A journey to the heart of Acadian folklore and French baroque music.
My interest in traditional Acadian songs is now focused on songs by Shippagan collected by Doctor J. Dominique Gauthier from 1950 to 1957 and published by the Presses de l'Université Laval in 1975. These songs attract me particularly because 'a large number of them - about a third of the collection - have very ornate melodic lines. These melisms, sometimes of great rhythmic complexity and with a rubato tempo, are related to styles of ornamentation from the Renaissance and Baroque periods and demonstrate the presence of certain archaisms in this isolated region. Indeed, the Shippagan Peninsula is located at the northeastern end of New Brunswick where the waters of the Baie des Chaleurs still bathe.
Doctor J. Dominique Gauthier, a doctor from Shippagan, received in 1950 the visit of two folklorists from Laval University - Félix-Antoine Savard and Luc Lacoursière - and himself became a man in search of songs. He said that getting songs and stories from his informants was the best way to do geriatrics!
My interest in traditional Acadian songs is now focused on songs by Shippagan collected by Doctor J. Dominique Gauthier from 1950 to 1957 and published by the Presses de l'Université Laval in 1975. These songs attract me particularly because 'a large number of them - about a third of the collection - have very ornate melodic lines. These melisms, sometimes of great rhythmic complexity and with a rubato tempo, are related to styles of ornamentation from the Renaissance and Baroque periods and demonstrate the presence of certain archaisms in this isolated region. Indeed, the Shippagan Peninsula is located at the northeastern end of New Brunswick where the waters of the Baie des Chaleurs still bathe.
Doctor J. Dominique Gauthier, a doctor from Shippagan, received in 1950 the visit of two folklorists from Laval University - Félix-Antoine Savard and Luc Lacoursière - and himself became a man in search of songs. He said that getting songs and stories from his informants was the best way to do geriatrics!