A ''chansonnier'' (; female: ''chansonnière'', ) was a poet songwriter, a solitary singer, who sang his or her own songs (''
chanson
A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...
s'') with a guitar, prominent in
francophone
The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...
countries during the 1960s and 1970s. Unlike popular singers, ''chansonniers'' need no artifice to sing their soul poetry. They performed in "''Les Boites à Chansons''" which flourished during those years. The themes of their songs varied but included nature, love, simplicity and a social interest to improve their world.
Canada
In
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, the ''chansonnier'' tradition played a prominent role in the development of
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
's social and political awareness during the
Quiet Revolution
The Quiet Revolution () was a period of socio-political and socio-cultural transformation in French Canada, particularly in Quebec, following the 1960 Quebec general election. This period was marked by the secularization of the government, the ...
, (''la Révolution tranquille'') that led to the affirmation of
national identity
National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language".
National identity ...
of
Québécois people
(; also known as Quebecers or Quebeckers in English) are people associated with Quebec. The term is most often used in reference to either descendants of the French settlers in Quebec or people of any ethnicity who live and trace their origins to ...
. One prominent ''chansonnier'',
Robert Charlebois
Robert Charlebois (born June 25, 1944) is a Canadian author, composer, musician, performer and actor.
Charlebois was born in Montreal, Quebec. Among his best known songs are ''Lindberg'' (the duo with Louise Forestier in particular), ''Ordi ...
, transformed the province's musical culture when he moved from traditional ''chansonnier'' pop to a more
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
-oriented sound with his fourth album, ''
Lindberg
Lindberg is a municipality in the district of Regen in Bavaria in Germany in the immediate neighbourhood of the larger town Zwiesel.
Location
Lindberg lies in the Danube Forest (''Donau-Wald'') region in the middle
of the Bavarian Forest on ...
'', in 1968.
Bob Mersereau
Bob Ellis Mersereau is a Canadian arts journalist.Rockingham, Graham �"Randy Bachman: lord of the song"''The Spec''
He is a music columnist and longtime arts reporter for CBC Television in New Brunswick.Christine Charbonneau
*
Robert Charlebois
Robert Charlebois (born June 25, 1944) is a Canadian author, composer, musician, performer and actor.
Charlebois was born in Montreal, Quebec. Among his best known songs are ''Lindberg'' (the duo with Louise Forestier in particular), ''Ordi ...
Georges Dor
Georges Dor (March 10, 1931 – July 24, 2001) was a Canadian author, composer, playwright, singer, poet, translator, and theatrical producer and director.
Early life
Dor was born Georges-Henri Dore in Drummondville into a large family. As a yo ...
*
Jean-Pierre Ferland
Jean-Pierre Ferland, (; June 24, 1934 – April 27, 2024) was a Québécois singer and songwriter. He was noted for writing over 450 songs and releasing more than 30 albums. He was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007. ...
* Jean-Paul Fillion
*
Louise Forestier
Louise Forestier (born Louise Belhumeur on August 10, 1942) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actress.
Biography
Born in Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada, Forestier was trained in acting at the National Theatre School in Montreal, but it was as a s ...
Pauline Julien
Pauline Julien, (May 23, 1928October 1, 1998), nicknamed "La Renarde", was a singer, songwriter, actress, feminist activist and Quebec sovereigntist.
Born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec,Christian Rioux and Betty Nygaard King."Pauline Julien" ''Th ...
* Mado de L'Isle
* Jacques Labrecque
* Georges Langford
* Christian Larsen
* Marie Lavigueur
*
Félix Leclerc
Félix Leclerc (August 2, 1914 – August 8, 1988) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, writer, actor and political activist. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on December 20, 1968. Leclerc was posthumously inducted into ...
Claude Léveillée
Claude Léveillée (16 October 1932 – 9 June 2011) was a Canadian actor, pianist, and singer-songwriter who composed more than 400 songs, instrumental pieces, and musicals.
In 1959, Léveillée co-founded ''Les Bozos'', an informal collective ...
*
Raymond Lévesque
Raymond Lévesque (October 7, 1928 – February 15, 2021) was a Canadian singer-songwriter and poet from Quebec. One of the pioneers of the ''chansonnier (singer), chansonnier'' tradition in Quebec, he was best known for writing ":fr:Quand les ho ...
* Monique Miville-Deschênes
* Priscilla
* Marie Savard
*
Gilles Vigneault
Gilles Vigneault (; born 27 October 1928) is a Canadian poet, Publishing, publisher, singer-songwriter, and Quebec nationalism, Quebec nationalist and Quebec sovereignty movement, sovereigntist. Two of his songs are considered by many to be Qu ...
References
* The reference used here is an exhaustive work on women songwriters in Quebec, which cover the period of 1960 to 1976. The female names that are listed above are those found in the chapter 9 'Les chansonnières', page 95 to 119, which correspond to the period of the cultural phenomenon). «La chanson écrite au féminin». An extensive research in musicology written by Cécile Tremblay-Matte.«La chanson écrite au féminin de Madeleine de Verchères à Mitsou 1730-1990», Éditions Trois, 2033 avenue Jessop, Laval, Québec. Diffusion pour le Canada, DMR, 3700 A boul. Saint-Laurent, Montréal, Québec, et pour l'Europe, Les Diffusions du Solstice, 363 B Chaussée de Waterloo, Bruxelles, Belgique. Données de catalogage avant publication (Canada) .«La chanson écrite au féminin», Collection Trois Guinées dirigée par Anne-Marie Alonso. Dépot légal- BNQ, BNC troisième trimestre 1990, contient 391 pages.