Canada

III: Canadian Culture

Part 3: French Canadian Folk Songs from Québec and Other Provinces

Overview:
Folk songs present an interesting window into a culture. Settlers often brought the folk songs of their homelands with them to Canada, then adapted them to fit the new environment. As a result, Canadian folk songs illustrate the diverse backgrounds of the peoples who settled Canada, with French, English, and Scottish roots, yet they also reflect the new experiences of the Canadian people. As time passed, many folk songs were written in Canada and compliment the traditional European selections.

Mauvais Sort's repertoire includes many folk and traditional songs from throughout Canada. Because Mauvais Sort hails from Québec and many of their songs are French Canadian folk and traditional songs, that is the focus of this lesson. This lesson could be easily adapted to incorporate folk songs from all parts of Canada using the suggested folk songs and links found in the Resources section.

Procedure:

1. Distribute the values survey handout. Ask students to rank the values in the order of their importance, with one as the most important and ten as the least important.
2. Ask students to form small groups and compare their rankings of the values. Emphasize that students should also discuss WHY they ranked the values as they did, explaining their reasons.
3. After students have discussed the values survey, and while they are still in groups, distribute a copy of a different Canadian folk song to each group. Have a member of the group read it to the other members. Ask students to discuss the lyrics, paying particular attention to any values that they see present in the story and examples of those values. Students could also look for comparisons to any folk songs with which they are familiar. For example, in the song “Un Canadien Errant” (A Wandering Canadian), the lyrics reflect the values of patriotism, family loyalty, respect for the land, and a connection to one's home. The song “Le Roi Renaud” (King Renaud) reflects values such as loyalty to family, love of family, marital fidelity, and faith.
4. Students could then either report to the class a brief summary of their folk song and the values that they identified within it, or students could do a jigsaw cooperative learning activity where they would reconvene in groups containing a member of each of the other groups. They could then teach the folk song to the other members of the second group and ask them to identify the values present in it.
5. Once the class has heard a summary of more than one folk song, ask students to draw some conclusions based on the folk songs they read or heard.
   What did these stories teach them about French Canadian culture and the values associated with it?
   How did the values they identified compare to their most important values?
   Besides values, what else did they learn about French Canadian culture from these folk songs?

Extensions:
Depending on the time constraints and resources, students could:

• write a modern day folk song that focuses on an individual struggling to demonstrate values in contemporary situations
• examine a folk song of their culture, such as “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie, and write a comparison essay, chart the similarities between both, or use a Venn diagram to illustrate the similarities and differences between the two folk songs
• illustrate a folk song
• compare one of the Canadian folk songs to a folk song from another culture, such as “Waltzing Mathilda” from Australia or “The Banana Boat Song” from Trinidad
• turn the content of the folk song into a story or choose a modern story or film that is similar to the folk song and write a comparison, for example the story of King Renaud and his wife could be compared to Penelope and Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey or Hector and Andromache in Homer's Iliad

Resources:
(Links will open in new windows.)

General Canadian Folk Song Resources

Songs for Teaching: Using Music to Promote Learning contains an excellent essay on the history and origins of Canadian folk songs. Suitable for students.

Canadian Folk Songs: A Centennial Collection
“In 1967, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and RCA Victor Ltd. issued a 9-LP set of folk songs in celebration of the centennial of Canada 's Confederation. This unique and wonderful set has long been unavailable to the public, so as a ‘spare-time' project I [Stephen Lower] have digitized my LP set and am reproducing the English-language versions of the extensive notes (written by the singer Alan Mills) that came with the records.” This Web site has the most comprehensive collection of Canadian folk songs and lyrics on the Internet. The songs are organized by type, such as songs and ballads of lumber camps, riddle songs and traditional ballads, songs of courtship and marriage, etc. Extensive explanations and biographies of singers are included. This is an excellent resource.

An Introduction to French and Francophone Songs with lyrics and audio clips.

Francophone Music Resources

Shanties and Sea Songs

A Reference List on Canadian Folk Music “The following is a revised and updated version of the reference list prepared for the Canadian Folk Music Society by Barbara Cass-Beggs and Edith Fowke in 1966. It is selective rather than complete: it includes most books of traditional songs and records by traditional singers, along with representative articles on various aspects of Canadian folk music, and some folk-song records by non-traditional singers.”

Canadian Folk Songs: Lyrics or Audio Clips

The Web site “Songs for Teaching: Using Music to promote Learning” has two excellent sections on Canadian folk songs. The first contains the text of several well-known Canadian folk songs, and the second includes songs about Canada, Canadian history and politics, as well as traditional Canadian folk songs in French and English. Lyrics and sound clips are provided.
Traditional Folk Songs of Canada
Canadian Social Studies Songs

Canadian Folk Songs: A Centennial Collection
Canadian Folk Songs: A Centennial Collection - Audio Files

Mama Lisa's Kid Songs from Around the World includes a section on Canadian folk songs and nursery rhymes in both French and English.

Songs for Children is an index of Web sites that include lyrics and audio files of children's songs, many of which are folk songs.

Folk Song Recommendations

French Canadian Folk Songs

1) “V'la L'Bon Vent” (Go the Good Wind or Here's the Good Wind) is a 300 year old Voyageur paddling song, sung to pass the time and keep rhythm while the voyageurs paddled up to 16 hours a day. It is purported to have more than 100 verses. Usually sung in French, the first link contains an English translation.

“V'la L'Bon Vent” with English Translation and Audio file

2) “Un Canadien Errant” (A Wandering Canadian) is a famous song written by A. Gerin Lajoie about French Canadian supporters of Louis-Joseph Papineau who were forced into exile. The song reflects the sadness of one who longs for home.

“Un Canadien Errant” with lyrics of the song side by side in French and English

A description of the song and its history and lyrics in French.

3) “Le Roi Renaud” (King Renaud) is the tragic story of a king who, shortly after learning his wife bore him a son, dies himself. Then his wife decides she cannot go on without him and joins her husband in death.

Lyrics of the song in French and English.

A description of the song and its history and lyrics in French.

4) “A La Claire Fontaine” (At the Clear Fountain) is a very well-known Canadian folk song that was brought to Québec from France in the 17 th Century. According to Nicolas Geoffroy, founder of Mauvais Sort, this song was almost an anthem for French speaking people in America. The lyrics tell the story of a young man who lost his love because he denied her a bouquet of roses she desired. In the song, the young man hears a nightingale's song which he parallels to his own sorrowful lament.

Lyrics and audio clips of the song in both French and English.

Description of the song and lyrics in French.

5) “Gens du Pays” (People of the Country), considered the unofficial anthem of Québec, was written by Gilles Vigneault.

The Canadian Encyclopedia's article on “Gens du Pays.”

Biography of Gilles Vigneault, composer of “Gens du Pays.”

Lyrics to “Gens du Pays” in French.

The Province of Newfoundland

1) “I'se the B'y that Builds the Boat” (I'm the Boy that Builds the Boat) is a very popular “dancing song” from Newfoundland.

2) “Squid Jiggin' Ground” is a song about fishing using squid as bait.

3) “We'll Rant and We'll Roar” is a song about the loves of a fisherman.

The Province of Nova Scotia

1) “Barbara Allen” is a song about a man who dies for love.

2) “Homeward Bound” is a popular sea shanty, or folk song about the sea, from Nova Scotia.

3) “Farewell Nova Scotia” is a World War I era song about defending Canada.

4) “The Scarborough Settler's Lament” is a folk song of Scottish origin.

The Province of Ontario

1) “The Lumberman's Alphabet” is an ABC's of the different tools and jobs associated with lumberjacks.

2)"The Green Willow Tree" tells the story of a valiant cabin boy who single-handedly sinks an enemy ship.

Western Canada

1) “Saskatchewan” tells the story of the experiences of ranchers and farmers in Western Canada during the depression of the 1930s.

2) “Little Old Sod Shanty” is a song about pioneer life on the prairies of Western Canada.

3) “Red River Cart Song” tells the story of pioneers who traveled the Calgary Trail.

The Provinces of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick

“Peter Emberley” is a song about a lumberjack who dies in the lumber camps of Eastern Canada.