Jean Carignan would have been a perfect musician to bridge certain cultural gaps. A virtuoso player of Quebec music, he was also eclectic in his tastes. He played duets with Pete Seeger and Yehudi Menuhin. His big mistake was identifying Scottish and Irish tunes as such; in Quebec, you're supposed to claim every fiddle tune is from Quebec. He was largely rejected by Francophones in his lifetime, but re-claimed post-humously. (Big deal!)

His playing made him internationally famous.

He made his living driving a cab in Montreal.