Mes Aïeux (My ancestors) is a folk music group from Quebec, Canada founded in 1996.
Although they are labeled as leaders of the "neo-traditional" movement in Quebec, they frequently use subjects and characters from traditional French Canadian folklore (the devil, the chasse-galerie, the shepherdess, the coureur des bois, drinking songs, etc.) in order to approach modern themes with a sense of humor. These themes include globalization (Qui nous mène?), politics (Ça va mal), generational conflicts (Dégénérations/Le reel du fossé), over-medicating (Remède miracle), the frenetic pace of modern life (Train de vie (le surcheval), Continuer pareil), recent Quebec history (2096 (chanson à boire)), etc. Some of their songs are about famous characters from Quebec history such as "La Corriveau" (La Corrida de la Corriveau) and "Alexis le Trotteur" (Train de vie (le surcheval)). They also sing some humorous songs about Québécois cultural phenomena such as poutine (Hommage en grain).
In November 2005 their album "En famille" went platinum (100,000 copies sold) and their two earlier albums, "Ça parle au diable" and "Entre les branches" both went gold (50,000 copies sold). In December 2006, "En famille" was certified double platinum (200,000 copies sold) and their latest album "Tire-toi une bûche" went gold after only three weeks.
In 2005 Mes Aïeux was honoured with a Félix Award for the category of Best Contemporary Folk Album for "En famille", in addition to being nominated for Group of the Year.
In 2007 Mes Aïeux won 3 Félix Awards for the Group of the year, Best selling album and song of the year.
Its six founding members include:
Since their founding, the group has released five albums: