Re: [Harp-L] French Canadian Harmonica Rarity

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Glenn - 

I doubt that Mary Rose Anna Travers (who married Edouard Bolduc) was any relation to Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary. Madame Bolduc was born on the coast of the Gaspe peninsula in eastern Quebec in a rural seaside village where the primary activities were fishing and logging. Her father was of Irish descent, her mother French Canadian, and she learned to play several instruments as a girl. Something of a tomboy, she liked hanging out with the men and in later life was often photographed astride motorcycles and tractors, and even dressed in a ship's captain's uniform with her arm protectively around a much smaller female member of her performing troupe. Such gender-bending displays have not passed without comment, but it should be noted that she's usually laughing in such pictures and that she married and bore several children.

As a teenager, Mary Rose Anna Travers moved to Montreal and worked as a domestic and factory worker before mayying Edouard Bolduc, a chronically unemployed plumber. Some of her babies died in infancy from malnutrition; that's how poor they were. However, she seems to have been possessed of an indomitable joie de vivre and eventually her musical talent came to the attention of promoters of roots music shows designed to appeal to rural emigrants to such large cities as Montreal, not unlike the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, and she developed a sucessful career as a live performer and recording artist.

You can read more about Mary Bolduc at her wikipedia entry (check out the photo of her in old-fashioned costume holding a gigantic tremolo harmonica):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Bolduc

and about the website and museum in her home village at:

http://www.labolduc.qc.ca/


As to the player-piano bastringue, it appears to be a late 19th century or early 20th century invention. The origin of the word bastringue is unknown, and it has several meanings, so I can't help wondering whether the word already existed and was applied to the instrument, or the other way around.

Winslow

--- On Mon, 8/18/08, Glenn Weiser <celticguitar1@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Glenn Weiser <celticguitar1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] French Canadian Harmonica Rarity
To: winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx, harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Monday, August 18, 2008, 9:48 PM



 
 

Winslow-
 
Thanks for the background on Mary Travers 
Bolduc-any relation to Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary? Having been your 
editor, I can safely say you'd know if anyone does.
 
When I first looked up the definition of the 
bastringue, that's what came up-it was the oddball musical instrument shown in 
the photo:
 
http://www.celticguitarmusic.com/tbr_bastringue.htm
 
It seems the dance was named after the instrument, 
just like the hornpipe.
 
-Glenn
 
 
Glenn Weiser
Banjo & Guitar Studio
PO Box 
2551, Albany, NY 12220
Office: (518) 767-9595
Cell: (518) 496-4721
Web: 
www.celticguitarmusic.com


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: 
  Winslow 
  Yerxa 
  To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx ; Glenn Weiser 
  Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 2:32 
  PM
  Subject: Re: [Harp-L] French Canadian 
  Harmonica Rarity
  

  
    
    
      This is Mary Travers Bolduc, Quebec's first 
        singer-songwriter-folk artist, who enjoyed enormous popularity as a 
        recording artist and performer from the mid-1920s until her death in 
        1941 - she was sort of the Ma Rainey of French-speaking Canadians (and 
        Americans) in the Northeast. She continues to hold a legendary place in 
        the annals of French Canadian music, and her records have never gone out 
        of print in Quebec. 

While she was an audacious lyricist (in 1930 
        she was singing about domestic violence, but in a way where both husband 
        and wide were active participants, which both helped get the problem out 
        in the open in an acceptable way through the use of humor, and also 
        delivered to women the message that they didn't have to be victims), she 
        was also a fine harmonica player.

Mary Bolduc's chordal, bouncy 
        harmonica playing is solidly in the French Canadian tradition also 
        exemplified by such fine players as Louis Blanchette, Henri Lacroix, and 
        Adelard Saint-Louis. You can get an introduction to all of these players 
        and others, with background information and sample recordings, at my 
        French-Canadian 
        site:

http://www.angelfire.com/folk/harmonicanuck/

You can 
        hear even more from these and other harmonica players at the Virtual 
        Gramophone, a site presents several thousand Canadian 78rpm records from 
        the early 20th 
        Century:

http://www.lac-bac.gc.ca/gramophone/index-e.html

By 
        the way, Glenn, I'm curious about the player-piano-like instrument you 
        mention. That's the first I've heard of such a thing in connection with 
        La Bastringue, which, in the lyrics of the song, is simply a dance (the 
        man and the woman in the song keep making excuses about not dancing "la 
        bastringue" with each other, but each always bases the excuse on the 
        indisposition of the other (e.g., you're too tired, I wouldn't out you 
        through such an ordeal), which is the humorous point of the 
        song).

Winslow

--- On Mon, 8/18/08, Glenn Weiser 
        <celticguitar1@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

        From: 
          Glenn Weiser <celticguitar1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] 
          French Canadian Harmonica Rarity
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: 
          Monday, August 18, 2008, 7:16 AM

Hey All-

Check this out-sounds like tongue-blocking harmonica on an old 78.
The song is "La Bastringue," and concerns an odd musical instrument
somewhat 
like a player piano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwDGu2SEUPY&feature=related

http://www.celticguitarmusic.com/tbr_bastringue.htm

Glenn Weiser
Web: www.celticguitarmusic.com

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