ETREAMB-NI BAMBOCHERION

 

ETREAMB-NI BAMBOCHERION
BOMBARDE - BINIOU KOZ

 

BETWEEN US CAROUSERS

 

 BAS, 1979, BAS 307

BAS stands for Bodadeg Ar Sonerion or Assembly of Musicians association created right in the middle of World War II in 1943. Here the musicians are bombarde and binioù players. Polig Montjarret and other Breton people got the idea because traditional Breton music (and way of life generally speaking) was fast disappearing after World War I. People in Brittany saw traditional music as ''old stuff'' like the language and   it was time to go forward and be as'' French'' as possible. If the Breton language managed to resist in some parts of the country the fashions from Paris were too strong and attractive for young people to ignore.
So in order to preserve what was left musicwise that group of young musicians organized workshops, musical events, published a lot of score books etc...  They also invented the ''bagad'' or band of bombardes, binioù bras and drums based on the Scottish pipe band model. They have succeeded beyond all hope; BAS still exists and Breton traditional music has been thriving ever since. 

The title of this LP refers to a song for the dance called laridé; bambocherion is in fact  the French word ''bambocheurs'' which refers to people who like good food and wine, who like to party. Breton sonneurs had this reputation to drink too much and live out of the ordinary way of life which was not true most of them being peasants or craftmen; but some of them were certainly free thinkers. 

As the text in French says it was very difficult to choose some couples of sonneurs because there are so  many excellent players. Seven of them were selected including musicians from Lower and Upper Brittany with a good choice of dances, melodies and marches. 

The cover is a picture of the memorial to the sonneurs of Plozenet. 

download.wav

Rétrospective du Trophée Per Guillou

 

RETROSPECTIVE DU TROPHEE PER GUILLOU

Bombardes et biniou de la Montagne

Chanteurs et musiciens de Bretagne n°9

---------

RETROSPECTIVE OF THE TROPHY ''PER GUILLOU''

Bombardes and binious of the Mountain

Singers and musicians from Brittany n°9

Dastum Kreiz Breizh, 1995, DAS-123

From this very good series we have here a sound sample of the state of couple musique in central Brittany recorded during the tenth anniversary of this trophy. These recordings were not supposed to be commercialized but Dastum thought it was relevant after all. Over the years other instruments  appeared in addition to the bombard-biniou but since Per Guillou was a ''sonneur'' it was decided that this tape would present bombarde-biniou music only.

Per Guillou (1933-1978) was one of the greatest musicians in his area and beyond. The area is what is called ar Menez or Mountain where the main dance is the gavotten danced in chains (before that it was danced in a circle) based on three parts gavotten/bal/gavotten hence the word ''suite''. Half of the programme here is made of ''suites'' along with five marches and only one melody or slow air.
Guillou who was first an accountant had finally given up this profession and became a sonneur with different partners including Yann Peron (see his LP posted earlier). He was very much appreciated and he played for dancing groups, fest noz, weddings etc.. He could also make instruments but using the old scale that was used by the ancient sonneurs he learned his music from. He also taught music to numerous young players over the sixties and the seventies. Everybody agrees to say that he had a major role in the preservation of the local culture while traditonal music was not as big as it is now. And this tape is a good example of this. 
Booklet in French.

download.wav

Clarinettes et anciennes danses populaires du Trégor

 

CLARINETTES ET ANCIENNES DANSES POPULAIRES DU TREGOR

Chanteurs  et musiciens de Bretagne N°5

CLARINETS AND OLD FOLK DANCES FROM TREGOR

Singers and musicians from Brittany N°5

Dastum Bro Dreger/Dastum , 1991, DAS-115

This is part of a special collection dedicated to some singers and musicians from various regions in Brittany that was isssued on cassettes only. Although of great value they were never reissued on compact disc. I already posted several of them here for that reason. But Dastum had decided recently to provide free access to this series on their site : https://www.dastumedia.bzh/
Of course it's in French and partly in Breton and you would need to create an account to access these documents; something maybe not easy if you don't speak French. So I decided to post the other tapes as well.
Here we have an excellent example of what could be the work of somebody who is a musician, a singer, a scholar and collector all at once. Bernard Lazbleiz (his surname means the wolf killer in Breton) is such a man knowing that he also speaks Breton and has been working on Breton culture for decades especially his native area the Tregor or Bro Dreger in Breton.
The music is great and the booklet in French is just perfect. Lazbleiz talks about the clarinet of course, an instrument that was quite in fashion for a century in numerous parts of Brittany often played in pairs like the bombarde and biniou formation. He talks about old players who maintained this tradition with difficulty until the 1950s; as soon as the 1920s just after the war the clarinet was les and less in demand as were the other traditional instruments and the music they provided as well. But during the folk revival in the 70s young people started to play the clarinet again; the music recorded here is mainly played by such revivalists and one musician born in 1932 Marcel Méhu. Bernard Lazbleiz sings and plays the box on sole tracks.
The second part of the booklet deals with dances that disappeared almost but that were also saved from oblivion by revivalists.
The last part deals with the musicians who took part to the recordings. 

download.wav

KOНЦEPTЫ B PEГИCTAHE '87

 

KOНЦEPTЫ B PEГИCTAHE

Tpeтий междуиародный музыковедческий симпозиум

САМАРКАНД-87

CONCERTS AT REGHISTAN

Third international musicological symposium

SAMARKAND-87

Melodiya, 1988,  S30 27145 002

It was important for the Soviet authorities to organise major cultural events, particularly musical ones, showcasing the traditional cultures of the peoples that made up the USSR. Leaving aside the purely political aspect, these meetings enabled artists to perform outside their republic and to record and for us it was an opportunity to listen to music that was still rare outside the Soviet Union at the time.
This third edition called on the republics of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Kirghizstan.
Side A has Kazakh dombra music, singing and one track by an instrumental ensemble.
Side B has three Turkmen and four Kirghiz items with singing, dutar, temir-komyz and chupo choor.
Of course this is ''soviet'' music with artists who had to perform within a certain framework; most of the pieces of music are compositions with some traditional stuff like a fragment of the epic song ''Korogly''.
Another disc I borrowed in Paris at the Soviet Cultural Centre in the late eighties.

 download.wav

AHTOЛOГИЯ KAЗAXCKOЙ ИHCTPУMEHTAЛHOЙ MУЗЫKИ (KЮИ)

 

                AHTOЛOГИЯ KAЗAXCKOЙ ИHCTPУMEHTAЛHOЙ MУЗЫKИ (KЮИ)

ANTHOLOGY OF INSTRUMENTAL KAZAKH MUSIC (KIUI)

Melodiya, 1969, GOST 5289-68/D025563-64 

This is the first disc of a series of eight on Kazakh traditional music in the Soviet period. Unfortunately I don't have the other seven albums. This one was borrowed during the eighties from the Soviet Cultural Center in Paris. I don't remember whether the whole lot was available. I didn't scan the cover either. So  the titles of the tunes are mentionned with the audio files.
To have an idea about the full content of this series check that site :

https://www.soundbarmusic.com/product-page/v-a-%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%85%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9-%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9-%D0%BC%D1%83%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B8-%D0%BA%D1%8E%D0%B8-box-set-8lp?srsltid=AfmBOoqmvtgqbnlG5kxSahLAJHRoOcIPtShMKzoHBIT-7MEfgWWurVQ_ 

There are no information about the dombra players or about the concept of''kiu''.  

download.wav

         

 

 

India I

 INDIA I 

A MUSICAL ANTHOLOGY OF THE ORIENT
Edited by the International Music Council under the direction of Alain Daniélou

Unesco Collection-Musicaphon Bärenreiter,  ?, BM 30L2006

This series about India has four albums made of recordings by A. Daniélou between 1949 and 1951 for this album. They are all supposed to have been reissued as CD by Auvidis or Rounder as read on some sites. But I never found any of them listed on the main platforms. So I'm posting them here until further notice.

Album I focuses on Vedic recitation and chant. A. Daniélou (1907-1994) wrote the presentation text. While he was considered as ''the specialist'' of Hinduism and Indian music between the 1930s and the 1960s in France, some musiclogists and musicians pointed out errors in his publications. Now many more recent works have a different approach and perception of Indian music. But I suppose most of the short introduction is reliable. He says that ''Vedic chant is probably the oldest known form of psalmody'' and thinks that this kind of chant has been preserved through very strict and complex teaching in spite of social changes and political events. But nobody knows for sure when this collection of texts has been drawn up; some say between 1900 and 1000 BCE, others 3500 BCE ...;  but although everything is written  the transmission has been orally done until now;   brahmans teach young children  through specific and very strict vocal techniques based on tonal stress, a unique way of pronouncing each letter, in order to keep texts unchanged.
Of course all this was based on the cast system that was praised by Daniélou who was much criticised on this subject.

Anyway it is an interesting document to listen to for this ''music'' long predates what is called Hindustani classical music and is believed to have been in practice even before the Aryans arrived in present India. Most of the Rig Veda is sung with three notes except for Sāma Veda which is considered more ''musical''. At least rhythm in Indian classical music is surely related to the Vedic Sankrit poetry.

 download.wav

LES MENESTRIERS

 

LES MENESTRIERS  DOMINO 

 Disque du Cavalier, 1973, BP 2003

This is the third album recorded by this French group founded in 1969 (see my other posts for more details).
Again, side A is dedicated to tunes and songs from Northern France between the 12th and the 15th centuries. Side B is more european with Renaissance dances from England, Italy and France.
Among the usual instruments they used we can hear the jew's harp on track 5 something that was new at the time among early music bands.

 

download.wav