LES COPAINS DU SAMEDI AU CAFÉ CANADIEN-FRANÇAIS

 Leonard Cohen

You may have read in the newspaper that, not long ago, Mister Legault, premier of the province of Québec, wanted students at McGill University, an English-speaking institution located in Montréal, to take a successful French test in order to graduate. Isn’t this extreme? Why do people in Québec always seem to be “overreacting” when it comes to French language?

We remember, from previous postings, that the ingredients for the identity of a Québécois used to be: 1. To be catholic, 2. To live in rural area, 3. To speak French. Since people in Québec have abandoned churches and farms, there is only one "ancestral element" left for them to anchor their identity, and that is the French language.

Regularly, Statistics Canada publishes the results of national surveys about the proportion of speakers of various languages in Canada, and when the numbers are out, many people in Québec adopt an alarmist attitude about what they read.

Question: What percentage of the population of Canada can speak French? Answer: 22%. Year after year, French speaking people are loosing ground in terms of demographic weight across Canada, from 27.5% in 2016 to 22% in 2021. The alarmist view goes like this: if French Canadians lost 5 percentage points in 5 years, does it mean that, at this rate, the demographic weight will reach 0% in 25 years? To imagine one’s own end is always a great source of anxiety. Of course, French Canadian will never disappear and the main cause of this sudden shift in proportion is the influx of immigrants who mostly choose to speak English.

Question: What percentage of the population of the province of Québec are native French speakers? Answer: 77%. Indeed, the proportion of French native speakers is 77% (2021) and only 46.95% (2011) on the Island of Montréal. Many immigrants moving to Québec often choose to speak English instead of French. All these trends result over time in a diminishing proportion of people speaking French in Québec. The introduction of Bill 101 in the 70s was an attempt to reverse the decline. That legislation was making the use of French mandatory in the work place and for signage. As a result, many English-speaking people living in Québec made the effort to become bilingual. But even today it is possible for someone to live in Québec their whole life without speaking French. And it is possible to be an English native speaker and a Québécois at the same time. This is why people in Québec see Leonard Cohen as one of their own.

If you walk on the streets of Montréal, you might see two giant murals of Leonard Cohen on the side of two buildings. As far as I know, no other artist, even French Canadian, was honored in such a way in Montréal. Leonard Cohen is considered a true Montrealer, maybe in part because his song “Suzanne” refers to locations in Montréal. Another song, “The Partisan” is one third in French. We might have to thank his love interest Dominique Issermann, from France, for enticing Leonard Cohen to perfect his French, to the point that he could answer difficult questions during interviews.

Here is “The Partisan” (with subtitles).

Next week: Humour

LES COPAINS DU SAMEDI AU CAFÉ CANADIEN-FRANÇAIS

 Céline Dion

If you ask a French-Canadian where most of their “cousins” are from, you would assume that they would be in France. The truth is that since contact between France and “Nouvelle-France” became quite rare after 1760 (British Conquest), no one in Québec can claim to have even far, far distant cousins from France. On the other hand, many could easily name cousins in Eastern U.S.A. The relationship between Québec and its American neighbor is quite complex...

Between the mid 1800s and the early 1900s, for various reasons, but mostly because of poverty, many French-Canadians migrated to the states bordering Québec, especially New-England, Maine and New Hampshire, where they would be hired as cheap labor in newly built textile manufactures. Yep, some of my ancestors were illegal immigrants in the US... It is estimated that over 900,000 Québécois crossed the border and this is known in French-Canadian history as “la Grande Saignée” (“the Great [Demographic] Hemorrhage”). Over time, their children would become American citizens by birthright and many "Americanized" their name because an American name can get you an better paid job. Among the most interesting adaptations we have: Boileau => Drinkwater, Courtemanche=> Shortsleeve, Rheault=> Rowe.

My paternal grand-father was born at the very end of the 19th century in Manchester, New Hampshire. In his 20s, he decided to move back to Québec, leaving behind his sisters and cousins. Later, during summer time, my dad would take his wife and kids (including me) to the States to visit those cousins that were still close. Today, for me, these connections have become thin and are fading away, but there are still lots of family ties between Québec and Northeastern US.

Searching Wikipedia, I found hockey players named “Rheault” born in New Hampshire. I have never met them but I am sure we are related. I also found another distant American cousin, Robert Rheault, who made the front page of Life Magazine but not for good reasons. I will let Francis Ford Coppola explain: “After the [Vietnam] war, Francis Ford Coppola, director of the 1979 film “Apocalypse Now” said that the character Colonel Walter Kurtz in the film was loosely based upon Rheault, of whom he had become aware through the 1969 news accounts of the Green Beret Affair.” [Wikipedia] Yikes, not a family member I would to sit beside at the Christmas dinner table...

The American Dream is something all French-Canadian artists have in mind when starting their career. Is the local public good enough ($) or could they get contracts in the US ($$$$$)? Of course, the latter, more tempting option means singing in English (just like ABBA :-)), but learning and mastering a new language is a tall order. Very few French-Canadian artists are able or willing to overcome the language barrier and achieve international status. Céline Dion is one of those rare exceptions.

When most people think of Céline Dion, they have in mind a mature woman with a powerful voice. However, for most people in Québec, including myself, we kept in our memory the image of a sweet teenage singer who is also a good daughter and a good catholic. Céline was born in a family of 14 children and she created her first song at the age of 12 in 1980. In 1984, on September 11th, aged 16, she famously sang “Une Colombe” (“A Dove”) in front of a full Olympic stadium (65k seats) for John-Paul II, who was visiting Montréal in order to re-kindle catholic faith in the city. Later, in 1990, Céline Dion learned English and gradually became the super-star she is today. Of note, because Catholicism teaches its adepts that no one should be above the others, French-Canadians often made mean jokes about Céline’s successes, but today everybody agrees that she was and still is an exceptional person.

So here is “Une Colombe”.

Next week: Léonard Cohen

LES COPAINS DU SAMEDI AU CAFÉ CANADIEN-FRANÇAIS

 
Beau Dommage

We saw that, in the past in Québec, there was a tension between those speaking the rural dialect and those thinking that the right way to speak was to emulate the pronunciation of France's French.

During the “Ancien Régime” in France, the nobles and the peasant would pronounce certain words in different ways. For example, the king would say: “Le roué, c’est moué” (le roi, c’est moi = the king, it’s me), while peasants would say “moi et toi” (you and me). Think of it as "way" vs "wa". When French settlers came along the St-Lawrence River in the 17th and 18th century, they would adopt the “proper” pronunciation and start saying “moué et toué”. Later, in 1789, the French Revolution made life very dangerous for nobles and understandably even them would pronounce “moi et toi”, like the peasants. But across the Atlantic Ocean, isolated on their farms, barely aware of a distant “French Revolution”, people in what would later become Québec were still saying “moué et toué”.

In 1968, the play “Les Belles-Soeurs” by Michel Tremblay was presented to the public for the first time. It tells the story of a woman who, after winning one million gift stamps, invited her neighbors and family members (15 women, all from the working class) to glue these stamps in books so she can claim her prizes. The play was an instant scandal. Why? Was it because it incorporated devices from ancient Greek tragedies in a working class story? Was it because it was dealing openly with abortion and discrimination against women? None of the above. It was mainly because all the dialogs were written in joual. The French-Canadian elite were firmly opposed to having the dialect of the people used in the public space: “joual is like pooping, you only do it privately”.

Since its foundation in 1936, Radio-Canada always required from its radio and TV hosts to pronounce French like in France. It created a certain disconnection between the public and the broadcaster. But gradually, especially since “Les Belles-Soeurs”, Radio-Canada allowed their hosts to speak “naturally” and today the French-Canadian pronunciation is considered “normal”.

In 1974, a group of very talented musicians launched their first album titled “Beau Bommage”, which is also the name of the band, taken from an old French-Canadian expression meaning “certainly”. The song I want to introduce to you is called “La complainte du phoque en Alaska”. Here are the first few lines:

Cré-moué, cré-moué pas, quèque part en Alaska, Y’a un phoque qui s’ennuie en maudit... (joual)
Crois-moi, ne me crois pas, quelque part en Alaska, il y a un phoque qui s’ennuie en maudit... (français)
[Believe-me or not, somewhere in Alaska, there’s a seal who’s sad as can be... (English)

This is not the first time joual was used in French-Canadian songs, since La Bolduc was doing it in the thirties. Many traditional or funny songs would also use joual. But this time, joual was used as a perfectly normal language capable of expressing a whole range of subtle emotions and it could be as beautiful as any other language. The inferiority complex was healed, finally.

Next week: Céline Dion

 

LES COPAINS DU SAMEDI AU CAFÉ CANADIEN-FRANÇAIS

 Gilles Vigneault

We saw that, in the past, French-Canadians would define their identity first as catholic, second as living in rural area, third as speaking French. Let’s take a look at some radical identity transformations that happened in the 1960s.

Each nation chooses symbols of their identity like a flag, a national anthem, a monument, a religion, etc. The national anthem of Canada (O Canada) has a history that illustrates the complex relationship between English and French Canadians. The song was originally composed in French for the celebration of St-Jean-Baptiste on June 24th, 1880. Saint Jean-Baptiste is the saint of French-Canadians, like Saint Patrick is for the Irish. So this song, “O Canada”, was not created to celebrate a whole country but to reinforce catholic values among French Canadians. If you take a look at verses II, III and IV, never sang in public, and for good reasons, you will read that French Canadians live “parmi les races étrangères” (“among foreign races”), meaning British and Indigenous people are “foreign” to the land of French Canadians. Yeah, I know. But because of its catchy music, English Canadians started to unofficially perform “O Canada” instead of “God Save the King”, the latter still legally the official national anthem of Canada until 1980! At first, lyrics were directly translated from the French version, but this did not go well with non-catholics. Further translations gradually became more like free adaptations and today the French and English versions of “O Canada” are completely different. Catholic values are still embedded in the French version (“ton bras sait porter la croix” - “your arm can carry the Holy Cross”) while the English version talks about “True North” and a “land glorious and free”, concepts totally foreign to French Canadians :-).

The flags of Québec [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Quebec] is another interesting symbol. Created in 1948, at the height of a strong conservative, pro-catholic social and political context, the flag was inspired by another one waved by catholics in public processions. The white cross on the flag represents the catholic church, of course, while the four fleur-de-lys, strange enough, came to represent French language in Canada. I say strange because, in France, the fleur-de-lys was a symbol of the king and we know what happened to the last one in 1793. In France, it is the rooster that is seen as a symbol of French language.

At the beginning the 1960s, in Québec, deep social changes started to take place as a result of the urban migration that we talked about earlier and these changes included the rejection of catholic values, now considered anti-progressive and obsolete. Now, the first two cornerstones of French Canadian identity were gone and only French language was left to anchor the French-Canadian identity.

Gilles Vigneault (1928- ) started signing in the mid-1960s to crowds of people desperately looking for new values (non-catholic and non-rural). Because he celebrated the people of Québec in his lyrics, the Québécois just loved Gilles Vigneault and quickly dubbed him the “national poet”. His best known song is “Mon pays c’est l’hiver” (my country is winter) and “Gens du pays, c’est votre tour” (people of my country, it’s your turn). Note that the later is used in Québec along with “Happy Birthday” when celebrating one’s latest complete revolution around the sun. But I prefer to have you listen to “Les Gens de mon pays” in a live version from 1974 in which Vigneault describes how his fellow citizens love to talk to each others, love to listen to others and, implicitely, love the French language.

LES COPAINS DU SAMEDI AU CAFÉ CANADIEN-FRANÇAIS

 
Félix Leclerc

Last week, we realized how much change the humble radio brought to society. We also remember from a few weeks ago that there was the French Canadian educated class was systematically denigrating the culture and language of the lower class.

After the war, in their homes, French Canadian citizens would be exposed to songs from the United States, of course, but also from France. For the French Canadian elite, songs and literature from France were “real culture” so it became a matter of fact that, in order to be recognized in Québec, an artist had to prove their worth in France. There is a saying: "nul n'est prophète en son pays" ("no one is a prophet in his own country") that is particularly true in this case. It revealed that French Canadians had, for a long time, a form of inferiority complex when comparing their own culture to those of the rest of the world, especially to the culture of France.

Félix Leclerc (1914-1988) was discovered by a French talent scout who was touring Québec in 1950. Félix was then sent to France on a tour that was very successful and he became one of the first “international” French Canadian artists. Most importantly, when he came back to Québec, at the end of his tour, Félix Leclerc was now regarded by his fellow citizens as one of the greatest French Canadian singer. In the following years, many other French Canadian singers would follow his example and go to France, but would not always meet with the same success.

Félix Leclerc’s most famous song, “Le Petit Bonheur” (The Little Happiness) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnROpowEcZA), tells the story of a hobo who finds a small abandoned personification of happiness, takes care of it, and lives a happy life despite all the harsh stuff happening around him. His songs are about life in general, not necessarily about French Canadian identity. When performing in front of a French audience, Félix presents himself first as an artist. Note that Félix’s accent sounds more French than French Canadian and very similar to contemporary French singers like Georges Brassens.

Next week: looking for a national poet.

LES COPAINS DU SAMEDI AU CAFÉ CANADIEN-FRANÇAIS

La Bolduc

So far, at the café, we have heard songs from the voyageurs and from the soirées canadiennes. If you would have asked these people, in their days, what constitutes the essence of French-Canadian identity, they would have said: #1 is to be catholic, #2 is to live in the countryside and #3 is to speak French. Language was not seen as the most important aspect of one’s identity, but that was about to change.

In the 1930s, many things were happening that would have a significant impact on French Canadian songs. Of course, there was the Great Depression, which caused many people to migrate from rural areas to big cities in order to find jobs. Thus the centuries-long isolation came to a brutal end. For all the industrial jobs available, the work language was English, and workers had to learn the vocabulary of the boss while speaking French at home. This new amalgamation of French inherited from the 18th century and English was known as “joual” (this is how “cheval” was pronounced by the working class) and was considered an inferior form of language by the French-Canadian elite (clergy, doctors, lawyers, politicians).

In the same period, women’s right had gain momentum thanks to the right to vote (1916 in Canada, but not until 1940 in Québec). It meant that it was acceptable for women to do what only men could do.

Another important change worth mentioning was the increasing availability of radio sets (first broadcasts were in the early 1920s). In the 1930s, families at home were now listening to all kinds of radio broadcasts, including the news, all kinds of music and praying the rosary a few times a day. This new technology initiated two big social changes. Instead of singing all together with their neighbors, families would now listen to music in their living room, slowly eroding the old value of community at large. Instead of only listening to the traditional songs, French-Canadians were now exposed to a wide variety of musical genres, especially from the United States. In parallel, vinyl records, that started to supersede the phonograph cylinders in the 1910s, were becoming increasingly more diverse and more available. This would help fuel a demand for “professional performances” as opposed to amateurish singing, typical during the “soirées canadiennes”.

La Bolduc (1894-1941) is a singer that embodies all the above social transformations. Mary Rose-Anne Bolduc, born Travers, was a fearless woman who played the violin and composed her own songs. The spelling of her first name is English, since it was common for French Canadians to adopt English first names (like “Wilfrid Laurier”) in those days. La Bolduc would create a band and tour the province. She would find inspiration in traditional Irish songs for her own songs. More importantly, she would sing with the words of the working class, which the critics would qualify as “vulgar”. She would be one of the first artists heard on the radio and she launched a few records. Her most popular song is “La Bastringue” (the word refers to a type of danse), which is, in my opinion, very close to the traditional songs. She also wrote a song about beating up Hitler. Since I can choose only one song, I would like you to listen to “Ça va venir découragez-vous pas” (it will come, don’t loose hope), a song about the hardship endured during the Great Depression.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dI-DdTZJyo

Next week: French Canadian singers going to France

LES COPAINS DU SAMEDI AU CAFÉ CANADIEN-FRANÇAIS

 Soirées canadiennes

Too sexy for my shades...

Last week, I talked about the songs of the voyageurs. This week, I want to bring you in to the traditional "soirées canadiennes"* (French-Canadian evenings, but truly these were parties) as they were happening in small remote villages across the province of Québec. French Canadian culture was isolated from the rest of Canada and this was encouraged by catholic priests. What were these parties like? Let me tell you a part of my childhood. My maternal grand-father had 11 brothers and sisters and my mother would take me with her to visit them on their farms, in the area west of Joliette in the early 1970s. Often, we would also meet the great-aunts, who were young chicks in the early years of the 20th century. They would often start signing songs from the “soirées” [evenings] of their past, when all the family and neighbours would gather in a house or in a barn. This was before the radio and before electricity. People would take turn signing songs or telling funny stories for the benefits of all. Sometimes, the person singing would direct a dance or sing a “chanson à répondre” [call and responses songs] inviting everyone to sing together. Often, these songs were not part of what was called the repertoire of “la bonne chanson” [the good songs], songs approved by the Church for their “good values”. On the contrary, my great-aunts were signing naughty songs that I quickly learned because I found them so funny. I still remember some of them... but I wish I could remember the song of "la petite grenouille" (the little frog) which was particularly raunchy :-). Nowadays, French Canadians listen to songs on the radio instead of singing and have become too shy to stand in front of their peers to lead a song. Here is a video of a “soirée canadienne” filmed in 1978:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hve8tOvZsSk
3:38 Woman dancing a jig. WTF moment.
29:14 Typical “chanson à répondre”.

FrederickC wanted to contribute to the ambiance in the café and is proposing  “La Ziguezon” by La Bottine Souriante: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Svjcda-84. This is a great a modern adaptation of songs from the the old "soirées canadiennes" and this genre is called "néo-trad".

* For a long time after the British conquest, "Canadien" would designate the French speaking people, as opposed to the "British". That's how the "Canadien" hockey team got its name, because most of the players were francophone. The nickname of the team (the Habs) comes from "habitants" (peasant), because most of the French Canadians at the time were living in rural areas. Later, in the early 20th century, the distinction became "French-Canadian" versus "English-Canadian". Nowadays, for people in Québec, "Canadians" are the English speakers while the "Québécois" are the French speakers.

Next week: French Canadian songs from the radio

LES COPAINS DU SAMEDI AU CAFÉ CANADIEN-FRANÇAIS

 

This title translates into: "Saturday buddies at the French-Canadian Café". Inspired by TeemuL, who every week generously opens the door of Finland to us, I thought that I could offer some small glimpses into French-Canadian culture using songs. Every week, I will play a song in the café and offer some historical background.

Chanson de voyageurs.

The voyageurs were mostly of French-Canadian ascent and were hired to paddle canoes roughly from Montréal in the East to Winnipeg in the West, between 1784 and 1880, going through the Great Lakes and rivers of Manitoba. To help them keep the pace, they would sing songs known as "chanson de voyageurs". 

"C'est l'aviron qui nous mène" [It's the paddle that leads us] is probably the best known voyageurs song. Imagine you have been paddling a fully loaded canoe for 8 hours, your arms are really tired, your shoulders are aching and the only thing that keeps you moving is a song... You will note that in the first few lines there is a reference to "La Rochelle", a town in France, where the voyageurs probably never have been to. Many of these songs were originally from France and were adapted by the voyageurs.