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L/A Arts 221 Lisbon Street, Lewiston, Maine USA   04240     phone 207.782.7228     fax 207.782.8192

Chantons

The French language has been an essential ingredient in the unique cultural flavor of the Lewiston-Auburn area. Music and singing has been an integral part of the Franco-American family and social experience. Many people in the LA area still speak French. Many others wish they had not lost their ability to do so, but still identify themselves as part of the Franco-American culture. They will occasionally use French phrases and expressions as part of their predominantly English speech and sometimes remember small bits of French songs they heard as children. "Chantons -- Let's Sing in French and English" is a recording by musician/writer/storyteller Michael Parent and musician Greg Boardman that celebrates our French heritage and help fuel the movement to revive Franco-American culture and language.

Recordings donated to schools provide another means for teachers to instruct and give a flavor of French and Franco-American culture to their students. The Maine Learning Results states that to succeed, all students must study language and culture in an integrated fashion, beginning pre-kindergarten and extending through their entire school experience. Thus the recording could serves both as an incentive for learning French and a joyful tool for doing so. Music instruction is enhanced through the use of the recording.

"Chantons -- Let's Sing in French and English" is also be a unique offering. There is plenty of good children's music available in English, as there is in French. There is, however, very little material that gives children an opportunity to hear French songs in an alternating French-English pattern that facilitates understanding and learning. Thus the joy of singing is combined with an enjoyable means of learning the language.

Chantons --- Let’s Sing (In French & English)

Traditional French Songs with Michael Parent and Greg Boardman

CREDITS: Greg Boardman- fiddle, vocals, musical arrangements

Michael Parent - vocals, guitar, foot tapping, spoons, jaw harp

Tom Rowe - flute, drum machine on "Bonhomme, Bonhomme!"

Young Singers: Grady Burns, Mike Flynn, Kirsten Lamiette, Kim Lawrence, Samantha Laverdiere, Katrina Meservier, Neil Pomerleau - vocals on "Mon Papa," "Frère Jacques," and "Michaud est tombé"

Recorded and engineered by Tom Rowe at Apple Valley Studios

Produced by Tom Rowe and Michael Parent

Graphics and layout by Cheri Donahue

THANKS: L/A Arts, Anne Moreau Burg, Tom Morrill, Parents of Young Singers, Carole Walker, Richard Willing

SUPPORTED BY: Maine Arts Commission and Maine Humanities Council through 

and The Florence Gould Foundation

with support from the New England Folk Festival Association