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Mary Travers learned to play the fiddle, the harmonica, the accordion and the jew’s-harp as a girl in her native Gaspé. However, as a young married woman in Montreal, Madame Bolduc began a career in music out of economic necessity. To help support her family, she seized the opportunity which presented itself to replace a fiddle player in “Veillées de bon vieux temps”, a popular musical show. She was encouraged to sing, and the positive response led her to compose “La Cuisinière” (the Cook). Her recordings of “La Cuisinière” and “La Servante”, issued on 78-rpm discs by the Starr label, sold an unprecedented 12,000 copies in Québec, making her a household name. During the 1930s Madame Bolduc recorded 85 of her songs for Starr. Full of humour and frankness, they were written in colloquial French expressing the joys and miseries of the common people during those difficult times. The evolution of the chanson in Québec was greatly influenced by Madame Bolduc, and her songs enjoy a special place in Québec’s musical heritage. La Phonothèque québécoise and Analekta records have compiled her collected works on a 4-CD set “La Bolduc: L’integrale”.
“Si les saucisses pouvaient parler” from « La Bolduc : L’integrale » Analekta Records
Courtesy of La Phonothèque québécoise. Photographs from the National Library and Mme. Fernande Bolduc. | 
