Music at Gennetines

This page describes most of the CDs I've purchased at Gennetines — "Le Grande Bal de l'Europe"

It does not represent a comprehensive listing of the bands, of the music available, etc.

Of the CDs, I do have some favorites. These may have come about from the music, the mood, the novelty, of due to any number of other subjective criteria. "Your mileage may vary." Particular favorites include:

Basque Dance Music

KoKIN, 2001?
Modern arrangements of traditional Basque melodies, and some modern couples dances (Scottish, Mazurka, Valse). The opening track (a Scottish), includes scat singing in the Basque language, Track 9 (Nabil), is a lovely a capella Mazurka. Specific Basque dances include Fandango and Arin Arin, as well as two dances called in Basque by Agnès. Musicians: Agnès Perez (Ahots/Voice, Xirula/Flute, Txistu/Whistle, Xiribitu), Julie Mary (Ahots/Voice, Trikitiak/Diatonic Accordion), Thierry Biscary (Ahots/Voice, Whistle)
A Youtube video shows Angès and a partner demonstrating a Basque Fandango
This is my favorite of the Basque CDs I have so far.
Oskorri, 2011
Basque, CD+DVD combination release.
The liner notes, all in Basque, describe the music and videos. While the music may be old, the instrumentation is decidedly modern and non-traditional, including not only six- and twelve-string acoustic guitars, but also Nyckelharpa, electric mandoguitar, gaita, bouzouki, and uillean pipes! A partial translation of the notes: "All the dances are older tunes, collected by Juan Ignacio de Cid (1767-1845) and transcribed by dance master Pedro Albeniz (1795-1855), who was organist at Santa Maria."
Paxti Eta Batbiru: Dantza Piko, 2000
Includes both traditional Basque dances (Fandango, Arin Arin), French couples dances (Mazurka, Scottish), and four Basque called dances (Jauzia), with caller Patxi Perez.
Patxi Perez (txirula/flute, ahotsa/vocals), Agnè Perez (txirula/flute), Thierry Andiazabal (eskusoinua/accordion), Elisabeth Dufour (pandero/tambourine, Ttunttun, txirula/flute), Pantxo Camboulives (kitar apala/guitar), Marie Camboulives (flauta trabesera/flute)
The liner notes include descriptions of the tunes and dances, in French and Basque.
Paxti Eta Konpania: Euskal Urratsak, 2010
Includes traditional basque dances (Fandango, Arin Arin), French couples dances (Mazurka, Scottish), and Basque called dances (Jauzia), with caller Paxi Perez. Arrangements are more lush than on the previous CD, Paxti eta Batbiru, and perhaps a bit less playful, but still very good. The liner notes include all the calls for the called dance tracks.

English Bands

The Committee Band
One CD in my collection, dancemusic, 1997
"A large and powerful body — too complicated to itemize — who have gravitated from a diary-filler at Cecil Sharp House Knees-Ups to a first-choice, scene-stealing, headlining, barnstorming ceilidh Band." "dancemusic: tunes from all over the place, which we play for English country dancing. We mostly started playing traditional English music, but over the years we've picked up tunes from further afield — if it's a good tune we'll use it."
The album features 5 jigs, 3 polkas, 2 hopsteps, and one waltz.
Gas Mark 5
One CD: Guizers, 1994, "Urban Folk Dance Music."
I haven't listened to this one enough to have much in the way of specific comments. The album features 3 jigs, 2 polkas, 2 hornpipes, 1 set of reels, 2 sets of marches, one of slip jigs, and one "irregular" tune.
Gig CB!
"GIG CB! (The George Inn Giant Ceilidh Band), probably be biggest e-ceilidh (and euro-ceilidh) band in the UK, is a 12-piece Mind Blowing, Fun Loving, Music Jumping, Foot Tapping, Bottle Hugging Dance Band that will blow your socks off! Our distinctive sound and drive comes froma combination of a 3-piece brass section, massed fiddles, accordions, concertina, flute, mandola, and funky electric bass." The band includes alumni of two well-known English ceilidh bands, Gas Mark 5, and Rosbif!
Two CDs in my collection:
GIG CB!, 1998
A first recording, apparently produced on recordable CDs, rather than a real production run. Mind, recording seems to have finished only a month before I bought the disk, so perhaps I have a rare first-edition...
Music for bourrée, laridés, waltz, gavotte, in addition to English ceilidh dances.
Here Be Giants!, 2002
A more professionally-produced CD, with a tarantella, bourrées, laridé, rondeaux, polkas, gavottes, waltz, and a schottische, in addition to some ceilidh tunes.
Their web site has links for downloading the CDs for £7.00 each.

Traditional French dances

Accordzéäm
Music for dancing by young musicians who grew up with it: Michaël Bideault (diatonic accordeon), Jonathan Malnoury (guitar, oboe), Nathanaël Malnoury (bass), Raphaël Maillet (violin, musical saw)
These "kids" seem to have achieved some visibility, judging by the videos I find for them. I have one of their CDs, and downloaded another as MP3s:
Tapas: Le balbum (L'honneur de ceux qui le font, le bonheur de ceux qui l'ont — Musique du monde et d'ailleurs), 2009 Musiques du Monde et D'Ailleurs, "Le Balbum"
A first release, solid, showing off the skills of the young musicians, but the Start Wars medley and the Mario video game music seem a bit much.
Balneo: Musiques du Monde et D'Ailleurs, "Le Balbum 2"
This CD represents a playful combination of original compositions, and French dance arrangements of modern rock classics (by Sting, the Eagles, and The Beatles).
One can buy MP3s of both their albums at Amazon.com, searching for the name "accordzeam" (without the interesting diacritical marks).
Patrick Bouffard
"Rock Star" level Hurdy Gurdy Player
Several Albums in my collection:
Vielles & Cornemuses / Hurdy-Gurdies and Bagpipes. 1985
Trio Patrick Bouffard: revenant de Paris..., 1996
Rabaterie, 1997
Transcept, 2000
French Hurdy-Gurdy meets World Music
Force Mineur, 2010
La Chavannée
Citizen Camembert
I actually bought this band's CD ("Anchovy Cappuccino," 2000) from one of the musicians, while chatting at the Festival St. Chartier, which shortly preceeds Gennetines. These four English musicians play their original compositions for French dances. Despite my expectations that this CD was mostly just for the amusement of the musicians, it's actually pretty good. As far as I know, there's no connection to the 1966 movie character.
Les Quintet/Sextet á Claques
Two recordings, both among my favorites from the 2012 festival, and both available from the band's website. Most tunes, if not all, are original compositions. Teh band's website has sheet music ("partitions" in French) for many of them.
Les Quintet á Claques / La Marque Rouge
A double CD, full of music for dances from all over France: Scottish, Cercle Circassien, Gavotte, Plinn, Mazurka, Kost ar c'hoad, Rondeau, Chapeloise, Valse, Andro.
Les Sextet á Claques / La Marque Rose
A short CD, of only six tracks, all Mazurkas, all wonderful.
Stéphane Delicq
Late composer and player of the accordeon diatonique, known for some of the "swoopiest" French couples dance music, and for his waltzes, in 3/4, 5/4, 8/4, and 11/4 times.
Alas, Delicq's personal website seems to have gone away. (Some archive fragments exist here and here. The latter includes PDFs of three of the tunes, Vivre (Valse á 5 temps), Les Bas Noirs (Valse á 8 temps), and Les Yeux de Jeanne (Valse á 11 temps))
From an accordion forum, about Stephane Delicq: His style is unmistakable: Utterly French, minor keys, irregular meters, much use of thirds and sixths, strong melodies, rhythms you have to move to and a wistful bitter sweet mood. The tunes sound simple but are not easy to bring off. In his own playing there is no flashy virtuosity, just the finest expression and belows control you are ever likely to hear. That same poster lists an Italian site where sheet music for some of Delicq's compositions can be found. You can also find seveal of Delicq's tunes played on YouTube, and a listing of his four CDs, with samples, at Amazon.FR
Several CDs:
Aquarelles, 1993
A larger number of musicians than the other albums (accordeo, violin, cello, cornet, guitr, bass, and several varieties of flute.
La Compagnie des anges, 1999
61'50, with Stephane on accordeon, and others on bass, flute, violin, and alto.
La Discrete, 2001
My favorite, all compositions by Stephane Delicq, with the composer on accordeon, and others on violin, alto, clarinet, and trombone.
Douce, 2009
His last release, recorded live, with a number of tunes familiar from other albums, and familiar accompaniment by clarinet, violin, alto, and bass.
Les écoliers de St Genest
Emsaverien
Videos here, here, and here (all Breton tunes), and a French Wikipedia article (translated by Google) in addition to the MySpace page above.
Estrad
Féo
Powerful playing, Music for Traditional French Dances, of central France and Brittany: Polka, Hanter Dro, Cercle Mixer, Mazurka, Scottish, Valse, Bourree 2 & 3 temps, Kost as c'hoat.
This band played wonderul music for a workshop in "low-down, knuckle dragging, 3-time bourreés" at the festival in 2012.
Guerbigny, Benoit
Several CDs, in combination with a variety of other musicians:
Duel en Sol Majeur, 1998
(Duel in G-Major)
A live recording, with musicians Benoit Guerbigny and Christian Pacher, combining traditional melodies and original compositions.
Duo Guerbigny Thebaut, 2001
Les Pieds sur la Braise — Musiques à danser du Poitou
Music for the dances of the Poitou region of France, a collaboration of two musicians (Benoit Guerbigny & Robert Thébaut) and one dance leader (Jean François Miniot)
Trio Guerbigny, 2009
Les Pieds sur la Braise, Volume 2 — Musiques à danser du Poitou
More music for the dances of Poitou, this time with a trio of musicians: Gabriel Lenoir (fiddle), Benoit Guerbigny (accordeon), and Aurélien Tanghe (guitar).
Benoit Guerbigny en Compagnie — La Généreuse, 2006
The same combination of musicians: Gabriel Lenoir (fiddle), Benoit Guerbigny (accordeon), and Aurélien Tanghe (guitar). I don't have this CD, but see that it features music more typical of Central France, with only a bit of Poitou (mazurka, slow waltz, bourreé, Scottish, etc.)
Maluzerne
From Waterloo Records in Austin, not from the festival
Parasol, duo Godon-Thézé
Philippe Plard
From Le Mans, in central France
Solid playing of music for traditional dances of central France (Scottish, Mazurka, Bourree, Mixer, Chapelloise, Valse) and Brittany (An Dro, Hanter Dro), with several albums under his own name and that of his trio VAG (for Violin, Accordeon, Guitar). The VAG web site has not only information on the band (which played its last dance at Gennetines in July, 2007), but also sheet music ("Patritions") for some of the tunes.
Souffles de Vie
VAG, Complicités, 1999
VAG, Vos pieds ont des oreilles, 2002
VAG, Des sourires et des larmes, 2005
Rue Pascal
One CD: Poesie Urbaine
Shillelagh
This trio (Gabriel Lenoir, fiddle; Banjamin Macke, diatonic accordeon; Aurélien Tanghe, guitar) plays music for traditional dances of Central and Northern France (Bourree, Mazurka, Cercle Circassiene, Valse, Polka, chapeloise, Scottish), and, according to their web site, some music of Flanders.
danse sur l'eau, 2006
Germaine, 2009
Vagabond, 2013

I checked the Shillelagh web site, and see they have a new 2013 CD, and a couple of earlier CDs that I didn't manage to pick up. I may just have to investigate further... OK, I just ordered the newest one, and the previous one, both from the website for Bemol Productions. They cost €15 each, plus postage (two day, Le Post, no other choices).
Smitlap
When browsing the website for Bemol Productions, looking at the CDs for the band Shilelagh (above), I came across this live recording of music for the dancing of Central France (scottishe, bourrée, chapelloise, valse, mazurka, cercle, etc.).
Tan Ba'n Ty
One CD: Tomm Ruz, Music mostly of central Brittany (Laridé, Hanter Dro, An Dro, Gavotte, Rond de St-Vincent, etc.), with one Scottish and one Cercle Circassien. I didn't actually hear them at the festival, and picked up their CD on a semi-recommendation.
Villeux du Bournonnais
Wipidoup
Playing powerful music for Breton dances, this band features three musicians: Gildas La Buhé (vocals, saxophone), Régis Huiban (accordion, chromatic "accordina"), and Pierre Tardivel (bass, contrabass, luth ouvrier, bigouden 'goni), and on their third CD, a fourth: Philippe Gloaguen (guitars). Three CDs, all available on this web site:
L'Opium du Danseur, 2008
Music for Breton dances (Hanter dro, Plinn, Laridenn, etc.) and one Mazurka
L'Appel á la transe, 2010
All Breton music
Kailh a gorrion, 2011
More Breton music, with one waltz
Les Zéoles
Two young Parisiennes play accordion duets of their own compositions, sometimes accompanied by other excellent musicians. They have released two albums of recordings in their years of making music together:
Des papillons dans le ventre, 2009
I'm not sure whether to translate the title as "butterflies in the stomach", in the sense of nervousness, or if the title reflects more the opening and closing of the accordions as resembling butterflies. (Out of stock as of May, 2014.)
Sur Measure, 2011
In addition to their main web site, the also have a MySpace Page. You can also find a number of their tunes on YouTube, and videos of their performances for vairous dance events as well.

Music for German Dances

Aller Hop
One CD, full of Zwiefache, produced and released in conjunction with a collection of sheet music and lyrics for ALL the traditional Zwiefache, as collected by the foremost academic expert on the subject, Corina Oosterveen. (The book is "Zwiefache, 77 Taktwechseltänze aus Bayern, Franken, Schwaben, der Pfalz und dem Elsass. Noten, Beschreibungen, Historie," with notes and translations of the lyrics, in German, French, and English, available from Amazon.DE for €19.80.)
Querx
Berlin, Germany. Known best for modern Zwiefacher compositions, some with very challenging rhythm patterns. You can find out more on composer and violinist Cathrin Alisch
Zehn Zwiefacher, 1998
Early release, with only eight of the ten tunes, and missing some instrumentation
Zehn Zwiefacher, 1999?
Ten modern zwiefachers, all composed by fiddle player Cathrine Alisch
Blue Bal
A modern mix of traditional dance tunes, as played in Berlin

Music for Scandinavian Dance

Duo Tanghe Coudroy
This perhaps unlikely Accordion and Guitar duo from Rennes, Brittany, play mostly Swedish dance tunes, such as a Polska, Slangpolska, Waltz, with a few French dance tunes and circle mixers thrown in.
Oiseaux de Nuit, 2010
Hemma, 2013
The CDs are also available from the website for Bemol Productions.

Other dance music

Les Vagabonds De Gibolescu