Monique Desroches

Monique Desroches. Ethnomusicologist, teacher, b Grand-Mère,near Trois-Rivières, Que, 18 Mar 1948; B MUS (Sherbrooke) 1974, MA musicology (Montreal) 1977, PH D musicology (Montreal) 1987.

Desroches, Monique

Monique Desroches. Ethnomusicologist, teacher, b Grand-Mère,near Trois-Rivières, Que, 18 Mar 1948; B MUS (Sherbrooke) 1974, MA musicology (Montreal) 1977, PH D musicology (Montreal) 1987. While studying at the École Vincent-d'Indy, she was manager and member 1968-74 of the group Les Contretemps, which specialized in the French and Quebec song repertoire, performed in Canada and abroad, and produced two LPs. After training in ethnomusicology at the University of Montreal, she pursued post-doctoral studies 1986-7 at the universities of London and Aix-Marseilles III. She was an assistant and later research agent of the Centre de recherches Caraïbes of the University of Montreal 1979-86 and manager of the Cueillette de musique traditionnelle project, sponsored by the Conseil régional de la Martinique 1984-9. In 1987 she began to teach at the University of Montreal, where she was also responsible for setting up a museum of instruments from all over the world, a collection she was in charge of in 1991. Her area of specialization is ethnomusicology, more particularly Inuit music and the music of the West Indies and of the Mascarene Islands (Indian Ocean). In addition to participating in various conferences and radio broadcasts, Desroches has written several scholarly articles and has contributed to EMC. In 1990 UNESCO approved as part of the World Decade for cultural development, the project Formation, coopération et promotion des traditions orales musicales (Africa and Indian Ocean) which Desroches co-directs in collaboration with Marie-Thérèse Lefebvre.