Hi pipers!
I’d like to tell you that you can download for free our album “musique artisanale” for a few days.
The major part of the disc is made of french tunes played on french pipes and accordion, but there are a few sets with uilleann pipes.
I hope you’ll enjoy it, and share it!
It’s there: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/58494921/Duo%20Lagrange%20Rutkowski%20Musique%20artisanale.zip
You can join us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/DUO-LAGRANGE-RUTKOWSKI/286567298036813
Thanks in advance for your interest!
Gael
The last track is gorgeous. Thank you very much for sharing your hard work with us.
Excellent music. I love both pipes and the chromatic button accordion; I love both French and Irish music either. I’ve just uploaded your tunes on my mobile phone. Both of you are virtuoso musicians, and I have been watching your youtube videos for a long time.
Thank You! Miklos
Excellent! Thank you!
Richard
Thanks for your words guys, that’s nice!
Regards!
I cannot stop listening to your music! It was in San Diago, US where I first heared French music played by a buch of fine/excellent musicians from Los Angeles: I was shocked how lively and joyful French music is.
Anyhow, I have a couple of questions:
(1) The Scottish d’Armagh and Scottish du bayou tunes are perfect reels to my ear. Are these your compositions? I’ve learned that you had learned music from masters of the Morvan region, too. Is the scottish played in the Morvan region like these “reels”?
(2) You play the tunes Ness Pipers, Jarlath’s Reels and the Fourth Floor on your French pipe set in G, do you? This recording sounds as a piper from Cape Breton; amazing.
(3) I think that some of the best pipe makers of the world are from France: Alain Froment (RIP), Bernard Blanc. Who are the makers of your wonderful sounding pipe sets?
(4) I’ve seen on youtube videos that you are playing French music for dancers regulary. Do you play Irish music for Irish set or step dancing events/workshops? I think because you are playing for dancers/dancing regularly, this gives your music the lift I like so much.
(5) Are you related to the fine accordion maker and excellent musician Tania Rutkowski?
(6) You do not play jigs, do you?
One last comment: you (Gael Rutkowski) play both mouth and bellows blown pipes with high virtuosity just like some of my friends: Richard Patkos, Mick Loos and the great Fred Morrison.
Thank You,
Miklos
well done lads, bravo les mecs!
Dear Miklos, I’ll try to give you some answers to your questions.
So yes, these tunes are composed by us, and yes they sound like reels (perhaps because we love irish music), the french dance called “scottish” is based on the same rythme than reels but played usually a bit slower. In the Morvan and in central France in general these scottishes are really famous for dancing.
Yes this tune set is played on my G French bagpipes, the sound is a bit different than the other sets of the cd because I used an other reed for the recording. It may sound like Cape Breton,perhaps because it’s Scottish music with a bit of French touch…
My French set in G is a student 16 inches bagpipes made by Bernard Blanc.
My 3/4 uilleann set is made by Hunter/Lawrence from Bradford UK with a chanter I made myself with a design I based between Williams and Froment chanters. It’s the first chanter I made, and I really love it!
Yes we often play French music for dancers. We used to play sometimes for Irish dancing but it’s not really usual. The fact that we play music for dancing may give us a kind of “swing”…
Yes, she’s my sister!
In the Morvan, there are no dances in 6/8 but we often play irish jigs for dancing a set called “cercle circassien”, a very popular set in folk dance events.
I hope that will help you.
Many thanks for your interest!
Do you make your own reeds for your Blanc chanter?
Excellent! I guess you make your own Irish chanter reeds, too.
Very interesting. Most folk music scientists are sure that jigs came to Ireland from France via England. The Irish then preserved jigs in their every day music and dances. In the meantime jigs are not danced any more in France: honestly, “cercle circassien” is so common and poular everywhere, just like “ducks/chicken dance” that I would not regard it really traditional French folk dance, but maybe I am completely wrong.
Thank You,
Miklos
Yes Miklos, I make reeds for french pipes and for irish pipes too.
But the reed I play in my uilleann chanter was made 10 years ago by a friend and I just put inside the chanter I made and it works like this! Uilleann reeds I made after, works on it but are not as good as this one!
Concerning the circassian circles, I’m pretty sure too that’s not really a traditionnal thing and much more a “folk” invention. But I’m not really good on dances history…
Wow, such a great album available for free! I liked all the tracks but the last one has something special. Wonderful!
Excellent recording, really nice. Lot of thanks.
Lovely stuff. Thanks for posting it. It’s great to listen to something just a little different from my usual diet of trad Irish.