I found a slew of voyageur songs.  I'm going to take this up to my old friend whose wife teaches piano.

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

I promise to be respectful.  If you hear someone poorly singing french/canadian folk songs in the QP, just holler and I'll stop.

prouboy

:dankk2

Thanks again Lynda.  I promise not to sing them if I ever meet you on the water or on a portage. 

prouboy

Just a couple that I found when I googled it.  I thought I would find more. 

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

There were some links to some youtube videos, too, but I didn't follow those.

Thanks Lynda. 

If this winter drags on like I think it will, I'll certainly have time to do some research.  I think my first call will be to the Grand Portage National Historic Site. 

prouboy

Somewhere I have a CD, but if I could find it, it would take more looking than I am willing to do right now.   Sorry.

Most of them were in French, and it isn't a language I am comfortable singing in. . .even when I was taking voice lessons in college I was always more easily able to sing in Italian or German than French.  So when I sang them, it was very badly.   

But yes, there are collections of them.  And if you do some research, I am sure you could find them.

Is there anyone out there -- some historian perhaps -- who has researched and collected the old voyageur songs? 

I once heard somebody from North or South Dakota had collected a bunch of the old songs...but if I had his name I lost it.

prouboy

The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind...How many years...?

Well, Jon, I am glad that your friend dragged his trashed guitar over every portage, because the alternatives would have been to throw it in the lake, hide it in the brush somewhere, or burn it up, right?  None of these are good environmentally sound options.   

And I TOTALLY agree with you about the canoe trip videos!  To the point that I now watch canoe trip videos, if I watch them at all, with the sound turned off.  If I ever made a video, or even a slide show, I don't think it would have any music.  It just distracts me from the beauty of the photos.

At one point, when I was younger, I knew a couple Voyageur songs.  I didn't even sing these out loud--just in my mind.  Silence is, indeed, golden.   

Those who have taken the time to learn the songs of the Voyageurs and sing them while paddling are appreciated. All other man made music in canoe country is inappropriate at best. I go there to get away from it. I find videos of canoe trips with a rock and roll sound track attached ruined by the music. Many years ago an old friend insisted on bringing his guitar. He was too tired to play it the first night and it was too trashed by the next day to be functional. He dragged it over ever portage though.
Jon