Hey…
What are your favorite French folk or folk-ish music? Whether from France or French Canada (or elsewhere) I don’t care, I’m just mildly curious…
Nothing says French folk music to me like Charles](http://youtube.com/watch?v=fd_nopTFuZA%22%3ECharles) Trénet. 
djm
La Mer..yeah!
I know very little, if anything, about French folk music but many moons ago meself and me buddies were learning about music and one of the boys got his hands on a Django album.
We got together one night and listened to it a few times and one guy said about La Mer..
" Jayzuz..if I get to Heaven and they’re not playing that I’ll be seriously fckuin’ dissapointed".
Slan,
D. 
In true Chiff fashion, I’ll respond in a way that doesn’t answer your question.
Don’t know about folk music, but I know all the lyrics to the rock opéra La Revolution Française. It’s pretty good.
During the 1970s I listened a lot to groups like Malicorne
So doing a Bobby Darin cover is French folk music???
HA,
you and your pearly teeth…
Slan,
D.
predictably: I enjoy the piping giants:
Jean Blanchard
Eric Montbel
Les Brayauds
Dominique Paris
etc etc
I havent included all the Breton greats: more of a Celtic thing going on there…
Edith Piaf? She did some folk no?
Shes good stuff anyway.
Not French, but Quebecois:
I rather liked some of the stuff Kornog did. Jamie McNemeny is great, so is Christian LeMaitre. I think JM Veillion played with them also. It’s Breton (and alittle Scots) stuff. One of their albums was called Korong, which I always found endlessly confusing.
Still does, or did, anyway, in 2006, when I saw them at Chicago’s Irish Fest. Pretty brilliant.
I can’t believe that nobody has mentioned Stivell…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMtbLhfNY7I
I’ll say nothing about the whistle…
Slan,
D. 
I have a tune that I play for my fiddle class that is French-Canadian in origen. The English is “Bear Dance” I believe…I’ll see if I can find the actual name of it. But it’s really beautiful, and a joy to play (even in my squeaky way ). I don’t know if that answers your question, Cranberry, but there it is anyway.
There’s very good reason not to mention Snivell.
For Québecois music, La](http://youtube.com/watch?v=NE6m0hcb46s%22%3ELa) Bottine Souriante was very popular until they went](http://youtube.com/watch?v=jJpnGCEVppw%22%3Ewent) Hollywood.
djm
They’re absolutely fabulous, in my humble opinion.
…and pretty cute too. That hurdy gurdy is sexy. 
I like this - it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgWcNwzucaM&feature=related
or this- cajun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4STwhBZdDI&feature=related
Now I remember this guy- (it took a while to dredge up his name and find it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUuvmsJAJ7Q
I had a guy teach me how to do a French-Canadian Waltz clog once.
Bet I can’t still do it …yep…I was right.
I really do like the music of Brittany.
One of the nicest features of Montreal was the substantial breton dance community it contained, so many multilingual trad or folk gig/parties often broke out into breton dancing. If you’ve never seen or danced it, many breton dances are both fun and not in the slightest bit difficult, so without the need for a caller or any instructions (let alone lessons!) it’s easy for newbies to get their feet wet.
You just take the hand of the pretty girl beside you and do what she does. No problem!
How about French in the USA?
There’s all that Cajun stuff coming out of Louisiana
and then there’s all that French stuff that can still be found in Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and New York.
(French was the language spoke at home when my father-in-law was growing up on a farm in Massachusetts.)
Fiddler Donna Herbert http://www.dhebert.com/ who is in the Franco American band Chanterelle has been working to document the Beaudoin family for several years now.
We just lost the Louis Beaudoin’s widow, Julie Lacourse Beaudoin, 11 days ago.
You can find more information and some MP3s of songs shared by the Beaudoins at http://www.beaudoinlegacy.com/
another important group are Tri Yann (the 3 Johns) from Bretagne. They have been playing together for more than 30 years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzmTcNZ1_Y4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJwI2INm92M&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6of985ixbQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPTVjCb_17o