A while ago, before getting hooked and obsessed by the octopus, I thought UPs were difficult to find… I recently developped another fixation, this time on the biniou kozh (a small bagpipe from Britanny). No, no, you need not be alarmed, the biniou’s venom was not as strong as the one from the octopus, so UPs still have the upper hand in my heart.
Anyway, biniou ARE difficult to find. You can get a few email addresses but few responses and well constructed websites are almost inexistant… Any of you have good contact with someone making / selling biniou ? A good website ? Anybody having a biniou to sell ? Thanks.
NoE, thanks for the fair warning. Ah, the biniou, the bagpipe that your mother warned you about…
But I have to say that I am somewhat immune to britanny’s little earpiercing thing (yes I have heard it from up close, alone as well as in Bagads (traditional bands from Britanny)). My wife’s family is from britanny, so some of the venom has already worked as a vaccine… What’s a little biniou when you can live with a woman from britanny By the way, my wife say I’m crazy to play that, that thing with the bellows and too many tubes on it!
But seriously, some very interesting music comes from Britanny. Aquired taste, maybe, but nonetheless quite a special celtic groove… You can sometimes hear some tunes from britanny on the UPs, some Lunasa stuff for example. Sounds cool.
You bet they bite! I even heard from an old men from Britanny that they sometimes hunt in pair with bombardes… Can you imagine… Fighting little things they are. I was also told that their weapon of choice is their highest note… They strike that and the prey dies…
Are you sure you heard biniou-koz (small biniou) in a Bagad? Maybe you mistake with the bombarde, or were mistaken by the name: the biniou they play in bagads is the biniou-braz (big biniou), the local name for the GHB.
I used to play the biniou-koz but had to stop, not that much because of angry neighbours, but because I found no “talabarder” (bombarde’s player) to play with in Japan.
Anyway, some Bretagne tunes sound very good on the uilleann-pipes too
When learning the bombarde or biniou, many teachers employ the term “chevrement” (“goaty”) to describe the sound their students should attempt to attain.
As far as I am aware, however, there is no connection between binious and llamas…
Thanks all for the inputs and the pun A few points: Felix, you are right, with the bagad you usually hear the biniou braz (GHB) with the bombarde and the batterie (drums). But a few years ago there was a big celtic summer here in Quebec and we had the chance to see and hear a very good bagad (I can’t remember if it was Nantes or Quimper… The beer was kinda flowing you see… ) But anyway, their show was a mix of full bagad tunes, songs, stories and duets with biniou kozh and bombarde (by the way, I’m not sure, but I think kozh means old, not small…). That’s when I had the chance to hear the biniou kozh up close.
As for the makers, if anybody should ever be interested, here is some info I gathered (not much, but…):
Yvon Le Coant. Maker from Britanny. Biniou in G, A, Bb, in ebony, buis and bois de viollette (don’t know the english name for the last 2). 610 euros (approx 760 USD) www.lecoant.com
Michael Mac Harg (The Wee Piper), US pipemaker: G biniou Kozh.
One example is of Mexican kingwood,
purplish in color, one of the best rosewoods. All mounted in moose
antler. Single drone. $ 800.00 USD + ship/ ins./ hdl.
Again, thanks all for your help. Oh and by the way, a good old band from Britanny, Tri Yann (the three johns) have a new album out called Marines (as in french les marines (the navies), not the beach hurling guys…)
Martin:
You are right, biniou koz means “old bagpipes”. Au temps pour moi. By the way, do you know if the writing is “koz” or “kozh”? I found the two of them but no way to figure which is the right one (or if the two are right).
I’ve also heard that if the biniou koz and the bombarde are so loud, it’s because they are meant to be heard in fest-noz, where in old days people were dancing with wooden shoes; but it may be just a legend.
I bet a biniou chanter would be a no-brainer to make yourself. You’ll feel like a no-brainer after playing the thing for a while too! SCREEEEEEE!
I was told biniou chanters were made after unsucessfully trying to make longer vouze chanters, also. Maybe another myth.
Well, I play GHB in a Breton Bagad, and I can give you some explanation:
the biniou is played together with the bombarde in dance airs
you’re probably right when you say you heard a biniou played in a bagad; the music played by bagads is mainly dance music, and transition or introduction are often played in couple by a biniaouer (biniou-player) and a talabarder (bombarde player) to make a break in the dance.
If you buy a biniou, remeyou need to find somebody playing bombarde.
I’ve seen koz and kozh a lot as well and have seen both Breiz and Breizh too. It may take a speaker of Brezhoneg to help us out there.
Hervieux & Glet is the top name in bombardes and binious. I believe flute-maker Gilles LeHart makes excellent binous and bombardes as well.
Even though bagadoù are primarily pipes, bombardes, and drums, biniou kozh is very often featured as phcook pointed out. Solo biniou may not seem like a great idea but Patrick Molard pulled it off nicely on the Second Grand Concert of Piping CD. Patrick is also a brilliant interpreter of Breton music on the UP. He and other top names in Breton music (Jean-Michel Veillon, Christian LeMâitre, et al.) had a nice little band called Pennou Skoulm in which Patrick played mostly UP.
By the way, my wife say I’m crazy to play that, that thing with the bellows and too many tubes on it!
Are you sure you heard biniou-koz (small biniou) in a Bagad? Maybe you mistake with the bombarde, or were mistaken by the name: the biniou they play in bagads is the biniou-braz (big biniou), the local name for the GHB.
A few points: Felix, you are right, with the bagad you usually hear the biniou braz (GHB) with the bombarde and the batterie (drums). But a few years ago there was a big celtic summer here in Quebec and we had the chance to see and hear a very good bagad (I can’t remember if it was Nantes or Quimper… The beer was kinda flowing you see… 
) But anyway, their show was a mix of full bagad tunes, songs, stories and duets with biniou kozh and bombarde (by the way, I’m not sure, but I think kozh means old, not small…). That’s when I had the chance to hear the biniou kozh up close.
Oh and by the way, a good old band from Britanny, Tri Yann (the three johns) have a new album out called Marines (as in french les marines (the navies), not the beach hurling guys…)