Tune 97 of the Bal Folk Tune Book Project is a waltz by Trevor Upham.
The Strudel Set (Cochonchine and Pas d’Été)
These two tunes — #212 and #214 from the Bal Folk Tune Book — are both from the “others” section. They are their own sort of set dances, i.e., dances linked to a particular locale with a specific dance associated with them. And they seem like two of the “old fashioned” tunes. The kind of tunes that folks call “the good old old ones.” The dance for Pas d’Été can be seen here.
And the dance for Cochonchine can be seen here.
Pas d’Été has this fingering sequence on the second half that should be VERY easy, but I find it so challenging to stay in time with it. Essentially, sequences where you have quick (but not VERY quick) notes in the same direction, with a sort of repetitive arpeggio vibe … I have a hard time keeping an even pace. It’s very weird.
Chez la Mère Antoine
Two scottishes from the Bal Folk Tune Book (which you should buy), “Chez la Mère Antoine” (#20) and an unnamed tune (#15). They sound old, to me. Like bog norme, as one friend described it. “Tiny,” my organetto in A flat, has been out of commission for the humid months (sticking keys) and has recently returned to mid-season form. Even though it has two additional buttons, I still play it essentially as a one row. It really is a very fun little thing, and, as I say, it plays in A flat, which not many diatonic things do.
So, you wanna listen to Breton Music?
Over on mel.net, someone asked for recommendations on Breton music to listen to. In response, Yannick Laridon, of the band Planchée, posted the following amazing wealth of information. The post was too good to let die in the middle of a mel.net thread, so I asked if I could post it here. Truly an embarrassment of riches. Thank you! (I will also mention that I have a Breton playlist over on Spotify, if that’s how you roll.)
Brittany is a very active area regarding traditional music. Here are some personal picks, it’s not by any means a comprehensive list, and the comments are mine and phrased rapidly. I’ll add some bold font where there’s an accordion. Some good references were already mentioned, so here are some more, sorted by a somewhat chronological order.
The “early” recordings date from the Folk revival era, with names as well-known as Alan Stivell or Tri Yann for instance, which are centered on concert music rather than dance music. As often with prolific and long careers, all their production is not really relevant.
But from the same period, you could not go wrong with the recordings of the Goadec Sisters or the Morvan Brothers, two well-known acappella dance ensembles from the center of Brittany. Two songs among many :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCmA4w1O1Gs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pObGlwGvSgI
During the 80s, maybe one missing reference is the band Gwerz, although I find it’s a bit aged, its historical importance has to be noted, as it’s synthetizing many influences, such as Irish music. The 80’s are a really important decade for Breton music, despite a relatively moderate number of recordings, as it’s in that period that major figures emerged and defined their styles, that influenced all the musicians afterwards. Perhaps even more so than the artists in the 70s did.
Here is a live recording of Gwerz : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0EosB3uK8M
In the late 80s you can also find the same people you find in Gwerz, Barzaz or Kornog in the band Den, that you cannot listen without thinking about some Donal Luny experiments :
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQMZD0e8YHDL3xA1_oIX_JyLSjYQMRq– (Beware: traces of 80s synthetizer)
In many ways, Den somehow prefigures the later work of Jacky Molard (and the Molard brothers), that you can find later associated with the late guitarist Jacques Pellen, either in Celtic Procession ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBTFXcj9daw ) , Tryptique ( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n3e3x1u86SOTUyW1JlG-SdBHtVDKbtT7M ) or Bal Tribal ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGGenEiDgX0 ).
For a dance band regrouping many of the above, there’s Pennou Skoulm (breton for dickheads): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_niPaPEp5PPQ7swOohDoqAa4s0Hj2NLnOg
In this album appears Fred “Gazman” Lambierge on the accordion (he recently passed away), a discrete but important player, that did background work to infuse jazz music into Breton accordion music. He notably influenced Janick Martin, but we’ll come to that later.
Beautiful rendition of a tradition song by Fred : * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZeP8N-oo0Y
As an aside, you can also hear Fred in the child music band Les Ours du Scorff, by which many of Breton children were cradled : nice music, funny lyrics, it’s really a bliss for all the family : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nGVE62l5p1TPUX84KwbE_nssI3o64mXwU
In the meantime, the major dance band from the 90’s is perhaps Ar Re Yaouank. They have something like 3 albums, that many Breton musicians are able to hum in full. They’re the first to really embed a truly rock attitude, and their influence still persists today.
My personal favorite is this one : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nsLezMXz35RF18Pu_lfrHnFvy5vLTLR7k
But you can’t go wrong with the others. One major accomplishment of theirs is to have played in a major festival, that had nothing to do with trad music, Les Francofolies de La Rochelle (which is really an exploit in a country where traditional music is that much segreggated than France) : * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XwGW2IJpJA
Today, Fred and Jean-Charles Guichen still play together in fest-noz, with a plethoric production. My favorite album is Mémoire Vive, but I fear you can only have excerpts online: http://www.nozbreizh.fr/php2/artiste.php?band=854
You can find the solo album of Fred Guichen (the accordionist) here : * https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLur76V3vyCI_MEAHdbRvIE5LxnOJI1e2j (it’s bit ‘aged’, but still interesting to listen to).
Other notable 90’s dance bands include Carré Manchot that had many forms, here is one among many: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lHcBApiPDTz0KGMW9T3IXltDdKhyD7SYQ
A duet, Burn’s duo, with Ronan Robert and Christophe Caron :
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mGSQCuZgSgP4KeE_LY5cRZz-iX8PR5DwA
Ronan is of course a prominent accordion player, but it’s even more so the influence of Christophe Caron on the bombarde (the Breton oboe) that is remarkable : is among the firsts to look for a sound closer to regular oboes, and to push the boundaries of what was deemed possible with the instrument. There’s a distinctive 90s sound to this album, but it’s still good music.
Some people mentioned Yann-Fañch Perroches, I think that perhaps his best album was with violonist and ex co-star of Skolvan Fañch Landreau : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjbn89rrBfsI16Vyh8sDRlJFl1qgCXZPq
Beginning in the 90s and still playing today, there’s also the band Spontus : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l6IQecgngThyiaiW-qrQvsqdwYOJFTRkc (one of my favorite Breton dance band)
Moving on to the 00s, there’s many band that went further still than their elders. Startijenn (still active today), which somehow digested the influence of Ar Re Yaouank and made it something different :
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kkSLPmm6r0nCvEfoCKsbkuecBdSyjr1hk
Karma, with what I still find today the most stunning Breton album : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQMZD0e8YHDJAYfuMBef6WF8d_KFXdxZT
Plantec and Hiks, two bands that, in different styles, make room for electronic music
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kmf38p7XZMlgwegs4FJmIa-OlR50AbqSQ
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m-fMRmZ8zCyWiydM9fWhgJod_lYIdvadQ
For both these bands, there’s a great work on the bombarde.
And, last but not least, Hamon-Martin (either in duo, quartet or quintet), which is THE major band for the 00’s and 10’s I think. Their masterpiece is, IMO, L’Habit de plume : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAkvblqYMP4
But you can’t go wrong with any of their albums ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_XUBnEeOpn74dM-_l-K_Kg )
In duet, the album ‘Sous le tilleul’ is inescapable I found only one track here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwfGG5AITII
And some more recent bands :
Modkozmik : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNuteX3q-Sc
Fleuves : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQMZD0e8YHDLbHE2nfn_p60bR_KevjAP7
Ampouailh : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kOaedO16DcpFni97EYIBURcXEdW1M0dmw
Barba Loutig : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csxEO7WmjaQ
Dour-Le Pottier Quartet : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLV3G4ICfMw
Vincendeau-Pichard : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nOBdJtHjW24Z0ozPvL0r-nUl-j03HuOXo
Le Bour – Bodros : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg5OjchzTzs
Ndiaz : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m3tSDZ9OHVuxz8oUTak7ZJYbKt-QYpAAA
There’s also my band : https://soundcloud.com/planchee/sets/planchee-premier-album
And, at last, a few picks of more traditional formulas
Patrick Bardoul (accordion) : https://www.facebook.com/nuccia.mancina/videos/2158861424243484/
L’Haridon – Nedelec (biniou-bombarde) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWzRIzJ3_SE
Trimaud – Belliard (biniou-bombarde) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpJwrEJsoOE
Foll – Le Dissez (biniou-bombarde) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzj7rMLq-MU
Ebrel – Le Buhé (singers) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BTCHgyoh_s
Quéré – Le Menn (singers) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb0_0Fg7GKQ
Manglo (singers) : https://soundcloud.com/user-manglo/tracks
Le Féon – Léhart (biniou-bombarde) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vuhxVB2C0U
Manu Bouthillier (violin) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLmX1duw82I
If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
Three Polkas Piquée
In recordings from the 1930s polkas piquée are a type of very short polkas played very fast — really leaning into the strengths of the vielle à roue — and they’re played in groups of many, usually each tune is repeated only twice. There are a bunch of polkas piquée in the Bal Folk Tune Book, and none of them have names; they are just “polka piquée.” So here are #174, 173, 176, and 173 (reprise).
Also, I am debuting my one row Hohner in G — inspired by activity over on mel.net. The thing is a bear to play but I love the wet broad sound, and one rows have an inexplicable attraction for me.
Bourrée #63 (La Ricoise)
A humble tune from the Bal Folk Tune Book; it does not even have a name listed*. I’m wondering if anyone knows the name, and even if there is a lyric. This tune has everything I love about bourrées the streams of eighth notes, the odd melodic accents that make the 3/8 meter seem like a faux pas that is not actually faux. Dedicated to Brigid Chapin, as she begins her graduate program this week!
Thanks to -Y- over on mel.net I have discovered that this is a tune called “La Ricoise!” Check out these vids of others playing same:
The Shepherdess Set (Bourrée and Valse)
La Bergère de Coulandon #160 (Bourrée à Deux Temps) and Belle Bergère #120 (Valse)
Plante un Chou #44
This is a classic scottish, #44 in the Bal Folk Tune Book. I wrote an appreciation of it some time ago, and have found it to be hard to get under my fingers. I really am fond of it, but it became a kind of beloved bete noir, seducing me and accusing me simultaneously. This felt good.
Josefin’s Dopvals (by Roger Tallroth)
One of my very favorite waltzes, by Roger Tallroth of Väsen. I learned it from the version by Dervish, which is very winsome and almost sentimental — but goddammit it always gets me the third time through when drum kicks up! Very inspiring. This is specifically NOT a sentimental version. Trying something different. A straight-ish French waltz at French-waltz pace.
Sunshine on the Water: a new mazurka
(Sheet music below!)
This a mazurka written in honor of my new wife, Sunshine, who I married on March 12 of this year. It’s musical inception happened when fiddler Lissa Schneckenburger asked, on Facebook, what are your favorite chord changes. I offered mine (Am F G Am) and then started thinking of a tune — this tune — which ultimately did not use those changes. I’m not entirely sure what key it is in. Probably A minor, but it’s got a lot of F major-centric business going on there, and that chord sequence of Bb, Dmin, F is just me climbing the triad with the same melodic chunk underneath. It’s an effect I love — building on the Breton repetition-to-trance method. Not that mazurkas are especially (or even marginally) Breton. Even with all that Hullaballoo, it sits perfectly on my Castagnari Mory G/C. You don’t need the half row, but I do use the Bb and Dm bass/chord (you could substitute F and D no third, if you wanted to). Here’s the sheet music.
