Quebecois Concertina?

[RELCOLLECT]

Is there any trdition of concertina-playing in Quebecois folk music? I see accordion, but that's about it. I'd be interested in any cd's, sheet music, etc. available! Thanks!

 

Greg

[A.D. Homan]

Is there any tradition of concertina-playing in Quebecois folk music?  I see accordion, but that's about it.  I'd be interested in any cd's, sheet music, etc. available!  Thanks!

 

Greg,

I've spent a good amount of time in Quebec, listening to live music and going to sessions. You'll find some people there playing Irish music on Anglos, and occasional visitors (usually Anglophones) who will know a French Canadian tune on the concertina, but not a "tradition." I play a lot of the music on melodeon, but I think it would be fun to learn some FC fiddle tunes -- as opposed to "accordion tunes" -- on concertina. Since you ask about sheet music and CDs, I suggest starting with Guy Bouchard's "Crooked Tunes" books and the CD that goes with them. These are really fun fiddle tunes, mostly in A,D, and G, with some accidentals and interesting modulations, so a concertina could handle many of them better than my D melodeon can! (As I learned some of these tunes on melodeon, it sometimes seemed to me that some "evil" fiddler had come up with them in order to keep the squeezebox players at bay!)

Contact Guy at this website to obtain this book and CD:

http://www.clic.net/~thirtybe/

If you give him a call, don't be shy about asking him about playing French Canadian music on concertina -- if anyone has done it extensively, Guy would be the person who would know about it...

Cheers,

Andy

P.S. I believe Paul S. lives up in that part of the world and might know of players.