Cabestan

Cabestan ::: Chants de marins traditionnels
> 192 kbps VBR


Christian Desnos : accordéon diatonique, harmonica, chant
Michel Colleu: concertina, vielle, chant
Benoît Chantran: violon, chant
Bernard Subert : veuze, flûte, clarinette, bombarde, chant
Arnaud Maisonneuve: guitare, chant
•
01 Le 31 du mois d'aout
02 Le capitaine de Saint Malo
03 La femme du president/A du le taire
04 Quand nous partîmes de Toulon
05 Naviguant dans le port de Nantes
06 Gwerz ar vezhinerien
07 Le gabier de Terre-Neuve
08 Good bye farewell
09 Hourra les filles à cinq deniers
10 À la Rochelle est arrivé
11 An tri kachimari
12 Suite de chants de travail
13 La Carméline
•
1984 • Le Chasse-Marée SCM006 • artwork by François Bourgeon!!!

Chants de marins traditionnels
password: highqualitymp3

Cabestan ::: Il y a dix marins sur mer...
> 192 kbps VBR


Christian Desnos : accordéon diatonique, chant
Michel Colleu: concertina, vielle, chant
John Wright: violon, guimbarde, chant
Bernard Subert : clarinette, bombarde, chant
Arnaud Maisonneuve: guitare, bouzouki, chant
•
01 Il y a 10 marins sur mer
02 Brassons bien partout carré
03 South Australia
04 Polkas de Saint-Carreuc
05 Passant la rue Saint-Honoré
06 Faut avoir du courage
07 Gwerz an aber ac'h
08 Le départ de l'île d'Yeu
09 Ronds de Ploeuc
10 La Goélette de Saint-Martin-de-Ré
11 John Kanaka
12 En anglezed boneteu ru
13 Il y a dix marins sur mer
•
Le Chasse-Marée SCM009

Il y a dix marins sur mer...
password: highqualitymp3

#47 • May 1987
Right from their first record this group has been outstanding in their presentation of French and Breton shanties and sea songs. The group, formed from a co-operative known as Chasse-Maree, consisted at the time of Arnaud Maissonneuve, Benoit Chantran, Bernard Subert, Christian Desnos and the group's leader and driving force, Michel Colleu, who has collected the majority of the material used - songs and tunes from the rich maritime heritage extant around the coast of Britanny. Fiddle, flute, concertina and guitar along with a melodeon (in this case, Christian uses an almost straight tuning to great effect) are often used as accompaniment, and all are excellent musicians as well as fine singers. Bombardes and hurdy-gurdies are unlikely instruments to hear
backing sea songs, but in the hands of the French they blend perfectly with their style of singing - and what a style! Whatever Cabestan do, the maxim seems to be that effort and a feeling for the material are essential. Their precision and spirited renderings make them a joyful listening experience, even if you can’t understand French, because you can feel the 'working power' of the songs.
The French, unlike the English, do not have as great a store of shanties, but they make up for this with a fine collection of shore based songs. On the second of these two albums these are supplemented from other sources. John Wright replaces Benoit Chantran, and I suppose after some 16 years of self-exile ha has earned the right to be called French. He brings to the group the Jews harp as well as his own Fiddle talents, and on the former he is an acknowledged authority. In addition, he has taught the lads choruses to John Kanaka and South Australia, and credible versions are turned in of both. It is nice to hear the Cape Cod Girls variant of the latter, although John seems at times hesitant with his lead, but fit does not unduly detract from the song, whereas John Kanaka for the first time to my knowledge, is attempted with hitches! I wonder what Stan Hugill will think of the effort; fit is certainly strange, but seems to grow on you.
I particularly liked what I will call the Breton finger dance song, here called En Anglezed Boneteu Ru, loosely translated to become The Good Angel's Bonnet. The co-ordination of the medley where the melodeon slips keys and slides, is really done to perfection and leads into the song so well. The Breton group, Truzerion, make a speciality of this type of song, often sung in dialects no longer in current use, where the dancers traditionally moved in a circle with a delicate linking of little fingers - or sometimes arms round shoulders, because these dances last for an hour.
I can do no more than say that Cabestan are by far the best sea songsters I have ever heard. Both these records come aver well, as if they vere live recordings, the technical side is excellent, and the
words are included in both cases. Do yourselves a favour and get both, and if slip not satisfied, then look for the earlier anthology series when the group was much larger
Chris Roche