REEL ST-ÉMILE. AKA and see "Madame Renaud," "Reel de Mme. Renault." French-Canadian, Reel (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'BB'. The 'crooked' or irregular reel was recorded in Montreal in 1938 by fiddler Joseph Bouchard (1905-1973), and released on RCA Victor's Bluebird label. Saint-Émile is a former city in central Québec, Canada, but was amalgamated into Québec City in 2002. It is located within the Borough of La Haute-Saint-Charles.
The tune was originally recorded in 1928 by Montreal fiddler Jospeh Allard in a "square" (regular metre) version under the title "Reel de Mme. Renault" (Victor 263531-B). It is related to the Scots melody "Bob of Fettercairn (The)" and the American old-time tune "Humphrey's Jig (1)," finds Lisa Ornstein. However, the latter tune seems quite distanced, if in fact it is related. It also appears derivative of the Scottish reel "Lord MacDonald (4)" a popular reel in Canada. See also "Petit Bûcheux (Le)" for a similar "Lord MacDonald" derivative.
Additional notes
Recorded sources : - Bluebird B-1168 (78 RPM), Jos Bouchard (1938). Bonanza B-29636, "Roger Langlois – Et Son Accordéon." Jean Lemelin – "Les Musiciens De L'Ile D'Orléans:Musique Traditionnelle Du Quebec."
See also listing at : Hear Bouchard's recording at the Virtual Gramophone [1], at the Internet Archive [2] and on youtube.com [3]
