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Leaving aside Brittany, the second album and danced by Gypsy visitors to the unique
covers a vast tract of land from the Belgian festival at Saintes-Maries-De-La-Mer. Ven-
border to the Gironde estuary, all lumped dors’ street cries from Marseille, mouth music
together under the title of West France. Gen- for a procession, church bells and a brass-and-
erally this collection does not generate as snare-drum carnival band all contribute to
much interest or excitement as the previous making this album the most varied of the
volume, but we are introduced to an ensem- whole set and the one that takes the broad-
ble de trompes de chasse which makes a est view of the tradition.
mighty and pleasing sound as do the three
Alpes, Nord Et Est is something of a
voices pushing out La Violette Double to the
catch-all album to take in the rest of main-
accordeon accompaniment of Julien Saupault.
land France with areas that border Germany,
Again, more than a quarter of the album is of
Switzerland and the Benelux, areas neglected
instrumental dance music, some of it played in
by collectors suggests the booklet, plus some-
a pretty straightforward way by musicians
thing to reflect the huge bal musette scene
who sound as though they are functional
and where the music of Auvergnat Parisians
dance musicians, though Aimé Bozier sounds
was merged with that of Italian immigrants
like a fiddler with a lovely attacking style and
and Gypsy musicians. It even strays into Bel-
if the accordionist Lucien Allard sounded like
gium to offer some children singing in
that when he was more than 90 years old,
French. Possibly because of this wide variety,
what must he have sounded like in his prime.
this is the most accessible album of the set
The outstanding track, however, is the hurdy-
and if this music is new to you, this may well
gurdy duet Air De Maraîchine by Gustave
be the volume to go for. It features some fine
Mandin and Michel Kerboeuf.
singing and to these ears, the French accents
As we get to the Auvergne, Limousin and somehow seem most easily accessible here.
Central France, we come to areas that are There is a cumulative song and the universal
noted for the strength and power of their theme of Les Misères Du Mariage is sung very
dance music and this is reflected in Volume 3 appealingly by Philomène Gehlen. There is
where half of the CD is taken up by instrumen- also some strong instrumental playing includ-
tal dance music, and even when the likes of ing the fascinating épinette des Vosges and
Louise Reichert is singing, she does so rhythmi- the tremendous cabrette bagpiping of
G. Rivière & A. Bonnaud, Central France,1930s
cally to the tune of a well-known bourrée. Antoine Bouscatel with vielle and accordeon.
As you might expect from an album that So we leave mainland France and make
are restricted to Cajun Louisiana and Que-
takes in the Bourbonnais and Berry regions, our next stop on Corsica where the mighty
bec. Well, the superb concluding selection
there is some excellent dance tune playing on emotional impact of the intense, highly deco-
also includes recordings made in New
Volume 4 on a range of instruments and fea- rated singing is waiting for us. Much of this is
Brunswick, Wisconsin, Prince Edward Island
tured are fiddle, cornemuse, accordeon, vielle in the various forms that religious and secular
and Nova Scotia. It is those two major Fran-
à roue, harmonica and the piston, a sort of polyphonic singing takes in the island and the
cophone areas that dominate, however, and
hautboy or rustic oboe, occupying about a number of recent recordings shows that this is
there is some exquisite stuff amongst them.
half of the album. The lovely firm, functional still thriving. Obviously this singing owes a
Personal preference has meant that a lot of
fiddle playing of Jean-Marie Jarillot stands debt to the extensive and varied work of the
time has been spent enjoying the exquisite
out amongst these, but actually this is an musicologist Félix Quilici and much use is made
Cajun items: Bois Sec Ardoin recorded with
album where the singing makes a big impres- of his recordings. However, aside from voices
Canray Fontenot would take some beating
sion. Marcel Thibault and Juliette Pearron in harmony, there is still much else to enjoy in
in any company; these ears were really tick-
both have fine singing styles but it is the gen- this album: particularly the impact of a lamen-
led by the Balfa Brothers’ lovely song in
tle approach of Andrée Duffault that lingers tu sung by Pierre Grimaldi, another perfor-
waltz time to the melody associated with
in the mind afterwards. Then there is Sylvain mance that stands out amongst the huge
the Scots whaling song, Farewell To Tarwait-
Robin: his forceful Briolée Aux Bœufs, a song number in this whole project. Other delights
he and a 1928 recording of Joe & Cléoma
of encouragement to draught animals, is like include a group of women singing chants élec-
Falcon. Just three years later in Montreal,
nothing heard elsewhere. toraux; there is so much to be learned and
Isidore Soucy and Donat Lafleur recorded
Volume 5 covers a vast area from the
savoured from these wonderful albums.
outstanding fiddle and melodeon duets and
Spanish border to the Rhône in the west and Most geographically and musically
one is included here. Other very fine Canadi-
the Garonne in the east with a lot of the Occi- diverse of all is Volume 9 with recordings
an tunes come from fiddlers Jean Carignan
tan areas represented. As might be expected, from the French-speaking areas of the West
and Delphine Arsenault.
the extensive collecting work done by Daniel Indies, Guyana, Polynesia, La Réunion and The compilers of Voice Of The People
Loddo of La Talvera is included in this. Some Mayotte (nothing from Francophone West had the vast Topic archive to base their collec-
of his items might be considered a bit unusu- Africa). Guillaume writes, “It is a seemingly tion on; the main source here is the Federa-
al: imitations of bird noises, a woman calling impossible task to devote a single record to tion Of Associations Of Musics & Traditional
her farm animals and elsewhere on this vol- presenting an insight into the music forms in Dances (FAMDT), though other regional
ume there is an unexceptional fife and drum such a vast heterogeneous ensemble where sources are credited and some of the material
band, but then the whole series takes a each territory has its own peculiarities.” Just appeared originally on 78rpm discs. Not all
broader view of what constitutes the tradition imagining compiling such a selection makes the collectors are French and one can see the
than its British counterpart, with church bells, the brain ache, yet there is plenty here of name of Hugh Shields amongst them.
drumming for rituals and some short descrip- great interest. The seven items from Guade-
Twelve years ago, when I was reviewing
tive interviews included. Again there is a high loupe are enough to show that here is a rich
the Voice Of The People albums, I found it
proportion of instrumental dance music fea- and varied tradition; the band playing a syn-
extremely difficult to stop listening to the
tured on around one-third of the 35 tracks. copated quadrille figure Le Pantalon are
albums and actually write something about
The best playing is of a schottische, L’Aiga De exhilarating, particularly the part played by
them; there was just so much to enjoy in
Ròcha, on a couple of accordeons, whilst the the accordeon. The style of the clarinet play-
them and learn from them. It has been the
lovely melodies associated with the Occitan ing from Martinique would fit perfectly the
same with this anthology. However, I have
songs stand out amongst the vocal tracks. role in New Orleans jazz. There is some lovely
already missed one deadline, so I’d better
The area of the south-east covered by
sega from Réunion and even the morning
conclude this whilst realising that if I had six
Volume 6 is much smaller than the previous
sounds of the Amazonian forest in Guyana.
months to consider this, I might have fully
one though there is a slight overlapping. We The learning process mentioned above
absorbed what is on offer here.
hear some localised dance rhythms like the returns with the final volume of North
rigodon and the farandole and some lovely American recordings. Many readers will
Distributed by Discovery in the UK:
singing in bourrée dance time by Marie-Vic- share with this reviewer the impression that
www.discovery-records.com
toria Chazel. There is even a soleares played the French-speaking areas of that continent Vic Smith
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