La Bottine Souriante ("the smiling boot") is widely regarded as one of the most exhausting bands on the planet. Uniquely eclectic, this nine-piece experience from Quebec plays a mix of French-Canadian dance music, salsa, cajun, zydeco, jazz and even big-band swing. Given their tangled origins, an introductory history lesson is perhaps inevitable as Regent Archambault, who plays double bass with La Bottine, explains the roots of their truly spectacular sound.
"The traditional music part comes from two parts of the world. It was influenced a lot by the music of Ireland and Scotland - mostly Ireland," he says. "Then there are the songs which came from Brittany, and they are call-and-answer songs mostly. These songs travelled because the Acadian people, when they were deported, travelled to many places. Some came to Joliette, where La Bottine is from, and that's why there is such a strong tradition there."
The Acadians were the French who had first settled in places like Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the eastern part of Maine. In 1755, however, those who refused loyalty to the British crown were expelled in what became known as Le Grand Derangement, and they fled to various parts of North America. Some ended up in Louisiana, where they became known as Cajuns, and others, like those in Joliette, found comfort in a place relatively isolated from the Anglo influence. Here in the Laudaniere region of Quebec province, just north of Montreal, it is still 99 per cent French-speaking and was, at least for a period in the 1970s, finally ready to break away from Canada. It was also at this politically charged time that La Bottine Souriante first began to stomp their boots on a Quebec stage.
"It was a time of a folk revival and a lot of groups were formed," says Archambault. "For sure, we had success in Quebec because it was the tradition, and there was a strong feeling at that time. The Parti Quebecois, when they came in, it was a victory for people who had been waiting for this to happen for a long time. But it lasted only for four years. When they lost the referendum in 1980, the folk revival was through. "In other places in the world, the problem was disco, but in Quebec, all the singers and artists who'd had a big part in the referendum, who were activists, were no longer on the radio. We just stopped hearing them. Their popularity went down very fast just because the Parti Quebecois was suddenly a thing of the past."
La Bottine had never been an overtly political band, but it had been part of a cultural and political drive which was seen to have failed. The cause of Quebec nationalism seemed in tatters and people began to turn their backs on anything considered traditional. La Bottine had to work out a new way of working and so, for the first time, they went out into the Anglophone world and took on new audiences all over The United States. The folk clubs of America were well up for it, connecting immediately with the traditional side of things. Anybody who liked Irish music had no trouble taking to La Bottine and so they entered what they call "their Celtic period". It was a good spell for the band which lasted for most of the 1980s, by which time even the people of Quebec were coming round to traditional music again. Back home, and happy, they began to experiment with other music and before long they were working with string quartets and brass sections. The subsequent album, appropriately titled Je Voudrais Changer D'chapeau (1987) won a Juno (the Canadian Grammy) and Quebecois music would never be the same again. Certainly it was popular and irresistible, but La Bottine were now in potentially treacherous territory. Fusion tends to be a risky business.
"Something maybe has been lost, yes, because I like the classic way of playing traditional music, but traditional music is always changing and we figure this is a way of playing traditional music in our own times," says Archambault. "But the fusion stuff was never just to impress other audiences; it just came naturally. It came about because of the new people who joined the group. Our piano player is a jazz and salsa player, and he wasn't really into folk music at all. "Then in 1990, the four-piece horn section was added and the sax player, Jean Frechette, is an arranger who had played for 20 years in big bands. So that's where it comes from. I am from a classical background, and the only traditional music I heard in my family was at New Year's Eve, when we would sing answer songs. But for the reels it's Yves Lambert, Michel Bordeleau and Andre Brunet, the fiddlers and the accordion players. And of course we still sing in French."
La Bottine Souriante have, since 1976, released 10 albums, three of which are certified gold, and one, La Mistrine, which went platinum in Canada. For a folk or roots album, even in English, this is quite an achievement, all part of the North American "Celtic thing" which includes everything from Riverdance to The Chieftains.
Bands like La Bottine, despite their legendary status, are rarely heard on Canadian radio, but there are more than enough devotees to keep them on the boil, selling records and exhausting audiences. What they plan to do in Ireland remains to be heard, but there's every chance that the roof will be raised and that the boot will continue to smile.
"The main thing in our music is Celtic music, and so it is not that strange to English-speaking people," says Archambault. "We start off with very swinging music and then we try to do a good balance of songs and instrumentals just in case people get bored listening to the words. I don't know what way it will be in Dublin, but we always try to have people standing up - people will get very frustrated if they have no room to dance."
La Bottine Souriante play Vicar Street tomorrow and the Black Box, Galway on Monday.