Many French folksongs found their way to North America with the early explorers and settlers of Canada and the northern US. Many
of these have their origins in songs of jongleurs and date to the early Renaissance and the Middle Ages. Some of these found their way into canoes paddled by "voyageurs" during the North American fur trade era. http://www.heartistrymusic.com/catalog_items/canot.html I am compiling what I hope will be an exhaustive book on songs of the voyageurs. If I'm lucky, I will receive an NEH Stipends Grant to work on this in March or April. Cecil Sharp, Francis Child and Bertrand Bronson published authoratative research on English and Scottish ballads and songs. In Canada, Marius Barbeau began collecting with a cylinder recorder in 1916 and published the French-Canadian equivalent of Sharp's work on Appalachian collection. Is there a comprehensive work on ancient French ballads and songs from continental Europe? Title and author(s)? And are there such works for other European languages also? Many thanks in advance! Tom -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
