song title: L’Aumône refusée

Source: Marcel Bénéteau, À la table de mes amis (2000)

 

Strophe Rhyme Line Text Translation
1 a 1 Père et mère qu’élevez des enfants, (bis) O father and mother who raise children,
b 2 Corrigez-les dans leur jeune âge. (bis) Correct them at a young age.
a (p) 3 Pour moi j’ai bien élevé les miens, (bis) As for me, I’ve raised mine well,
c 4 Tout doucement, comme un bon père. (bis) Very gently, like a good father.
2 d 5 Chez mon fils bourgeois j’été, (bis) I went to my gentleman son’s house,
a 6 Pour le lui demander l’aumône. (bis) To ask him for alms.
d (p) 7 La table était tout bien garnie, (bis) The table was laid out really well,
e 8 Garnie de tartes et de pâté-es. (bis) Laid out with pies and pastries.
3 f 9 Héla! Grand Dieu, qui est ceci, (bis) Alas! Great God, who is this,
g 10 Qui est toujours rendu à ma porte? (bis) Who is always coming to my door?
c 11 Mon bon bourgeois, c’est votre père, (bis) My good gentleman, it’s your father,
a 12 Qui vient vous demander l’aumône. (bis) Who comes to ask you for alms.
4 f 13 Qu’on l’ôte ces pâtés-là d’ici, (bis) Take these very pastries away from here,
h 14 Qu’on mettre le pain dessus la table. (bis) Put the bread on top of the table.
a 15a Qu’on lui donne un morceau de pain  Give him a piece of bread,
a 15b Qu’on lui donne tout comme un chien.  Give it to him like a dog.
g 16 Par dessour la sol de la porte. (bis) Below the threshold of the door.
5 d 17 Quand c’ le bonhomme fut retiré, (bis) When the good man had left,
h 18 Ils ont mis les pâtés sur la table. (bis) They put the pastries on the table.
d (p) 19 Le premier qu’il a entammé, (bis) As he was beginning the first one,
i 20 Un crapaud lui saute au visage. (bis) A toad jumped into his face.
6 f 21 Héla! Grand Dieu, qui est ceci (bis) Alas! Great God, who is this
i 22 Qui me déchire tout le visage? (bis) Who’s tearing off my face?
j 23 C’est une pénitence de Dieu, (bis) It’s a penance from God,
c 24 Pour avoir envoyé votre père. (bis) For sending off your father.
7 f 25 Vite, Saint Malcom, allez me le qu’ri, (bis) Quickly, Holy Malcolm, go get him,
c 26 Vite, pour aller chercher mon père. (bis) Quickly, to go and get my father.
d 27 Quand c’ le bonhomme fut arrivé, (bis) When the good man had arrived,
k 28 Trouva son fils réduit en cendres. (bis) He found his son reduced to ashes.

 

Notes on the text: According to the liner notes, this is a Medieval song preserved in about a dozen versions throughout Quebec and Acadia; this version comes from Stella Meloche in Detroit, who learned it from her uncle.

 

Type: Strophic, narrative, ethical fable

 

Context: Perhaps could be sung at a soirée or other family gathering, considering it extols the value of hosting? Bénéteau’s presentation of the album might also suggest this.

 

Narrative: 

Begins with an exhortation to parents in the first strophe; the next 6 illustrate a fable of a poor father and his well-to-do son. When the father comes to ask for some help and finds his son’s table already set with a decadent meal, the son acts annoyed and hides his food, slipping his father bread beneath the door ‘like a dog.’ As the son sits down to enjoy his pastry, a toad jumps onto his face and begins to destroy him; he sends for his father, but it’s already too late – by the time his father arrives, he’s reduced to ‘cendres!’

While the fun narrative is probably the focus here (the song lasts nearly 6 minutes), there is certainly an ethical element to it – the values of hospitality, sharing what you have, and family are all extolled. There’s also a theological element; the son takes God’s name in vain (not cool!) and ends up being stricken down by God for his complacency. Interestingly, I couldn’t find any ‘Saint Malcom’ in the Roman martyrology; perhaps this is a unique feature of the story, but as the only named character in the plot, I would expect there to be some context for this mention.

The text is generally not rhyming (with some exceptions in the beginning) and is repeated throughout – I think this heightens the tension of the narrative. Bénéteau also builds further tension with instrumental interludes between key plot developments, and a regular but surprisingly nonmetrical rhythm.

Information on Bénéteau himself is rather scarce; what I can find is that he’s a professor in Sudbury of Franco-American studies, and has catalogued thousands of Francophone songs from the Detroit region.

This song is performed in a more intimate, narrative style. Instrumentation includes guitar, Bénéteau’s voice, a background fiddle, jaw harp at the end, and what sounds like a mandolin, but they don’t all play at once. The emphasis is definitely on the text and the narrative; even the mastering of the recording brings this out.

 

The music deserves a bit of analysis as well, because of the interesting nonmetrical rhythmic scheme:

I think this could either be read as a sort of elided 6/8, or simply as groups of 2 and 3 pulses. The latter idea could be supported considering the musicians were familiar with Gregorian chant, only I’m not sure whether the idea of subdividing Gregorian chant into 2 and 3-pulse groups would predate the composition of this song. Either way, the rhythms ensure the music flows very nicely and the repetition never gets lugubrious, which is remarkable for a text this long.

01/16/25

Métis

Métis People and Their Identity

The Métis community is one of Canada’s three recognized Indigenous peoples (Canadian Geographic 2018). The earliest mixed Aboriginal-European people could be traced back to the first contact period. However, the emergence of the first community that is made up of distinctly Métis people is still being studied to this day. Scholars have argued that their ancestry is either traced back to Red River settlement or the fur trade in the Great Lakes in the late 18th century. In today’s definition, the Métis people include those of mixed ancestry from the 18th to early 19th centuries fur traders of European descent, primarily French settlers, and Indigenous women of Cree and other nations like Ojibwa and Saulteaux. Before the term “Métis” was used to refer to this mixed community in the early 19th century, they were referred to as “Saulteurs,” “bois brûlés,” or “chicots” (Gaudry 2023). The term “Métis” came from the French verb “métisser,” meaning to mix races. The language developed and spoken within the Métis community is called Michif, which combines verbs and phrases from Cree and French nouns. Today, Heritage Michif is considered an endangered language, as less than a few hundred people speak it, and those who can speak the language are mostly people in their 70s or older (Canadian Geographic 2018).

Resistance to the Canadian government

For a long time, the Métis people faced ongoing discrimination and especially land encroachments from the Canadian government. In 1869, the Canadian government acquired Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company, which the territory belonged to the descendants of original inhabitants including the Métis nation, and sold without consultation or consent from the Indigenous people. The event of sending surveyors onto André Nault’s (Métis leader, farmer and buffalo hunter) land further increased the tension between the Métis and the Canadian government, which ultimately led to the Red River uprising. The continuous disregard for Métis people’s land claims and marginalization angered the Red River Métis people, who eventually formed the National Committee of the Métis in October 1869, and later established their provisional government on December 8, 1869, with Louis Riel as the leader (Gaudry 2023). The Métis people, whether they participated in the 1885 North-West Resistance or not, would be socially, economically, and politically marginalized. As they lose their title to the land, they can’t pay taxes, which results in a cycle of poverty for generations to come (Canadian Geographic 2018).

Contribution to Francophone music

The Métis people also made significant contributions to Canada’s music, mostly in the form of dance and fiddle music. Traditional dances like the Red River Jig (1850s), the Rabbit Dance, and the Sash Dance are highly celebrated dances of their heritage, they are still being performed at powwows, functions, national competitions, and community gatherings (Gaudry 2023). As Europeans brought violins to Canada, the Métis people adopted the instrument and played their traditional tunes with it, these tunes are usually a mix of French-Canadian and Indigenous tunes. Many Métis fiddlers traveled across North America and participated in fiddle contests, as many Métis people held competitions to determine who was the best jiggers and fiddlers. Despite a lack of formal training, many Métis fiddlers could play at a virtuosic level and have developed excellent musicianship (Canadian Geographic 2018).

Suggested Sources:

01/16/25

Mi’kmaq

The Mi’kmaq (or Mi’kmaw, L’nu) are an Indigenous people with roots in the Atlantic provinces of Canada and parts of the northeastern United States that date back to around 10,000 years ago. Their traditional territory, Mi’gma’gi, spans Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and parts of Newfoundland, Quebec, and Maine, with a population of over 70,000 people identifying as Mi’kmaq in the 2021 Canadian census. Central to their culture are their strong ties to the natural world, their language (now recognized as Nova Scotia’s first language), and their vibrant artistic traditions, particularly music.

Mi’kmaq music has long been an integral part of cultural expression. Traditional songs and chants, often performed during ceremonies or powwows, convey deep emotion using syllabic sounds rather than structured lyrics. The term “welta’q”, meaning “it sounds good,” refers broadly to all pleasing sounds, including music, storytelling, and natural soundscapes. Many traditional songs are believed to have been inspired by animals, such as birds, whose calls serve as the basis for musical creativity.

A recent example of Mi’kmaq musical innovation is Emma Stevens’ 2019 viral cover of Blackbird by the Beatles, sung in the Mi’kmaq language. Her rendition brought global attention to endangered Indigenous languages and highlighted the power of music in preserving culture. Stevens’ performance, supported by her Cape Breton community, aligns with broader efforts to revitalize the Mi’kmaq language, which, despite challenges, has grown in use due to immersion programs and legislative support such as the 2022 Mi’kmaw Language Act.

The Mi’kmaq people’s resilience is also evident in their activism. From advocating for fishing and hunting rights under 18th-century Peace and Friendship Treaties to protests against environmental exploitation, they continue to assert their sovereignty and protect their lands. This cultural perseverance, mirrored in their music, exemplifies the deep connection between art, language, and identity in Mi’kmaq traditions.

Suggested Sources:

01/16/25

Acadian Music

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Suggested Sources:

  • Labelle, Ronald. “Acadian Music.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Article published March 03, 2014; Last Edited March 04, 2015.
01/9/25

Helen Creighton Folklore Society

Helen Creighton (1899–1989) was a folklorist who collected stories and songs of the Maritimes, including French Acadian music from Pubnico and Grand-Étang, Nova Scotia.

Suggested Sources:

Helen Creighton Folklore Society, https://www.helencreighton.org/

Related Contents:

“Pubnico”

“Grand-Étang”