A Sound Archive
Preserving, documenting and sharing our sound heritage

Events

Important Artists

1930-

1930-1945

* It takes a while for the  record market to get back on its feet; the recording studios are empty; re-issues make their appearance.

* EMI is founded in 1931 following an agreement among Columbia, Pathé and Gramophone Co..

* Mary Travers (La Bolduc) dominates the Quebec market with her songs, whose lyrics convey the life of the French-speaking working people.

La Bolduc

* The influence of American music is ever stronger (swing, big band, ballroom)

* RCA inaugurates a budget series (on the Bluebird label) offering re-issues of recordings of Quebec artists; most of the other companies do the same  (on the Melotone, Duprex and Velvet-Tone labels).

* Radio (Radio-Canada, CHLP, CHLN, CKAC, CKVL) promotes Quebec song and folklore (the Montagnards laurentiens on CHRC Québec, the Quatuor Alouette live during the 1930s, and Lionel Daunais).

* The words and music for popular songs had been appearing for several years in periodicals such as Le Passe-temps, the Lyre, Montréal qui chante, Panorama, Le Canada qui chante and the Ouimetoscope magazine; Eddie Prévost is one of the first to set local lyrics  to original music, in Le Passe-temps; in the past, Quebec texts were often sung to traditional melodies or to the airs populaires de France ou d’Amérique.

* In 1935, record sales slowly began picking up.

* Lionel Daunais and Charles Goulet found Les Variétés lyriques in 1936.

* Radio-Canada radio begins broacast of L’Heure symphonique starting in 1938.

* >From 1941 to 1956, as part of "Radio - Collège", talks on Quebec musical history are broadcast; many composers, including Jean Vallerand, Lionel Daunais and Claude Champagne aim to introduce the public to the modern classical music repertoire.

1930-1945

Operetta and variety:

• Fernand Perron

• Jacques Aubert

• Trio lyrique

• Lionel Daunais

• Grenadiers impériaux (folk and "bonne chanson")

 Popular song:

• Eddie Prévost

  Country :

• Soldat Lebrun (Roland)

  Traditional music:

• Ovila Légaré (folklorist and actor)

Ovila Légaré

• Thiffault, Oscar
• Les Montagnards laurentiens

Minuit Chrétiens, by Louis Chartier
(Melotone)


CKAC

CKVL

  *Note: the materials cited below are available in French only.

The following interviews relating to the sound history of this period may be consulted at the Phonothèque:

• Jean-Claude Bélanger
• Marc Bolduc
• Benoît Bourque
• Gilles Garand
• Gabriel Labbé
• Claire Lafrenière
• Steve Normandin

Excerpts of interviews relating to this period of the history of records in Quebec:

Popular songs:  

Perception de la chanson québécoise au début de la radio- Lafrenière, Claire, (44” / 273K) enregistré le 27/06/2002

Les directeurs artistiques et les arrangeurs à l’aube de l’industrie musicale - Normandin, Steve, (1‘ 07” / 419K) enregistré le 25/04/2002

Avènement de la spécificité de la musique traditionnelle québécoise avec la famille Soucy– Bélanger, Jean-Claude, (43’’ / 269K), enregistré le 30/05/2003

Évolution des techniques de jeu et d’enregistrement dans la musique traditionnelle et influence de l'émission Les Montagnards laurentiens– Bourque, Benoit, (55’’ / 339K), enregistré le 30/05/2003

Spécificité de la musique traditionnelle québécoise– de Grosbois-Garand, Alexandre / Reeves, Francine, (1’01’’ / 252K), enregistré le 30/05/2003

Influence de l’émission radiophonique «Les Montagnards laurentiens» diffusée à CHRC-Québec - Labbé, Gabriel, (1’ 17” / 475K) enregistré le 12/03/2002 

Music industry (production and recording techniques):