La Famille Léger
We are a family band based in Seattle that specializes in Quebecois and Acadian dance music.  The members of our band are : Louis, accordion and fiddle, Devon, fiddle and foot percussion (les pieds), Dejah, les pieds, keyboard and guitar and Barbara, guitar. Louis was born in New Brunswick and our family keeps the tradition of dancing and kitchen parties alive. We play all French-Canadian tunes from Quebec, Gaspesie, New Brunswick, PEI and the Magdalen Islands. We have played for contra dances in Ashland, Seattle, Olympia and Portland, as a family band and in bands with local musicians.  We have worked with Tony Mates, Woody Lane, Luther Black and other callers.  Our band has played at the Northwest Folklife Festival, Festival du Bois, Bastille Day and has tutored at Fiddle Tunes and Lark in the Morning music camp.  As well, Louis and Devon have taught workshops on French-Canadian dances to both adults and children. "Great driving dance music from Quebec and beyond, played with the skill, verve and precision of a well oiled machine. This is what "family values" should be all about- a grand bash of generations, all in the service of a much larger family- the rest of us. I don't know what would be more fun- calling to them, dancing to them, or playing with them. I'm hoping they'll adopt me." Tony Mates 

We’d love to play for your contra dance!  For more information, you can visit our website at : http://www.lafamilleleger.com/ For music samples from our CD and live concerts, go to either:  CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lafamilleleger or  Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/familleleger
You can contact us by email: legerdeuxmains@yahoo.com or phone (206) 355-6763. Thanks for your time and hoping to hear from you, 
Louis

This month we focus on Bertrand Deraspe, a fiddler from the Magdalen Islands (Iles de la Madelaine), a small chain of islands off the East Coast of Canada. Bertrand will be a featured teacher and performer this summer at Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, WA. He was born in Point-aux-Loups and works as a lobster fisherman when not busy fiddling. He inherited a large répertoire of Acadian and "madelinots" tunes from his father, Arnold Deraspe and other Acadian fiddlers. Bertrand started playing fiddle when he was 4 years old and was already playing for weddings when he was 6. He has been a member of various music groups, including Suroit, Les Clapotis, and Vent'arrière. He recorded a solo album called "Mes Racines" (my roots) - featuring the traditional fiddle style of the Magdalen Islands as well as other Acadian styles from PEI and Chéticamp in Cape Breton.

The Magdalen Islands are a group of small islands in the shape of a fishook that lie in the Gulf of St. Lawrence between New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Gaspé and Newfoundland. You can get there by airplane but the most rewarding trip is by boat, either from Montreal (3 days and 2 nights) or on a 5 hour ferry ride from Souris in Prince Edward Island. The main sources of income are fishing, hunting and tourism. The fiddling tradition is very strongly tied to the fishing industry and the "Madelinots" share the rich maritime tradition of the Acadians from PEI, New Bruswick and Cape Breton. 

We first discovered Bertrand through his CD "Vent'arrière" with Patrice Deraspe and Carole Painchaud. The first tune was "Célestin à Jos" and it totally blew us away. The recording starts off with the "toc-a-toc" sound of the old one lung "Make or Break" fishing boat motor and the fiddler takes up the off-beat rhythm and launches into the tune without a pause. 

Further research into the music of the Magdalen Islands and Bertrand Deraspe led us to the archives of the Centre d'Etudes Acadiennes Anselme Chiasson at the University of Moncton. Robert Richard, the archivist, graciously allowed us access to their wonderful collection of field recordings and we found recordings of Bertrand's father, Arnold Deraspe. Here is a sound file of a tune called "Reel de la Morte" from these recordings.

Here is a a video that we found through the University of Laval ethnology department with Bertrand playing a tune in the kitchen with his dad. Click on the word "video" or on the photo to get to the file. The video starts off with a sweet twin fiddle waltz. Bertrand then talks in French about the fiddling style of the islands and the fact that many fiddlers play a slow style with very strong bowing.  He demonstrates how Madelinots fiddlers have a different bow stroke than Cape Breton fiddlers.  The Madelinot fiddlers, who were mostly fishermen with calloused hands and sometimes missing fingers, would tend to play with less notes and more rhythm.

We just received some great digital files from the archives of the University of Moncton and found some real gems, including field recordings of the great Acadian fiddler Eloi LeBlanc. We have decided to feature him as our first “Fiddler of the Month” on the Family Blog. I'm also exited that he's from the same region of New Brunswick that my parents were from: Memramcook.

Eloi LeBlanc was born in College Bridge, New Brunswick on November 26, 1909, died June 21, 1978 in Beaumont and was buried in Pré d’en Haut. He started playing fiddle at an early age, inspired by his fiddling maternal grandfather and uncle. Throughout his lifetime played for local dances and weddings, getting the nickname “The Fiddler of Memramcook Valley”. He had a phenomenal memory for tunes as well as a great knack for composition. Many of his tunes live on thanks to other fiddlers such as Den Messer who made them even more popular. He performed with Bob White’s Moncton Ploughboys, then on the Maritime Farmer’s radio show, and finally joined up with Kidd Baker and the Pine Ridge Mountain Boys in Ontario. He stayed with this band for 12 years and spent the final years of his life living with his sister Laura who was also his piano accompanist. Eloi recorded only one record album, “Eloi and his Fiddle” (Eloi et son Violon) on Les Productions Acadiennes  LPA-1001-1977. Some of his tunes include: Le Reel de l’Hiver, Anne Marie Reel, Reel des Maritime Farmers, Narcisse à John (named after his maternal grandfather),  and  Théotime à Six Pouces (named after his uncle).

Here are three wonderful tunes from Eloi LeBlanc that were sent to us by Robert Richard from the archives of the University of Moncton. He is the Archivist for the Centre d'Etudes Acadiennes Anselme Chiasson at the University of Moncton and has been most gracious in helping us research the old Acadian fiddlers. Merci Robert!

Eloi often either didn't name his tunes or forgot the names so we have named the three tunes as follows:
Mac à John: in the field recording, Eloi talks about getting the tune from "la fille à Mac à John" who was the brother of Narcisse, his maternal grandfather.
Double Temps à Eloi: he often refers to jigs as double-time tunes
Vieux Reel à Eloi: when asked the name he just replied "Oh ça c'est vieux" (Oh that's an old tune)

 *zh sounds like zh in Dr. Zhivago
** whole word rhymes with ATM (ATN)
*** valse sounds like false with a v in front
**** o in gron or ston or mon sounds o in on (short o)
*****ow sounds like long o or letter o