Interview with Bruno Gendron

Bruno Gendron, sitting on a chair, talks about his father.

Transcript: My father got interested in it at a young age. My uncles too. Pretty much all my uncles played the accordion or harmonica. When my father was young, he organized parties on the army base. He often told me how, at the time, he played at weddings and sugaring-off parties with one of his brothers, my Uncle Maurice. They played as a duo. Sometimes, a Mr. Ringuette, who played the banjo, would join them.

So, he did that for a few years. He was young. Then, at some point, he stopped playing music. I have no idea why. I think my Uncle Maurice stopped playing, and then… He played for me, you know. When my mother would go to mass on Sundays. If he wanted to keep me quiet, he’d play the accordion for me. I’d sit next to him and listen. I loved it!

For a long time, he only played at Christmas and that sort of thing. As for me, when I was 15 or 16 years old, I started playing in bars, at parties and weddings. Mainly pop music. That sort of made him want to start playing again. Sometimes, people would say:”We’d love to hear your dad on the accordion!” Anyway, he started playing again. He played a lot. Every weekend, there were shows at the seniors club, weddings, all sorts of things!