La Bottine Souriante

La Bottine Souriante, or "the smiling boot," was formed in 1976 and established itself early on as Québec's premier folk band. To paraphrase André Marchand, an original member of the group, at some point the band left the cabin and moved into the parlor. This became especially obvious in 1990 when the acoustic group added a four-piece horn section. It was a bold move but it put La Bottine Souriante in a class of its own.

Although all of the group's albums have been well-received, several of the releases from the 1990s have gone gold, with one of them, La Mistrine, reaching sales of 100,000, thereby attaining platinum status in Canada. The group has also garnered numerous awards, including Felix and Juno awards (the main music awards for Québec and Canadian artists respectively) and even a 2000 BBC Folk Award for best live act. In 1993, the group formed its own label, Les Productions Mille-Pattes, which also releases recordings by other artists from Québec.

The traditional songs of Québec are in French but the music draws from English, Irish and Scottish influences as well. With the expanded version of the group, jazz and Latin influences have been added to the Québecois and Celtic elements. The group is unusual in that it presents traditional material with a very sophisticated and brash approach. Nevertheless, Yves Lambert, the leader for much of the band's career, left a few years ago to form another fabulous group that promises to make its own mark, although his new aggregation mixes too many styles to be called a traditional group. —Paul-Emile Comeau