Crossing musical language lines
Mary Beth Carty makes her mark in francophone music
French may be her second language but music is her first, making Mary Beth Carty a formidable force in the world of francophone music.
The Lanark, Antigonish County native now lives in Sydney, where she often performs in local venues and works with fiddler Gillian Head. For years, she lived in Quebec and performed with Bette & Wallet, a duo that performed internationally and received nominations from the Canadian Folk Music Awards and the ECMAs.
While Bette & Wallet are no more, these days Carty promotes her debut solo recording, “Les Biens-Nommés,” when she’s not teaching music at Etoile de l’Acadie in Sydney.
“Les Biens-Nommés,” has been nominated for an East Coast Music Award for francophone album of the year and Carty couldn’t be more pleased about her upcoming trip to the East Coast Music Awards in Halifax in May.
“I’m very excited — I have two showcases and a nomination so I definitely won’t miss it.
Eight of 10 of the album’s songs are originals and named after people. Even though they’re sung in the first person, they are not autobiographical and come from Carty’s imagination.
“There’s one song in English about caravans and a protest and people going to prison but I’ve certainly never gone to prison — that song came to me in a dream and that one’s called “Dan.”
The songs usually involve romantic themes and to further add to the French flavour, Carty uses the accordion as a main voice, despite playing a plethora of other instruments. As a result, she reminds the listener of a French chanteuse from the 1930s and 1940s.
“On this one, I could show the diverse range of the styles that I like and I really wanted the accordion to be the focal instrument so I composed songs with the accordion as the main backup instrument. I play guitar as well but I really love the accordion so I wanted it to be
the focus of the CD,” said Carty. “They sound like old songs that could have come from the ’30s or ’40s bal-musette.”
Carty, 37, enjoys singing in French and sees herself as a cultural warrior, pushing on to prevent sameness in the world surrounding her.
“I see the world turning into a monoculture and everyone singing in the same language and playing the same instrument so I want to be a rebel and sing in other languages and play instruments that are starting to be endangered like the accordion and the bones and the jaw harp — they were common around Cape Breton Island not even 50 years ago — but you don’t see them a lot these days. I just want to bring them into light.”
If you’re interested in seeing Carty perform, she’ll be on stage at Governors in Sydney on Saturday at 3 p.m., Wednesday at 8 p.m. and Thursday at 9 p.m., with Carmen Townsend and Colette Deveaux. On March 31 at 10 a.m., she will be at the Antigonish Winter Market at the Antigonish Mall.