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VARIOUS ARTISTS
Inevitably, comparisons are being drawn cially when one considers that the albums
between this set and the Topic Voice Of The come in a 10-CD coffret set intended to be
France – Une Anthologie Des Musiques
People series that is twice its size. The main sold together, but it is virtually the only crit-
Traditionnelles: Vol. 1 Bretagne; Vol. 2
difference should be obvious from the listing icism that one could level at what is a truly
France De L’Ouest; Vol. 3 Auvergne Et
of the album titles above: the French series amazing collection.
Limousin; Vol. 4 Centre France; Vol. 5
has sorted their music by regions, seven from
The Breton album makes an ideal opener
Sud-Ouest; Vol. 6 Méditerranée; Vol. 7
mainland France, one from Corsica, one cov-
Alpes, Nord Et Est; Vol. 8 Corse; Vol. 9
as it is amongst the strongest in the set. As
ering the French-speaking areas of North
France D’Outre-Mer; Vol 10 Français
with The Voice Of The People, it falls to an
America and the other covering some of the
D’Amérique (Frémeaux & Associés FA 5260)
impressive female voice to provide the open-
Francophone areas of the world. This division
ing song. Here it’s Antoinette Perrouin with
This interesting company has a massive cata-
makes sense in that regional French tradi-
the lovely complainte, Approchez Pour Enten-
logue of mainly French-language releases of
tional music shows more differences overall
dre. Les Sœurs Goadec are included, of course,
all types. Some very fine French Canadian
than its British equivalent. Certainly, the
and they finish the album, rather untypically
releases of their folk and traditional music
strong regionalist movements that have
for them with a call-and-response pach pi
have come my way. Now, they have compiled
developed in various parts of France would
song for dancing. In fact quite a high propor-
a 10-CD set of nearly 300 recordings made
want to see it that way as they have cited
tion of the album is of this kan ha diskan (call
between 1900 and 2006 to reflect the diversi-
their local traditions as strong evidence of
and response) singing. The dance music instru-
ty of the French tradition. The editing and
their distinctive cultural and sometimes lin-
mental playing also has this repeated phrase
compiling job has gone to Guillaume Veillet,
guistic separateness. Patrick Frémeaux
quality that is so typical of Breton dance
the music journalist and former editor of Trad
emphasises this in his introduction to the
music. With 8 of the 27 tracks on this volume
magazine who has already put together
series by saying that the series “allows this
devoted to instrumental playing, including
quite a number of French music albums for
collective memory which crosses the genera-
the characteristic biniou and bombarde com-
the Rough Guide series. The distinctive cover
tions and allows us, at this time of universali-
bination, beautifully played here by Benjamin
designs are by Robert Crumb.
ty and standardisation, to affirm for each
Guigueno and Louis Le Blond, it’s evident that
The definition of what constitutes
one of us a heritage conducive to our identi-
the Breton compilation is going to feature a
‘France’ must have occupied Veillet’s mind.
ties” [my translation].
higher proportion of dance music. In the mid-
The boundaries are not purely linguistic
One criticism that could be levelled at dle of the album comes a gwerz; if it were
because there are 20-odd languages heard both of these great compilations is that the possible to award ‘World Heritage Site’ status
here, from regional ones of the mainland to introductory notes are repeated on each of to recordings then one would need to be
Corsican, to the languages of the overseas the albums. For this series the opening given to Marie-Josèphe Bertrand for her
territories. Within Europe, he sometimes notes by Veillet – excellent though they may exquisite singing of Skolvan, the outstanding
strays into Belgium, Switzerland and Italy to be – take up 6 pages of the 24 pages of each item of the whole series, standing out even in
include French-language recordings. of the booklets. This is disappointing, espe- this exalted Breton company.
Louise Reichert (1896-1985), a traditional singer from the Auvergne region, at the Pons folk festival in 1973.
r
ight.
Photo: collection of Catherine Perrier and John W
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