<\/p>\n
After lis\u00adten\u00ading to Nana Mouskouri\u2019s Nou\u00advelles chan\u00adsons de la Vieille France<\/em> (1978), I dug up the album that pre\u00adceded it, Vieilles chan\u00adsons de France<\/em> (1973). Both albums, cov\u00ader\u00ading a wide vari\u00adety of tra\u00addi\u00adtional French melodies, some dat\u00ading from the mid\u00addle ages, act\u00aded as a use\u00adful reminder that Cana\u00addian folk music owes some\u00adthing to France. The Cana\u00addian folk tra\u00addi\u00adtion is so sat\u00adu\u00adrated with Celtic ele\u00adments \u2014 one musi\u00adcol\u00ado\u00adgist clas\u00adsi\u00adfied the whole coun\u00adtry as a \u201cCeltic out-island\u201d \u2014 that one for\u00adgets that many of the old\u00adest songs do<\/em> come from France.<\/span> Lis\u00adten\u00ading to these two albums, I found it easy to guess what part of France a song came from. If the song sound\u00aded vague\u00adly famil\u00adiar and had a \u201cCana\u00addian feel\u00ading\u201d to it, it turned out to have come from Bri\u00adtanny, Nor\u00admandy, or the Low\u00ader Loire. These are, of course, the places where the bulk of the first set\u00adtlers in Cana\u00adda orig\u00adi\u00adnated, the mar\u00aditime vil\u00adlages of the west coast of France. Many of these set\u00adtlers did not even speak French, but were Bre\u00adtons, whose Celtic lan\u00adguage is clos\u00adest to Welsh, so the ear\u00adli\u00adest Cana\u00addi\u00adan music already start\u00aded out on a qua\u00adsi-Celtic foot\u00ading. Sub\u00adse\u00adquently, wave after wave of Scot\u00adtish and Irish music deeply Celti\u00adcized the folk music of all of Cana\u00adda, whether it was sung in French, Eng\u00adlish, Gael\u00adic, or abo\u00adrig\u00adi\u00adnal lan\u00adguages. But in many cas\u00ades, the orig\u00adi\u00adnal melody does come from France, and occa\u00adsion\u00adally has sur\u00advived in both coun\u00adtries. It\u2019s inter\u00adest\u00ading to hear them sung by a Euro\u00adpean singer, though I sup\u00adpose my own her\u00aditage will ensure that the Celti\u00adcized Cana\u00addian ver\u00adsions will always feel \u201cthe right way\u201d to me.<\/span><\/p>\n Mousk\u00adouri has been called \u201cthe the best sell\u00ading female singer of all time\u201d (though I sus\u00adpect Lata Mangeshkar has a bet\u00adter claim to that title). A Greek, born at Cha\u00adnia, on Crete, she is still going strong, per\u00adform\u00ading many con\u00adcerts year\u00adly at the age of 74. She sings in many lan\u00adguages, but she is best known for her work in French, and also Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Jazz. Both these albums are delightful.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After lis\u00adten\u00ading to Nana Mouskouri\u2019s Nou\u00advelles chan\u00adsons de la Vieille France (1978), I dug up the album that pre\u00adceded it, Vieilles chan\u00adsons de France (1973). Both albums, cov\u00ader\u00ading a wide vari\u00adety of tra\u00addi\u00adtional French melodies, some dat\u00ading from the middle \u2026<\/p>\n