French bagpipes cover a wide range and variety of styles of bagpipes and piping, from the Celtic piping and

Music of Brittany Since the early 1970s, Brittany has experienced a tremendous revival of its folk music. Along with flourishing traditional forms such as the bombard- biniou pair and fest-noz ensembles incorporating other additional instruments, it has also branc ...

to the Northern Occitan's

cabrette The cabrette ( French: literally "little goat", alternately ''musette'') is a type of bagpipe which appeared in Auvergne, France, in the 19th century, and rapidly spread to Haute-Auvergne and Aubrac. Details The cabrette comprises a chanter fo ...

. The Center-France bagpipes (called in French ''cornemuse du centre'' or ''musette du centre'') are of many different types, some mouth blown, some bellows blown; some names for these instruments include ''chevrette'' (which means "little goat," referring to the use of a goatskin for its bag), ''chabrette'', ''chabretta'', ''chabreta'', ''cabreta'', ''bodega'', and ''boha''. It can be found in the

Bourbonnais The Bourbonnais (; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Borbonés'') was a Provinces of France, historic province in the centre of France that corresponds to the modern ''département in France, département'' of Allier, along with part of the ''dépar ...

Nivernais Nivernais (, ) was a province of France, around the city of Nevers, which forms the modern department of Nièvre. It roughly coincides with the former Duchy of Nevers.Morvan The Morvan (; historically Morvand from the Latin ''Murvinnum'' 590)Pierre-Henri Billy, ''Dictionnaire des noms de lieux de la France'', éditions Errance, 640 pages, 2011 , is a mountainous massif lying just to the west of the Côte d'Or esc ...

regions of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. A distinguishing factor of most French bagpipes is the placement of the tenor drone alongside the chanter rather than in the same stock as the bass drone. In the northern regions of

Occitania Occitania is the historical region in Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasses much of the southern third of France (except ...

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; or ) is a cultural region in central France. As of 2016 Auvergne is no longer an administrative division of France. It is generally regarded as conterminous with the land area of the historical Province of Auvergne, which was dis ...

, is found the (generally) bellows blown '' cabreta'', and in

Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...

the mouth blown '' chabreta''. The cabrette is much played in areas of Paris where Auvergnats tended to settle; this bagpipe is in most cases played without a drone, and together with an accordion. The chabrette, while having a similar name, is a quite different pipe, with a triple-bored bass drone played across the player's arm rather than over the shoulder. The form of the chabrette chanter appears similar to early oboes, including a swallow-tail key for the lowest note which is placed under a fontenelle. The Occitan names also refer to the goat. In the Occitan region of

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately . History ...

, and especially in the ''Montanha negre'' (Black Mountain) area, the ''bodega'' is played. This is a very large mouth blown pipe made from the skin of an entire goat. In

Gascony Gascony (; ) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part of the combined Province of Guyenne and Gascon ...

, a small mouth blown bagpipe called ''boha'' (from ''bohar'' meaning "to blow") is used. There are a number of piping schools. One of the most important is the Conservatoire Occitan, located in the city of Toulouse (

), but there are also important schools in Limoges, Aurillac, Belin, Mazamet, and other towns. There is also a school of cabrette playing in Paris, with around 50 pupils. Although Central French pipes are generally used to play traditional music, some Occitan pop groups use them as well. Such groups include La Talvera, Familha Artus, and Tenareze.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:French Bagpipes Bagpipes French musical instruments Breton musical instruments Bagpipes by country

See also

References