French Traditional Music on 78s
Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:18 am
Perhaps it's easier to collect things that other people aren't interested in. In 2010 I bought a damp box of 78s, before I had anything to play them on. Amongst them was one from Le Soleil label of a valse varsovienne that I happened to know. Since then I've been looking out for Le Soleil and other Trad records.
Le Soleil records in particular are interesting. The company was run by a Cabrette player from the Auvergne, Martin Cayla who also owned a record shop. It seems he was a performer on most of the records, although I haven't seen enough of them to be sure about that.
They're not an easy listen for the modern ear, and seemingly the performers don't make any concessions. What is interesting is that unlike so many of the records we have of old fiddle players and such that were tracked down by enthusiasts with recording equipment when they were in their declining years and persuaded to play - you know the sort of thing you read on record covers - "he was very reluctant to play and said he had athritis and hadn't played for thirty years, but in the end we persuaded him" - these records are of relatively young men at the height of their powers.
I've made up a short play list on youtube, which hopefully will get longer as I get more records and record the rest of the ones I have.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... Jww-C7Uh05
As I've said these records won't be everyone's cup of tea - probably very few, but these recordings are a little musical backwater that I'd not have been aware of without starting collecting 78s.
Le Soleil records in particular are interesting. The company was run by a Cabrette player from the Auvergne, Martin Cayla who also owned a record shop. It seems he was a performer on most of the records, although I haven't seen enough of them to be sure about that.
They're not an easy listen for the modern ear, and seemingly the performers don't make any concessions. What is interesting is that unlike so many of the records we have of old fiddle players and such that were tracked down by enthusiasts with recording equipment when they were in their declining years and persuaded to play - you know the sort of thing you read on record covers - "he was very reluctant to play and said he had athritis and hadn't played for thirty years, but in the end we persuaded him" - these records are of relatively young men at the height of their powers.
I've made up a short play list on youtube, which hopefully will get longer as I get more records and record the rest of the ones I have.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... Jww-C7Uh05
As I've said these records won't be everyone's cup of tea - probably very few, but these recordings are a little musical backwater that I'd not have been aware of without starting collecting 78s.