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BODÉNÈS-HAMON & INVITÉS - Daou Don Dañs

BODÉNÈS-HAMON & INVITÉS - Daou Don Dañs
Paker Prod CDPARKERPROD019

This is the debut release from long-term Breton collaborators, talabarder (bombard player) Steven Bodénès (penn-soner or conductor, of Bagad Kemper, Quimper’s pipe band) and bagpiper Sylvain Hamon (from Bagad Cap-Caval) with invited guests Rozenn Talec (vocals), Julien Le Mentec (bass guitar), Thibault Niobé (guitar) and Xavier Chavry (Scottish snare drum).

The nine songs and two instrumental pieces are arrangements of traditional music from Central Brittany’s répertoire ‘montagne’ - dances (gavottes especially), ballads and slow airs – thematically and musicologically sourced as an homage to the inspirational achievements of Erwan Ropars and his father Loeiz Ropars, an instrumental figure in the renaissance and subsequent development of the Fest Noz (communal night-time bal dance fête or festival event), now a fundamental part of Brittany’s contemporary culture.

Two tracks are traditional kan ha diskan (call and response) duet dialogues between, here, the double-reed woodwind bombard and pipes. The songs, using their supremely skilled accompanist invités, are arranged as sophisticated pieces comparable with the best of Breton progressive music. Crisp and propulsive rhythmic guitar work and markedly intelligent bass playing is adroitly interwoven with the leaders’ instruments and Rozenn’s rhythmically charged and fluent vocal skills.

The outcome is richly rhythmic and melodic, funkily syncopated and infectiously catchy. In essence, the whole is spiritedly imbued with that characteristically elemental feel and looping dynamism derived from the intricate interplay of voices and instruments interpreting and exploring the technique of kan ha diskan in ways that also serve to support the musical meters and patterns of the dance.

www.parkerprod.bzh

Kevin T. Ward


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This album was reviewed in Issue 115 of The Living Tradition magazine.