Gather around traditional Quebec music

LOCAL FOLKLORE – The holiday season is rich in opportunities to listen to traditional Quebec music. But for Olivier Soucy, a member of Les Chauffeurs à pieds for 25 years and organizer of traditional music sessions at the Salons d’Edgar for 2 years, it’s a passion that is shared all year round!

On a beautiful November evening, it is shortly before 8 p.m. at the Salons d’Edgar. Several musicians are already gathered around the piano which sits, in clear view, at the entrance. Without any ceremony, they slowly begin to play alongside the customers seated at the table. Violinists, guitarists, harmonica players and accordionists continue to arrive. That evening, around forty musicians come together to play without a pre-established program. For fun!

It’s an evening representative of these meetings, says Olivier Soucy.

We always have big parties. All year round, I would say! Maybe a little quieter in summer, but often, that’s it: around twenty musicians, sometimes more. Sometimes with dancing, sets squares, there are a few singers who sing little songs too, on occasion.

Friendship and transmission of music

These traditional music sessions, where we see young musicians rubbing shoulders with old trad veterans, are great opportunities for sharing, but also for learning. The fiddler and guitarist Martin Racine, a former member of La Bottine Souriante, can attest to this.

For a traditional musician, it all starts at jam! I have lived here in the neighborhood for 40 years. The first jamsI made them here, in the apartments. This is where I met the guys from La Bottine, when they moved to Quebec. We “bummait” in the street, we played everywhere.

It’s a big challenge! Because not everyone is at the same level. We all sit in a circle and everyone looks at each other. And, there is one who will flip a coin, you know!adds Martin Racine.

Olivier Soucy started attending traditional music sessions more than 20 years ago. It changed places over time. But, the musicians who play Trad music are made to play together, eh! Yes, there are groups who put on shows, like Les Chauffeurs à pieds, but I think that most traditional music is played by everyone together, like that, in casual encounters. Like we do here every week.

We definitely develop friendships. But beyond that, I would say that everyone here is a bit of a collector of traditional tunes. It means we never have enough. As soon as we hear something we don’t know, it tickles us, we want to learn it. We want to learn it ourselves to play it, but we also want to teach it to others afterwards.

This music comes from here, then you have to play itbelieves Olivier Soucy.

Being a fiddler

For Olivier Soucy, being a fiddler can be learned a lot from ear violin.

By looking at others, we end up knowing how to play to find the little traditional touch in the violin. Because we are not violinists; we are fiddlers. There is a little something different that violinists may have difficulty understanding at first. It’s a learning experience!

Probably a music ethnologist could say a little more, but from my point of view, it is certainly in the swing. Not all notes are played equal. Which makes it more festive, more exciting. There are also lots of ornamentations which are typical of traditional Quebec music, and which are inspired a little by Irish music too.

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A little set square with that?

Around 9:30 p.m., a dance floor appears in the middle of the square. The vigil continues with the callerGhislain Jutras.

The caller or the callousbecause there are also some, it’s a bit of a link between the group of musicians and the dancers. And then, it’s a kind of conductor, one could say, who will decide which dances will be danced in the evening depending on the audience.says Ghislain Jutras.

Being attentive to the audience to create a good progression in each dance is one of the objectives of the caller who knows a whole repertoire of sets squares, quadrilles, cotillions and contradances.

Local know-how

With the members of Chauffeurs à pieds, Olivier Soucy traveled extensively to present pieces from their nine albums of traditional Quebec music, including the latest, Noah.

We toured all over Europe, the United States and many places around the world because everywhere in the world, traditional Quebec music is something that is exotic. It’s just us playing it. They can’t hire a band from somewhere else to play that. They hire someone from Quebec to play traditional music at their festivals. So, it’s very popular and it gives you the opportunity to travel.

The traditional music sessions will take a break on Tuesday, December 24 and 31 at the Salons d’Edgar. But they will resume with a vengeance, from January 7. As for the Chauffeurs à pieds, they will perform at the Kaléidoscope Festival, on December 29, from 8 p.m., in the Hôtel-de-Ville gardens.