Quebecois identity is about more than being the only predominantly French-speaking population in North America. Quebecers have their own political party in the Parti Quebecois, which calls for sovereignty of the province. They have their own (often troubled) history as French settlers in an English-settled land. They have their own food tradition, which includes the now-very-trendy poutine. And they have their own music.
Quebecois identity is about more than being the only predominantly French-speaking population in North America. Quebecers have their own political party in the Parti Quebecois, which calls for sovereignty of the province. They have their own (often troubled) history as French settlers in an English-settled land. They have their own food tradition, which includes the now-very-trendy poutine. And they have their own music.
Ben Shaevitz/VANGUARD STAFf
Oh, Fiddlesticks: Devon Leger, of La famille Leger, plays fiddle at the 2010 Festival dubois. Le Famille Leger is speaking and performing at PSU as part of the “Faces of Quebec” event.
That music seems, on the surface, simple, rustic and homey. Built around the melodeon, fiddle, piano and guitar, the sound is pure folk: he fiddle evokes Appalachian bluegrass, the accordion recalls zydeco. But on subsequent listens, the mind begins to open a new space for a sound that is both familiar and, in some ways, as foreign as
Tibetan flute music.
The rhythm is kept by the tapping of feet: Podorythmie or les pieds, as it’s called, according to pianist and singer Dejah Leger, whose traditional Quebecois band, La Famille Leger, will cap the “Faces of Quebec” event this Friday at Portland State.
The event will take place this Thursday and Friday, Nov. 15 and 16, and will include lectures by the band and by Dr. Natalie Debray from the University of Washington, whose academic career has focused on the culture of French Canada.
Despite hailing from Seattle, La Famille Leger is led by patriarch and melodeon player Louis Leger, who is originally from New Brunswick, Canada, a bilingual province east of Quebec. Leger’s wife, Barbara Leger, plays the guitar, and his son Devon plays the fiddle and taps out the rhythm. Devon’s wife Dejah also participates.
The term melodeon may refer to a type of pump organ, but the instrument played by Louis Leger is technically referred to as a diatonic button accordion. Among other differences, the melodeon has buttons rather than piano keys (like the
familiar accordion), to allow the release of air across the reeds.
Dejah Leger maintains that Quebecois music has a distinctly Celtic feel and, indeed, the rhythms are reminiscent of a jig.
The lyrics are all in French, but “although many of Quebec’s traditional songs can be traced back to ancient France, the accent, vocabulary and subjects are distinctly French-Canadian,” Leger said.
La Famille Leger will be giving a presentation about French Canadian traditional music at 3 p.m. on the day of their performance.
Debray’s lecture will be about the role of the media and the Quebec government in maintaining French Canada’s unique cultural identity. Her doctoral focus was on intercultural communication, specifically that of France.
Her interest in Quebecois culture began, according to her, “with a simple question: How French are the French Canadians?
“I was interested in learning about what legacy of France, if any, remained in the province. I was curious what the Quebecois thought about France and how they celebrated and memorialized their French past,” Debray said. “This simple question sparked a passion for the Quebecois people and culture and led me to change my academic focus from France to Canada, specifically Quebec.”
Debray’s lecture will give an overview of the history of Quebec and will focus on the ways that Quebecois media and the government of Quebec have maintained the cultural identity of French Canada on a continent of English speakers.
Her thesis title, I Remember France: Media, Memory and Nation Building in Post-Quiet Revolution Quebec, gives some indication of what she might focus on in her lecture.
Prior to 1960, Quebec was known as a conservative, reclusive, backwater region that clung tightly to its religious and agricultural values. From 1960 through 1966 the province underwent what came to be referred to as the “Quiet Revolution,” which saw increasing secularism and modernism in Quebec society.
Unlike many other monumental social transformations, however, Quebec’s revolution was accompanied by fierce nationalism: Measures to protect its unique cultural identity were incorporated into its liberalized government. Separatist factions of the Parti Quebecois chanted “Le Quebec aux Quebecois!” at rallies, though that phrase has become unpopular because of its xenophobic connotations.
Dr. Annabelle Dolidon, of PSU’s Department of World Languages and Literatures, which organized the event along with the Canadian Studies program and the Portland Center for Public Humanities, refers to Quebec as “its own ‘country.’”
Her account of the genesis of the “Faces of Quebec” event provides some insight as to the role the Quebec government plays in the maintenance and promotion of Quebecois identity.
Dolidon and Martha Hickey, the director of International Studies, applied for a grant from the Quebec government for the promotion of Quebec culture here. The Quebec government awarded them $5,000 to bring representatives of Quebec culture to Portland State.
