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Bourrasque - New style

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maugein96

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Every now and then a name appears that I had forgotten, and I often wondered where this young man, David Riviere, ended up after a stint of tuition with the late Maurice Larcange, way back in the 90s. 

Its great to hear younger players take the old standards and put their own stamp on them. 

Never heard an arrangement like this one. The influences of some older greats are in there, but the style is his own. Or rather was.

He has now joined the serious brigade with a big Italian box, complete with chin registers, and a poker straight face. Each to their own, but I like this rather light hearted take on one of the best known standards of French musette:-


Apologies to those who dont like the mile a minute treble runs, but CBA is like that. After you reach a certain stage its difficult to hold back on the speed (unless you get your beard caught in a chin register!)
 
Cool! Great playing. Thanks for this.
I like listening to button players because it gives me ideas to try things that aren't under my fingers on a PA. Usually I can't do them, but I try.....
 
Eddy Yates said:
Cool! Great playing. Thanks for this.
I like listening to button players because it gives me ideas to try things that aren't under my fingers on a PA. Usually I can't do them, but I try.....

Hi Eddy,

Like you mentioned before, PA and CBA have their relative strongpoints. 

I've been a lifelong listener to French musette, although I never played until I was in my early 30s. Too late a start for me, but others have succeeded. 

I can usually, but not always, tell when a PA is being used to play French musette standards. The scores of the earlier material almost invariably favour the CBA layout, and as many tunes were written by CBA players then it stands to reason that is the instrument of choice for most players.


Only PA player who made it big time into French musette in its heyday was the Italian, Louis Ferrari, although he managed to record a few big hits, such as Domino, which I would imagine would probably be easier on a PA than it is on CBA. Ferrari resolutely refused to perform in the Paris dance halls, favouring the more plush nightclubs. He also did not like French three voice musette tuning, and he and a whole load of Italian players led the way in ousting it in favour of swing tuning. Those French players who also switched from musette tuning tended to add just a bit of vibrato to swing tuning, until the accepted or "standard" French tuning became around 8 cents, which it still is to this day, using only two M reeds. 

You'll be aware that three voice musette tuning is still used by quite a few players in France, but if you look at instruments for sale in the accordion stores that are left, only the odd one will have full musette tuning. The overwhelming majority of instruments are three voice LMM. 

Glad you enjoyed the clip. A lot of members get fed up with my constant posts that involve CBAs, but in my line that's all there is.
 
I like this arrangement.
But I also like the arrangement by Yuri Ryzhov that my wife and I play as duo.
This piece just lends itself to endless variations!
 
Shand79MorinoMan pid=70124 dateline=1582579425 said:
John, It is bit like me and my Hohner Morino Shand Morino  3 Row Diatonic??  
Roy.

Hi Roy,

I think three voice musette will be safe enough in Scotland for quite some time, as the music doesnt really sound the same when played on any other register combination. Dont think there will be many 3 row players still around these days?

Our local accordion music was mainly sectarian marching bands, so most of us gave the accordion a miss on account of that. When I finally bit the bullet I opted for French musette, which meant CBA for the sake of authenticity.

Heres a tune that was known for a time in Ulster as Delhis Walls. Accordion with a twist. Probably couldnt get away with it these days, but here goes nothing (blame You Tube).  

 
Thanks for the clips, John!  :)
Both were excellent in their own way.
Bourrasque  is one I've been attempting to master for years: still at it :p
Thanks! :)
 
Dingo40 said:
Thanks for the clips, John!  :)
Both were excellent in their own way.
Bourrasque  is one I've been attempting to master for years: still at it :p
Thanks! :)

Hi Dingo,

Bourrasque was probably my late grandfather and father's favourite. Definitely far easier on a CBA, and I've heard a lot of PA (and CBA) players struggle with it. All of the big name French and Belgian players devised their own variations on it, and scarcely any two players played it the same way. I can manage it OK, but it's not one of my best efforts, even although I've been listening to it for over 60 years. 

I discovered the Belfast clip when I was reading up on the trolleybus system there. I had heard the tune before, as I'm sure it was recorded by a bunch of guys from Belfast decades ago. Politically incorrect doesn't really cover it, as there is a whole lot more to it for those who live with sectarianism on a daily basis. 

Basically, Roman Catholic schools only accepted people of that faith, and those of all other religions had to attend the state run "protestant" schools. With the influx of immigration in the 50s and 60s, Northern Ireland and a large chunk of the west of Scotland therefore received a substantial increase in the number of "protestants" from Asia and the Caribbean. The tune alludes to the plight of a Muslim in Belfast realising he has become a protestant whether he likes it or not, and having to work as a door to door salesman because employment opportunities for immigrants were rare. He was, however, as a new British Citizen, entitled to claim unemployment benefit, at the expense of the state (his peddling job selling ladies underwear had to be kept secret). The "Buroo" was the old fashioned Ulster and West of Scotland slang word for the Unemployment Bureau, who "doled" the benefit money out.

Hope that solves the riddle of the lyrics. 

Glad you enjoyed the clips, and yes the two man bus crews were of the same religion as each other. You'd need to live with it to understand the situation.
 
debra said:
I like this arrangement.
But I also like the arrangement by Yuri Ryzhov that my wife and I play as duo.
This piece just lends itself to endless variations!

Paul,

Never heard a duet version, and as you say there are endless variations. My late uncle taught me to play it on electric guitar, so I suppose I had my own variation before I began the accordion.
 
Delhi’s Walls.....kind of an illustration of yer muzet tunin’, innit? I mean, the bass is out of tune with the accordyun, and the singer’s outta choon wit everybody.
 
Eddy Yates pid=70135 dateline=1582644400 said:
Delhi’s Walls.....kind of an illustration of yer muzet tunin’, innit? I mean, the bass is out of tune with the accordyun, and the singer’s outta choon wit everybody.

Eddy,

I forgot to mention that other popular tendency here to want to sing Country and Western music. The faux American accents are to die for (the sooner the better). 

Irish and British clubs are often the places to be for a great night, but they probably arent for music lovers. 

Stone cold sober performers are very sought after, such as here:-


Makes all the difference when you get the chance to hear a real pro. He has quite a large cult following in the area where I lived as a boy, and theres a vacancy for an accordionist in his band if you fancy a career change. Anybody in the audience who was born after 1950 gets in free.

Dont worry about the tuning or pitch, as they are unnecessary complications.
 
Dingo40 pid=70146 dateline=1582673059 said:
Heres another by David Rivière :)


Hi Dingo,

Dont think there is a track on that album I dont like.

He was one of many youngsters who Maurice Larcange took under his wing in an effort to give the accordion and the musette style a much needed shove in the 90s. He was pretty much eclipsed by Eric Bouvelle, a player Ive never really cared for, and Domi Emorine, who turned to classical soon afterwards. 

Ive learned from French people I know that most musette fans these days are foreigners like myself, probably captivated by all the romantic notions of a faux Paris that are foisted on us by TV and films. A fantasy world for dreamers (like myself), as I still dream that I am a decent player!

Ive been to France a few times, but never cared much for Paris at all, and never heard an accordion any time I was there. My friend Jean Mace, a Parisian, reliably informed me that French musette died in 1968 (think he must have been at the funeral). He is also passionate about the accordion, but prefers Flaco Jiminez to anything Gallic. He expanded on his choice of listening by saying that he has a few old vinyl LPs of French musette, that he has as keepsakes, but reckons he would be too embarrassed to play them these days! 

I think there may be more musette bands in Japan than there are in France these days.

 
John,
Great clip! :)
Quite an authentic performance, in my opinion  :)
I've noticed a penchant for vintage western music among our Asian brethren, including a pretty impressive capacity for trad jazz :)
Thanks for your interesting insights! :)
 
Dingo40 said:
John,
Great clip! :)
Quite an authentic performance, in my opinion  :)
I've noticed a penchant for vintage western music among our Asian brethren, including a pretty impressive capacity for trad jazz :)
Thanks for your interesting insights! :)

Dingo,

From a nitpicker's point of view, it was a little fast and not many players would play that number on three voice musette, but he's a decent player nevertheless, and better than I could manage. 

I've come across quite a few French musette bands all over the globe, but few of them bother to go the whole hog with French CBAs. The accordion in the clip is an Italian Fratelli Crosio, but was probably assembled in Crosio's factory in Paris.
 
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