In 1632, French settlers from Loudon, France, left for the New World (Ancelet xiv). They arrived in Nova Scotia with Old World violins and Old World songs. They brought to the land a new culture, a new name (Acadie), and a new music.
The 1755, the grand dérangement destroyed the Acadian culture that had developed for more than a century. However, it created several more new cultures. Most notably, the Cajun culture was born from the exiles who settled in Louisiana, and the new Acadian culture was born from the exiles who dared to resettle in Acadia decades later.
The Cajun and Acadian cultures naturally diverged. Many of the songs in Chansons d'Acadie, published by the Centre d'Études Acadiennes at the Université de Moncton, are traditional songs from France. Such songs are absent in Louisiana. Additionally, the same Gaelic and Micmac Native American culture as before the deportation continued to influence the Acadians while African, Creole, and other Native American tribes influenced the Cajun culture. The Cajuns acquired the accordion and a lively, dancing style, while the Acadians continued fiddling reels and jigs. Nonetheless, the grand dérangement haunts both cultures, and it is often the topic of songs.
In September 2003, I traveled to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to attend the Festival Grou Tyme. There I listened to many Acadian bands and interviewed several musicians about their perception of Acadian culture and the boundaries of Cajun identity.
Grand Dérangement, named after the Acadian deportation, is a hugely popular Acadian band. They played a full concert with Symphony Nova Scotia for the main ceremony of the Grou Tyme 2003 on September 18, 2003. I interviewed the young lead singer Daniel LeBlanc after the concert.
M. LeBlanc began playing piano at nine years old and guitar at twelve. During his teens, he played in both rock and country bands, and at eighteen, he began playing the fiddle. He didn't know it at the time, but that was a major turning point in his life. He also studied at the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood, California. At the institute, he says that he acquired a sense of professionalism, and he met people from around the world. Referring to Grand Dérangement, he says, "I think we needed that."
His early inspirations were bluegrass and country artists like guitarist Albert Lee, flatpicker Tony Rice, and fiddler Mark O'Connor. He played bluegrass at home at parties until the age of seventeen or eighteen, when he began to play French music. It was not popular among his peers, but M. LeBlanc sang rock music in French and it started to have an impact on other students. Since then, Acadian music has become more accepted as "hipper," less traditional, or "progressive traditional" bands such as Suroit, 1755, and Les Merchants Maquereaux emerged. Now with Grand Dérangement, M. LeBlanc "brings traditional sounds to a more modern feel."
Interestingly, he notes, "I don't know if there's an actual Acadian style" whereas a definite Cajun style exists. Foremost, Cajun music is "danceable." Grand Dérangement's music is not really for dancing, but for putting on a show. He observes that the "Downeast fiddle style" encompasses many distinct styles from Prince Edward Island, Cape Bréton, and Nova Scotia. ("Downeast" describes Atlantic Canada and Maine.) Acadian music is a blend of rock, Celtic music, and world beat. Grand Dérangement includes the old time fiddle style and "everything else." They strive to come up with a new style that no one else has experienced before.
When asked what speaks to them when they compose, M. LeBlanc says that while the Acadian history is important, they compose for music's sake first. However, I personally find that the music of the band is very much driven by their lyrics. Most notable is the song "Y a jamais eu de grand dérangement" ("There never was a grand dérangement"). This pride in the resilience Acadian heritage is evident in most of their repertoire.
For more information, visit Grand Dérangement's website.
Blou, a popular Acadian band, is the winner of the Prix ZOF-PassepArt-TV5 2003, awarded to the most recognized Canadian Francophone artist on the international market. I interviewed the band leader, Patrice Boulianne, in Halifax on September 18, 2003.
M. Boulianne started learning to play the piano at the age of eight.
His father adored folk music like Peter, Paul, and Mary,
Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez, and his mother sang in a choir. As Francophones,
the family also listened to French music from Quebec and Acadia, such as Edith
Butler. Patrice learned to play guitar, saying that he prefers playing
rhythm rather than lead guitar. In 1982, he began his classical music
training, and in 1995, he started playing the keyboard accordion, which he is
"still learning." Although he grew up in St. Bonaface, Manitoba,
he moved to Moncton, New Brunswick, a center of Acadian culture, in 1982 and
married an acadienne. He calls himself an "adopted
Acadian." M. Boulianne inherited his pride in his Francophone
heritage from his mother. Asked about why he chooses to sing in French, he
responds, "To convey the exact feeling [of a song] is more comfortable in
French" than English.
He believes that the Acadian culture, "what the Acadians have been through," defines Acadian music. It is "the history behind that culture ... that makes ... Acadie what it is." He says the deportation was a terrible thing, but it in fact created a culture.
M. Boulianne believes that Cajun music has diverged from Acadian music "mostly through the blues rhythm and all the Creole and American and African American influence... . Here [in Acadia] we have more of the Celtic influence and the bluegrass influence." Acadian music is a meld of traditional Celtic music with the banjo and bluegrass, he says. Acadian music is faster than Cajun music, yet Old World reels and jigs are still audible in Cajun music. Finally, he notes that "Acadians are known for being very ... pacifique," a quality apparent in the music.
M. Boulianne acutely feels the minority status of Acadians. He laments that it is diifficult to keep the Acadian heritage alive when the French language itself is a minority language in Canada outside of Quebec. The mass media bombardment in English, especially from America, makes it difficult to keep Acadia Acadian.
For more information, contact Blou at:
Blou
Att: À l'Infini Communications Inc.
(819) 378-1195
Beau Phare is an Acadian band with a very Cajun feel. After their set on the stage of the Grou Tyme, I interviewed bandleader Len LeBlanc on September 19, 2003.
M. LeBlanc describes his band. Musicians from Baie St. Marie have
comprised Beau Phare for the last fifteen years. They were all trained by
ear with no formal training. They create their own music based on the
traditional Acadian repertoire. They recognize that it is not always the
traditional that moves people. Consequently, the predominant sound in the
band comes from the vocalists, "like rock and roll."
Len LeBlanc concurs with Daniel LeBlanc: Acadian music does not have a single unique style. For example, Beau Phare draws inspiration from Quebeçois, Irish, and non-amplified bluegrass styles. He also draws from Cajun music by making his own washboards. In the end, music is Acadian if it is "Acadians that are playing it."
M. LeBlanc is an outlier in that he believes Acadian music makes people dance, "like Cajun [and] zydeco." Acadians are survivors, he says, and he believes that Acadian music reflects that Acadians have been in Nova Scotia a long time so deserve their rights as minorities.
Sylvia LeLièvre, Clarence LeLièvre, Bruno Bourgeois, and Brian Doyle comprise Le Groupe LeLièvre. They began as a rock and roll band called The Phantoms, but since 1980, they have played and sung Acadian music, including traditional songs from France. I interviewed the entire group after their set at the Grou Tyme on September 20, 2003.
The group was officially conceived in 1981. In 1990, they opened a restaurant and bar called La Chaloupe Restaurant and Pub. They played upstairs for a while but have since sold the restaurant. They now play at a tavern four nights per week.
Siblings Sylvia and Clarence have been the "soul of the group" since the beginning. Sylvia especially has been interested in traditional music. She writes for the love of the French language. (The group sings almost exclusively in French even though Mr. Doyle does not speak French.) The band sings music from all over Downeast, and Brian Doyle often takes lead of the band in concerts to play an Irish reel or jig.
Mme. LeLièvre believes that the Cajun and Acadian cultures are coming back together. She uses the word retrouvaille, "coming together of two souls ... almost like a love affair."
