Francine Brunel-Reeves

Francine Brunel-Reeves (29 October 1933 – 3 February 2018) was a Québécois singer, caller, guitarist, dancer, ethnomusicologist and independent researcher of traditional music and dance in Quebec. She was known as the grandmother of French-Canadian traditional music.

Biography Brunel-Reeves was born on 29 October 1933 in Montréal, Québec, Canada, into a wealthy family. Her father was the biologist and botanist Jules Brunel [ fr]. She was educated at a boarding school run by the Sisters of Saint Anne in Lachine, Québec; then attended a business course at the Collège Jésus-Marie in Montreal; then studied philosophy, history and law at the Université de Montréal. The couple moved to Europe for their careers, and she performed at the American Center in Paris, France, singing the songs of French-Canadian artists, such as Félix Leclerc, Gilles Vigneault and Claude Léveillée. She "became the first Quebecer to make traditional music known in France."

From 1984 and 1988, Brunel-Reeves studied ethnography at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France. She was a member of the Quebec Council for Living Heritage (CQPV) and the Society for the Promotion of Traditional Quebec Dance (SPDTQ). which won the 2009 Mnémo Prize.

Brunel-Reeves died on 3 February 2018 in Montréal, aged 84. She was buried at Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montréal.