Thinking of touring Europe this summer and came across this. Although camping is free it seems expensive to get in. Anyone here visit before and can say how good it is
Saint Chartier Traditional Music Festival***
When:12 - 15 Jul 2007 (annual)Where:Saint ChartierCost:5-day pass €110; under 12s free
Day pass €10-€45Opening Hours:10am-late
Unusual folk instruments played at Saint Chartier FestivalThe Saint Chartier Traditional Music Festival takes place every year south of Orléans in the Berry region. Visitors can enjoy traditional folk music from around the world in the grounds of the beautiful Saint Chartier chateau.
The festival attracts instrument-makers from all over Europe to play and exhibit their unusual, often forgotten, folk instruments and is one of the only places to see such a wide-ranging collection. Hurdy-gurdies, bagpipes and diatonic accordions are among the items on display. Musicians meet under the trees, on stages, in cafés and the village streets. The buzzing atmosphere welcomes children.
In the evening, thousands flock to the main stage (Scène Gaston Guillemain) at the chateau (with a capacity of 5000) to hear concerts by masters of traditional music from around the world. There are also dance parties late into the night in the village square of La Chatre.
Bring your tent - camping is free during the event
It is very good. Chris Bayley and I go every year. This year the Vallely brothers are playing on the Saturday on the main stage. As well as the formal concerts there are lots of impromptu sessions around the site, usually associated with food or beer as you might expect There are a fair number of pipers in attendance, last year there must have been 15 or so strolling around the park. You also get interesting combinations of instruments thrown together, to accompany the dancers in the festival and in the local village, and quite often they work well!
Food is plentiful and not too expensive, wine or cider is cheap, there are two sorts of beer; Kronembourg which is crap, so drink Grimbergen, which is only 10c more and 50% stronger*. Dont expect to get much sleep over the 4 days, concerts go on until 1.30 a.m. and then sessions take over. If you need to use the toilets, try and go in the first two days…
France is the most bagpipe-crazy country in the world, with over 200 different types of bagpipes from just the St. Chartier region alone. If you like pipes, hurdy-gurdies, and all sorts of other acoustic folk instruments from the last few centuires, this is definitely the place to be. You will probably learn more, and make more contacts there, than you could in a decade anywhere else. I’ll be there as soon as I win the lottery.
Local types Berry and surroundings adds up to around a dozen
Some are named after the region they are found in eg Berry, Bourbonnaise, Nivernaise and others by their makers Bechonnet, Dechaud, Lardy, Meillet. Most famous (old) maker of the local speciality often highly decorated with inlaid pewter is Jean Sautivet. Adjoining regions - Auvergne - the Cabrette and from the Limousin the Chabrette
…and to make this Uilleann related there will be several makers of Uilleann Pipes at the festival including Hevia, Bouge, Proux, Swayne (Pastorals) and myself.
It is a great festival if you like bagpipes and hurdy gurdys and as Mike says above there are sessions everywhere going almost continuously.
Facilities on the festival campsite are minimal but there are a number of private and municiple ones nearby. For those using the fields at the festival then it should be noted that it is advisable to leave before they come to empty the toilets especially if it is as hot as usual
One of the French pipe players there said something like “over 150 types”. There are single chanter, dual chanters, there are different drone lengths and drone configurations, they are made in many different keys. I don’t know what other attributes he was using to differentiate the many types.
Its been a while since I watched that film. He was in a group that would play four or five different types of pipes all at once, in various complimentary keys. It was a unique sound.
Yes it is almost like classifying a B uilleann set as a different species to the Bb or C
To add confusion the central french cornemuse is described by it’s length in pouces (27.77mm) and also by using solmisation i.e. Sol (G) 16p whereas the Cabrette is in cms i.e. a no 39 (390mm in length)
No, he was serious! There are a lot of makers who go in for historical sets - Dominic Bouge for one. He usually brings a dozen different types of French pipes, and don’t forget there are makers (and players) from all around Europe and Africa. They tend to bring their own local specialities with them.
Thank You Chris! Very good example. That’s what I thought. According to the French typology the Irish may have up to 1500 different types of pipes, since it’s very rare to see two exactly the same Uilleann sets: maker, key style, metal, half, 3/4 full sets, pitch, scallopped, etc.
Miki
A massed band of these being taken for an outing through the chateau grounds is an impressive site
The Musee at Montlucon (35 miles) used to be well worth a visit with a floor dedicated to mostly French Pipes with examples of most well known ones and a number of unique ones. A further floor was dedicated to the Hurdy Gurdy. The collection is mostly that of a French Antique dealer. It also contained the workshops of several makers which was interesting as it gave an insight into what the 19th C maker used by way of lathes. Unfortunately it has now been mothballed and only a small proportion of it is on view.
And to keep this to related to the topic - Taupe - If you are definately coming then pm me your email address / phone number and will see if we can arrange to meet up and get you onto the makers site which has better facilities. I am leaving on the 10th and will have Mike Hulme and my eldest with me.
There are a fair number of pipers in attendance, last year there must have been 15 or so strolling around the park. You also get interesting combinations of instruments thrown together, to accompany the dancers in the festival and in the local village, and quite often they work well!
