Quadrille des ancêtres, 2e partie (mp3)[wpdm_file id=41]
Quadrille des ancêtres, 2e partie (sheet music)[wpdm_file id=40]
“Quadrille des ancêtres, 2e partie” (= “Old Folks’ Quadrille, 2nd Figure”) is one of my favorite tunes and is making the rounds in the Pacific Northwest. It is from the repertory of Isidore Soucy. Here’s a bit more about him.
Isidore Soucy (1899-1963) was an accomplished fiddler when he left Sainte-Blandine (near Rimouski) in 1924 for Montreal, part of the huge rural exodus which swelled Quebec cities and New England mill towns in the early 20th century. His timing was perfect: the entrepreneurs of Montreal’s burgeoning entertainment industry, realizing that they could successfully market rural traditional culture to recently urbanized French-Canadians and Franco-Americans, were recruiting musicians for their recording studios, stage shows, and radio “barn dance” programs. In 1925, Soucy began recording; by 1928, he was performing full-time on CKAC and playing at the 1,620-seat Monument national theater for Conrad Gauthier’s Veillées du bon vieux temps. Over the next 35 years, he led or played in several popular groups, recorded hundreds of 78s and albums, and with his family hosted Chez Isidore, the most successful TV variety show of its day.