La Cardeuse reel

This is a tune I picked up from the first Patrick Street CD, which was a brilliant CD even the songs were good. I think it is French Canadian, and was played by Jacki Daly on the CD.

"The Fiddler’s Companion" ~ Andrew Kuntz
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/CAR_CASU.htm

"A cardeuse refers to the person who performs the task of carding wool, straightening it between wire brushes in preparation for spinning. La Cardeuse is supposedly a dance from the St. Jean region of France, brought to the New World by French immigrants to Québec. The step-dance La Cardeuse is from the Saguenay region of Quebéc, and imitates the carding of wool, according to Hart & Sandell, giving rise to the title. Guy Bouchard notes that, while this ‘crooked’ tune was quite popular in the past, modern fiddlers seem to have forgotten it."

Ceolachan your knowledge astounds me.

Don’t credit me with too much, the above is as the source is given, a cut-and-paste ~ but I do know what a Cardeuse is and about the dance… I’m surprised my memory worked as quickly as it did. It usually fails me, but I love and respect wool crafts and French Canadian music and dance…

I have heard a slightly different take on the tune than this transcription but it isn’t a tune I’ve ever had at hand…

By the way, your versions of tunes are very welcome…

I’ve heard from a few people that this is 2 tunes, maybe "le grand triomphe" is the name for parts CD and E.
Since the pattern I’ve heard On Patrick St’s and also on Andy Cutting/Chris Woods’ "Live at sidmouth" album, goes ABABA then CDECDE, and then returns to the A and B.

Cutting and woods take it at a more sedate pace than Patrick St, which is worth a listen.

Yes, a ‘set’ for the dance…

If you are interested in crooked tunes from Quebec, try this link.

http://www.trentesouszero.com/

This company makes available the dots and music for learning these wonderfully Unique tunes from Quebec. La Cardeuse is in volume II of:

"Airs Tordus, Crooked Tunes, Airs de Violon du Quebec Fiddle Tunes." The two books are very small/thin and there is a companion CD available as well.

Nicely done!

Deb

Martin Carthy has a nice Guitar arrangemant of this tune. I’ve also heard it played in 1997 by a young Finnish band, Pocadan, http://www.pocadan.fi/index.php?sivu=musiikki&lng=en
who played an assortment, of Finnish, Irish, French and Quebecois tunes in a nice relaxed, swinging style.

What is the correct ‘traditional’ way of playing this tune? Is each section A, B, C, D, E repeated in order, or is there another order. I understand that this is a "set tune". Any information would be extremely helpful.

The A and B parts are the tune Cotillon de Baie-Ste-Catherine.

More information at: http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/CORK_COT.htm

A really good version of this tune is available in the Quebecois tunebook: Danse ce soir.

The version of this tune played by Louis Boudreault and transcribed by Lisa Ornstein in her master’s thesis (and reprinted in 25 Crooked Tunes Vol 2) is very different than this version, even skipping the first two parts given here.

Boudreault’s A part is 5.5 bars long and starts B2d2 d2ef | g2d2 fdef; I don’t think it corresponds well to any of the parts here. His B part is basically the same as the fourth part given here. His C part starts G2AD B2BB | AGAB Bc3 and is similar to the last part here, but it is 8.5 bars long with an additional one bar tag at the end of the second time through. (Also, while Ornstein doesn’t transcribe this, I would swear Boudreault plays the tune AABBBCCC.)

Learned this one years ago at the Boulder Session. Here’s the variation they played, along with guitar chords:

"SET"|:"Em"[B2E2] [BE][BE] EBGB|dedB "Am"cdcB|
"D"AGFG [A2D2]FA|"D/F#"dedc "G"BAGA|
"Em"[B2E2] [BE][BE] EBGB|dedB "Am"cdcB|"D"AGFG [A2D2]FA|
1"D/F#"d2F2"Fine" "G"G4:|2"D/F#"d2F2 "G"G2Bc||
|"G"dcBc d2[g2d2]|d2[g2d2] d2[g2d2]|[D2G,2]AB "D7"cBAB|
c2[a2c2] c2[a2c2]|[a2c2][a2c2] D2Bc|"G"dcBc d2[g2d2]|
d2[g2d2] d2[g2d2]|[D2G,2]AB "D7"cBAB|c2[a2c2] c2[a2c2]|
[a2c2][a2c2] D2Bc|"G"dcBc d2[g2d2]|d2[g2d2] d2[g2d2]|
[D2G,2]AB "D7"cBAB|c2[a2c2] "G"g2f2|g2[g2B2] [g4B4]||
"(A)"|"G"d2ef "C"fgfg|"G"d2ef g2B2|"C"c2{c}B2 "D"AGAc|
"G"B2G2 GABc|"G"d2ef "C"fgfg|"G"d2ef g2B2|
"C"c2{c}B2 "D"AGAc|"G"B2G2 [G4B4]||
"(B)"|:"G"BcBA G2BG|"D"DFAF "G"G2GA|
BcBA G2gg|"D"fdfa [g2B2]"G"g2:|
"(C)""G"DEGA [B2D2]AG|"D"A2B2 "C"[c4E4]|
"G"Bcdc B2AB|"D"cBAF "G"GDE2|"G"DEGA [B2D2]AG|
"D"A2B2 "C"[c4E4]|"G"Bcdc B2AB|"D"cBAF "G"GDE2|
"G"DEGA [B2D2]AG|"D"A2B2 "C"[c4E4]|"G"Bcdc B2AB|
"D"cBAF "G"GDE2|"G"DEGA [B2D2]AG|"D"A2B2 "C"[c4E4]|"G"Bcdc B2AB|"D"cBAF "G"[G4B4]||
"SET"|:"Em"[B2E2] [BE][BE] EBGB|dedB "Am"cdcB|
"D"AGFG [A2D2]FA|"D/F#"dedc "G"BAGA|
"Em"[B2E2] [BE][BE] EBGB|dedB "Am"cdcB|
"D"AGFG [A2D2]FA|"D/F#"d2F2 "G"G4:|

As close as I can get to the Patrick Street version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP_Xgpbe97o

play video

Wow! Thanks for reminding me of this tune!

The part are played in this order on the recording:
ABABCDEACDEA

Chris Wood and Andy Cutting "Live at Sidmouth" Track 1.