The mandoline in France

[chadoogie]

There are more French mandoline people than we can see on the Google map...
Some examples: FESTIVAL DE CASTELLAR east of Nice
LUNEL close to Montpellier
RODA DE CHORO (Aix en Provence) etc etc...
I am also interested in updating this kind of map... specially in French South East
Alain

You might be interested in this article from Music Trade Review from 1911 which I have added recently to my website:

Mandolins in France

I my opinion the mandolin in France is in a phase of growth. There are some very good teachers around, like Vincent Beer-Demander, Florentino Calvo, Fabio Galluci, or Didier Le Roux et Jean-Paul Bazin of the Ensemble Gabriele Leone.
There are some good mandolin orchestras in France like the Estuidiantina d'Argenteuil, and there is a great mandolin festival every year.

There are also summer schools for mandolin every year.

You can check my google map of mandolin orchestras in France as a reference. (let me know if you know other mandolin orchestras which I can add to my map)

I am very convinced that the mandolin will continue to grow in France for the next years.

[chadoogie]

From Alain, France:
I fully agree what carbonpiou says...
2) an encouraging example of new things with mandolin in France: SANSEVERINO
3) and the Brazilian choro music coming up....

We need to find the equivalent of Dave Grisman or Chris Thile in France and get him or her to play French with a touch of influence from other countries. For instance you have a fabulous band based in Rheims called Swing Gadje. If only a fabulous mandolin player joined the band, and the band became famous in France, we would have the mandoline at centre stage.

BTW Thierry 'Titi' Robin plays fantastic gypsy music on guitar, oud, and bouzouki. His playing is up there among the best in the world. We need someone like him to expand the French gypsy jazz repertoire on mandoline.

[MysTiK PiKn]

What an amazing thread. Such a view of different cultures, cross-cultural communication. Different cultures see things differently, and it is visible in the language, esp. when the language translates to Anglais. the entire point of view is reflected in such a unique way. This view is the gateway to many cultures; and our language is not the only point of view. We are not reading broken English; we are reading a cultural way of life and experience.

I was privileged to travel in Europe in the 70's; I saw many countries, and avoided the 'tourista' stuff. I was more interested in seeing the world. People, places, things, and an experience beyond words. It was the best thing I have done with my life.

more like this....

and thanks for somehow finding and resurrecting this thread.

edit - the small town of Sete on the southern coast of France, was mentioned early in the thread - I was there - crepes served at a sidewalk cafe, the Bar Bodega , and the beautiful beaches, huge, and nobody there - Sept, Oct, 1973 - I spent 5 days there, in a youth hostel. Fellow travellers - we combined out food and made the world's greatest 'stew'. (Memories).... and then I went to Greece via Italy, Firenze, Roma, Pizaet al. Corfu, Athens, Ag Galini, on the south coast of Crete - on and on for 5 months - I bought nothing except food, accomodation, transportation - saw other countries too - I have to stop talking about it, wow. I met a guy named "Bugzee" - from the woodstock movie "Bugzee to the pink and white tent" announcements.
But the people I met from everywhere - omg - and that cultural view. I don't just remember these things, I feel them, again. The bazooki music of Greece - gets in your head and never leaves. Everybody should go to Greece; help the economy which has always been largely based in tourism. wonderful people.

yes, this is way off topic. But it's related. I know some Francais, from school; but I can't really speak it - I can mostly read it though, enough to get the idea.

Anybody ever see "Cock Robin" band in France? They are still on Utube. Not mando. Rock; originally an American Band - but they made it big in Europe. (70's)

[Beanzy]

It's a happening kind of place;
http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/mu...feloche-224061

And The festival at Remirmont is in full swing this week too.
http://remiremontinfo.fr/?p=102062

[MysTiK PiKn]

Merci pour les sites. J'habite dans Ontario, Canada. Ilya un 'Cornwall' et un 'London' ici aussi . Tu habite dans UK, non?

Ilya un fest musicale en Nederlands aussi. Quand? Je ne sais pas. Peut-etre c'est les temps pour moi aller un tour au bateau, oui? Un semaine de celebration sur le bateau enroute, pres de festival? Mais A'dam c'est magnifique. Le Melk Veg, si possible aujourdhui. Les memoires d'un autre fois.

(c'est difficile = i hope i got half of this right so you know what i say)

[journeybear]

Glad this thread got bumped. Somehow I never saw it before. Funny it should happen today, the same day he posted a couple of crazy videos by Feloche on the youtube thread. One of those is contained in his post here; this is the other one.



I'm with bjewell, thinking of moving to France when he retires. Sounds good to me. I studied French in high school for five years and I remember a bit. En autres mots, j'etudié le Francais dans l'ecole pour cinque ans, et je me souviens un peu. I'm thinking I might not wait until retirement age to retire, but rather get the jump on it. The disinterest in mandolin in France could actually mean it's a time of opportunity.

BTW, Nic Gellie, I'm impressed that someone in Australia has heard of Harmonious Wail. They are an obscure little band which I know about only because I have ears, and they were in the right place a the right time. Nearly twenty years ago I was at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in New York State. They drove all the way from Wisconsin to play for free in the talent contest, two songs, then turned around and drove back - a round trip of over 3000 km. That's dedication! I don't know if they won, but they sure deserved to - they were good. I talked with Sims and his wife, Maggie, a bit - real nice folks. I should dig out their CD sometime. The name is a quote from a Dan Hicks song, ICYDK.

[Nick Gellie]

Thanks Journeybear, I have all of Harmonious Wail's CDs. My wife is a jazz singer - she knows about all the swing standards they play. We very much love their music - play it while we make dinner and dance to it afterwards.

I have been a francophile from way back - what I have enjoyed in my bicycle touring trips there is the chance meeting with French musicians of all kinds of musical genres. My favourite muso from France is Thierry Titi Robin. So I have been always interested in French Swing and Gypsy Jazz - from way back. There is that Django Reinhardt influence which goes right into the heart of Dave Grisman's music. So in a way French swing music has infiltrated into American jazz and Dawg music. I would love to go to one of the mandolin festivals there one day. We owe a lot to the French for their zany musical interpretation.

[DavidKOS]

The mandolin would be wonderful playing all that Bal Musette music, the various Javas, valses, tangos, foxes, pasos, etc. I'm sure someone is doing it other than my dabbling attempts.

[johnbaxter]

Any excuse to share -



Also, a mandozine interview (in english) with M. Vaillant http://www.mandozine.com/resources/CGOW/vaillant.php

The link for Patrick Vaillant is out of date. Here is the current link:

Patrick Vaillant CGOW Interview

[johnbaxter]

Any excuse to share -



Also, a mandozine interview (in english) with M. Vaillant http://www.mandozine.com/resources/CGOW/vaillant.php

Sorry, double post.

The link for Patrick Vaillant is out of date. Here is the current link:

Patrick Vaillant CGOW Interview

[Dagger Gordon]

The Melonious Quartet are absolutely terrific, but they seem to keep strangely under the radar.
Even their mandolin festival Mandopolis has a really low profile and much of what is on any web sites is pretty old or pretty short on information.
But nonetheless, they are one of the best mandolin groups in the world.

In neighbouring Belgium (though not in France) there is another great group called MANdolin MAN.

http://www.mandolinman.be/

[Joel Glassman]

Sul Ponticello was mentioned upthread. I don't think this was posted:

[Lord of the Badgers]

I travelled to Toulouse for work last year.

Funny, with my work, I've been avoiding that journey for years... ;-)

[Derik Palmer]

Hi there - or maybe Bonjour...

Yes, I am aware that this is an old thread but I'm resurrecting it for a reason. Just today I got this lovely little instrument for cheaps; OK, i know its not a true mandolin but at least its half one! The guy who sold it to me reckoned its from the 1950's but I know he's wrong. its earlier, almost certainly 1920s, and for a reason I can't quite put my finger on I have a very strong feeling its French.

So here's what i do know: its a banjo mandolin or banjolin; I think they're not quite the same thing but I'm unsure of the differences. The only name on it is 'Stentor' which is stamped into the heel of the neck on the bass side. Stentor is a British company founded as a music publisher in 1895, and still exists as such today. The only thing they have ever produced themselves - apart from sheet music - was their own brand of rosin for bows which apparently was highly regarded in its day. But at one stage, from 1925 to 1937, they imported a number of stringed instruments from Europe which they distibuted under their own name; this therefore dates from that period.

I'm guessing its 1920s rather than 1930s; the beautiful marquetry on the back of the resonator is art deco, not the later art nouveau style. The butterfly girl's wings are mother-of-pearl. And its the headstock that makes me think of french origin; I'm seeing the City of Light in the mid-20's with Josephine Baker taking the town by storm. I have found an image of 'a banjoline' online which purports to have been hers - the headstock in that picture is not the same but not dissimilar either.

So - I'm asking the hive mind that is Mandolin Cafe for ideas. Are there any mando historians out there? Has anybody seen anything similar?

By the way, she doesn't just look good. The neck is as straight as an arrow with a low action. With new strings on she's very playable indeed and sings like a bird!

[Alban Havidson]

Banjolin used to be popular in France between the 2 world wars so this one can be French.

To add so more to what has been said about mandolin in France, the mandolin was popular at the beginning of the 20th century in mandolin orchestra but he's where also the root cause of the falling interest in the instrument: they were directly connected to the mandolin schools hence the image of a crappy sounding axe (mainly due to the guys poot technic). The other aspect was two wars which separated the orchestra members which never reunited. And last and not least, musical tastes changed with first the emergence of chromatic accordion first and then jazz came and Django also: mandolin was not interesting anymore.

Folk boom in the 70s eventually gave some interest to bluegrass or English/Irish folk music (especially with Planet) and the 90s saw some interest in Celtic music but mandolin is not a popular instrument in France (maybe because country music is not popular in France ?).

[Daniel Nestlerode]

...except for the accordion music, we do not have great a deal to offer to the other countries.

I disagree! France has a lot to offer including some regional folk music in the north and Bretagne.

Bretagne: One of my favourite bands is Sonerien Du. There's also Tri-Yann, Dan Ar Braz, Les Fère Guichen, etc.

In the pop world there is Jean-Jacques Goldman, who more anglophones should know about. 'Chanson pour les pieds' by Goldman (2002) is definitely a desert-island disc, it brilliant even if you don't understand the French lyrics.

France has a robust professional music world, but the amateur one is a bit harder to find. People generally don't (at least here in Les Hauts de France) move easily from amateur to professional status. So impetus to play and perform is squashed a bit.

Daniel