CORDIER, ERIC - BREIZHISELAD (CD)
In making Breizhiselad I have tried to rewrite some masterpieces of the traditional music of French Brittany. Apart a few field recordings all the material on this record originates in extracts from two songs of the A side of a 10" 1960s reissue of a 78rpm. The story begins when a Breton cousin discovered the record at his grandmother's house. On first listening, I found it to be horrible - but a work of genius. Horrible because of the catechism-like vocal arrangements but a work of genius in terms of the beauty of the melody and the conviction of the singers. Another particularity is the importance of the disc itself, whose vinyl surface is nearly erased, polished under a sea of cracks. My project has been to transpose this traditional music into the tape music medium with a view to preserving what is strong in the source material and erasing the sugary, churchy treatment of these originally popular songs. (label info)
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