Hommage à Francine Desjardins

Here's a great tune composed and played by Réjean Simard in honor of Francine Desjardins. Devon picked up the tune at a workshop with Réjean in Montreal last summer and I have added the audio file as well as a simple transcription of the tune. This, of course, is just the bare bones of the tune and should be used only as a preliminary learning tool. To learn more about the accordion style of Réjean Simard, check out his many Youtube videos.

Francine Desjardins comes from L'îsletville, a small town not far from Montmagny, the accordion capital of Canada. Her father started her off on the fiddle and accordion but she gradually moved to the accordion and started being noticed playing for weddings, sugar parties and corn huskings in Québec. In 1975 she joined the dance troupe "Les Danseurs de St.-Louis-Maillet de Madawaska in New Brunswick. She toured Europe and played at the Mariposa festival in Toronto as well as the Carrefour Mondial de L'accordéon in Montmagny. She has made several recordings, including  a 1996 "Hommage à mon père" and a 2003 album of tunes from Philippe Bruneau.