The recently released biopic about La Bolduc, known as the ‘Queen of Canadian folk singers’, offers a glimpse into the life of rags-to-riches songstress Mary Travers. For Townshippers Jocelyne Calvert and Kathleen Mullin, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of La Bolduc (Travers), the film was a source of pride and sadness. “It was emotional to see my mother’s life repeated on screen,” Calvert said, referring to her mother Denise, La Bolduc’s eldest daughter. “It was a hard life. To be reminded of that was very sad.” La Bolduc became a household name in the 1930s, recording and performing songs that were drawn from her father’s Irish heritage and her mother, who was of French Canadian/ Mi'kmaq descent. Playing the traditional instruments of the day by ear (fiddle, accordion, mouth harp), which she was taught by her father, La Bolduc’s fame grew when after she moved to Montreal from the Gaspé and began writing songs that appealed to average working class people. Her music became the foundation of traditional Quebecois folk music. Even people unfamiliar with La Bolduc would have heard or sung at least one of her songs in school while growing up in Quebec. See full story in the Tuesday, May 15th edition of The Record.
Descendants of La Bolduc reflect on new film
