Anyone knows of any resource on the web for French tunes?
a good book?
I’m sure Zoob will have a load, but here’s a start. We play some An Dros, Bourées, etc with the band…always well received at ceilidhs and concerts.
http://breizhpartitions.free.fr/p_bretagne.php
Trisha
thank you very much
i am really interseted in this music, but i really dont know about it…
i want to understand the way its played
any recommendations? good listening cd’s?
On a whim, I picked up a CD of French pipes and hurdy gurdy stuff by a group called Vielleux Bourbonnais. The CD was called “Vielles et Cornemuses”, or somthing like that.
Anyway, it’s just nicely arranged French pipe tunes from the central, rural regions of France. No synths, no guitars, the only stringed accompaniment is provided by the hurdy-gurdy player. The pipers use Cornemuses (French bagpipes) of various sizes and tunings to produce some very nice harmonies. It’s beautiful stuff, probably about as close to pure drop French folk music you’ll find without getting on an airplane.
There’s also this site:
http://www.tradfrance.com/
It has a lot of nice tunes.
Some Acadian tunes
Try anything by Jean-Michel Veillon (he plays flute).
For kicks, try Bagad Kemper, a crazy group from Quemper, Brittany. You can find those CD’s at http://www.tayberry.com/index.html
Good Luck!
You all were quicker on these excellent suggestions than I could.
Pat Cannady picked “on a whim” some of the best one can find, and he’s quite right about it being “pure drop”.
Please note the other “French” music answers refer all to Breton (Brittany) music, which is to France what Wales and Cornwall together are to England…
Brittany is a Gaelic country annexed by France through wedding, when she failed to conquer by wars 
As for truly French folk music, I’m really not knowledgeable. One would try “Provence” and “galoubet” keywords to search for Southern France whistle music. It’s mostly in G, played on overblowing whistles (i.e. tabor pipes).
Also, there’s a revived tradition of hurdy-gurdy, from the center of France. Search for “vielle à roue”. Of course one could also look for “musette” (an early ancestor of the Uillean pipe) but this would bring only accordion stuff using the heavy tremolo “musette” (=pipe) voicing. To avoid this, try “musette AND* cornemuse”.
- boolean +
ALL of these trad musics, musicians and instruments (including Brittany) are to be seen each mid-July at the St-Chartier Festival, devoted originally to droned instruments (i.e. mostly bagpipes and hurdy-gurdies).
This festival is half music, half ethnomusicology, and half luthiers’ trade fair.
As for mys sense of proportions, my avatar says it all. Well, I wish it said it all, but we’re in mixed company.
I could not insist too much on recommending St-Chartier to anyone interested in French trad music. And having a good time in one of the least-known French regions, if not by reading George Sand’s (Chopin’s cigar-smoking muse) novels.
Do read her Les Maîtres sonneurs (The Master Pipers) describing the cast of country musicians and their playing contests.
Seriously, though, that Vielleux Bourbonnais CD “Vielles et Cornemuses” is some of the loveliest music played by anyone from anywhere.