Edith Butler is a descendant of the earliest French Canadians, those from Acadia, now in Nova Scotia.
She entered my awareness with her song Avant d'etre depaysee. The song is in French, which I understand very imperfectly. It refers to a historic event: the removal of the early Acadians from the homes they had established.
After the English conquest of Acadia, they were forced onto ships and went to New Orleans, part of the French colony of Louisiana then. Many died enroute, but the survivors established themselves in Louisiana, and the Cajun cooking we know from there now is the heritage left by these early displace Acadians, or Cajuns.
This is only one of her many beautiful songs. In 2009, Monique LeBlanc did a film on her for the NFB. The title is Daughter of the Wind and of Acadie.
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