Céret is a small town in France near the border with Spain. I had been there once before with a group from Sète, and *loved* the Picasso ceramics in particular.
We had decided to make this one of our short Fall trips, but before we had gotten too far down that planning path, Rick's nephew gave us the perfect excuse to visit Madrid! We turned our short trip into a long rest stop on our way 😁
Our séjour totalled 3 stops.
The first was for a picnic lunch and a walk across the "Devil's Bridge" - le Pont du Diable - you see this name all over France. Here's one story of how the name came about (this is from the bridge at St. Guilhem): during the construction of the bridge, the devil came every night to undo what men built during the day. One day, men (who could no longer build in vain) made an agreement with the devil: he could take the first soul that passed over the bridge. So the men were able to build the bridge. But none of the men wanted to give their souls to the devil, so they put a cat across first. Mad with rage, the Devil tried in vain to destroy the bridge without succeeding and threw himself into the water. This is how the bridge received the name “Devil’s Bridge”.
Next, we drove nearer the town center, parked (free) at Place Henri Guitard, and walked <5 minutes to the Museum of Modern Art.
Here are a few of the promised Picasso ceramics!
There were ceramics by other artists as well
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| Faun by Edouard Pignon |
And this giant Chagall painting "Les Gens du Voyage"
There are more pieces in the Céret 2023 album - I added captions from the description plaques (several are definitely worth reading!).
The museum had a second floor for contemporary art, but we skipped that (don't hate me!)
Next, we walked a block to the Music Museum. There were a ton of instruments, listening stations, and descriptions - we could have spent many hours listening to music from all over the world! As it is, I took photos of the descriptions, and captured the text below.
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POPULAR MUSIC INSTRUMENTS
In the past centuries, in France, the turned instruments (oboes, flutes, bagpipes, etc.) used in popular music were made by instrument makers of all types, ranging from professionals to occasional amateurs.
Only Paris had a corporation of professional instrument makers (<< Communauté des Maîtres Faiseurs d'Instruments de Musique de la Ville & Faubourgs de Paris >>), created in 1599; however, its scope was solely municipal. Everywhere else, the professionals in charge of this type of instruments were woodturners. Most of them were members of corporations and their professional standards stipulated that the objects they were entitled to produce included musical instruments such as recorders, transverse flutes and fifes (<<Flutes douces & traversieres, Fiffres >> in Toulouse in 1581). In La-Couture-Boussey (Eure), in the late 16th century, woodturners including the Hotteterre family set up a wind instrument workshop. In Croutelles, near Poitiers, a text from 1628 states that this small town was home to «the pearl of all woodturners» who made cornetts, oboes, bagpipes, goat-skin instruments, recorders, fifes and flutes (« Cornets à bouquin, Haut-bois, Cornemuses, Chevres sourdes, Flageols, Piffres, & Flustes », using boxwood, which is the most excellent wood and makes the most harmonious and melodious sound. In Bordeaux, the Articles of Association of the « Tourneurs, tabletiers en bois, ebeine, yvoire & corne » woodturners' association dating back to 1678 mention flutes and recorders (« fluttes, flajollets »), while in 1722, woodturners in Caen had the right to make bagpipes, all sorts of string instruments, the cases to put them in, along with oboes and recorders.
From the Middle Ages to the end of the Ancien Régime, most popular musicians were also craftsmen, working mainly in wood professions (carpentry, woodturning, sabot making, etc.). They were thus able to make violins and wind instruments, having all the required skills for their proper tuning (a post-mortem inventory of a popular musician of Troyes in 1611 revealed a full set of tools to make musical instruments: press, lathe, workbench and handtools). Moreover, until the first half of the 20th century, some talented amateurs (shepherds, farmers, etc.) used foot-pedal lathes of their own invention to produce quality instruments and thus satisfy local demand.
In the past centuries, this multiform production and its wide dissemination, in particular through fairs, managed to meet the large demand coming from popular musicians, often providing them with beautiful instruments.
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SARDANA
The sardana is a Catalan dance as well as the music that accompanies it. In a circle of alternating men and women holding hands, the dance is composed of two main steps - short steps and long steps. The music is played by the modern cobla. Each sardana is distinctive and its steps must be counted and are spread out before the start of the dance.
The origin of the sardana remains uncertain. In the middle of the 19th century, the first choregraphic methods started to appear, in the wake of the sardana's rapid development. Gradually becoming rooted between Figueres and Barcelona, the first traces of sardana in France's Pyrénées-Orientales department date back to the beginning of the 20th century. It appeared in Céret for the first time in 1902, but failed to become popular, as the population already had its own dances.
Condemned in Spain during the dictatorships of Primo de Rivera and Franco, the sardana became the symbol of Catalan resistance in the face of these authoritarian regimes. After the Retirada (1939) and the arrival of modern cobles, the sardana developed and became rooted in the Pyrénées-Orientales. Starting in 1950, numerous foments sardanistes (sardana associations) were created, along with competitions, etc.
The city of Céret has been hosting the Festival de la Sardane since 1958.
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TRANSMISSION
Teaching of traditional music in the Pyrénées-Orientales
Traditional music is usually passed on orally, often from father to son. However, teaching contracts dating back to the 16th century and involving professional bagpipe and oboe teachers are not uncommon.
The first written teaching methods for those instruments date back to the beginning of the 20th century, demonstrating that most Catalan musicians had a strong musical culture.
The first course in Catalan instruments, which opened at the Conservatoire de Perpignan in 1881 under the direction of instrument-maker André Toron, had no students, just like that of Céret musician Albert Manyach in 1945. Another Céret resident, Max Havart, took over the position in 1967. Since 1992 and the appointment of Vincent Vidalou and Frédéric Guisset, the course has developed constantly. There are now six music teachers covering instruments ranging from the tible, the tenora, the gralla, the prima, the bagpipes, the flaviol, the bandurria, and the fiscorn. They also teach group practices through courses focusing on traditional singing, cobla, flaviol ensembles and traditional oral music ensembles.
Today, the traditional music department of the Conservatoire de Perpignan is among the biggest in France.
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The Catalan cobla - The cobla is the Catalan band.
In the Pyrénées-Orientales, the first references to the cobla date back to the Middle Ages. From the 17th century, the norm for the band became four musicians, playing the flaviol and tamborí (a one-hand flute along with a tambourine), the bagpipes (the local version), a prima (a high-pitched oboe) and a tenor (a low-pitched oboe). This is known as the cobla de joglars.
Like other wind instruments, these instruments underwent changes in the late 18th century and were further modernised throughout the 19th century. From the 1850s the cobla rossellonesa was composed of a piston horn, a bass horn, two primes and two modernised tenors with keys. The band playing at festivities in Northern and Southern Catalunia appeared after the Republican exile (1939) due to the Spanish Civil War. The cobla rossellonesa gave way to the modern cobla with eleven musicians, imported from the Principat de Catalunya.
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Instruments from Occitania
The Occitanie region boasts a large variety of musical instruments:
-The oboe, present from at least the 13th century and up until the French Revolution in most regions, remained in vogue longer in a few areas: in the Tarn (Mont de Lacaune) under the name of graile, in the lower Languedoc under the name of aubòi, especially to accompany jousts, and in the Couserans area of Arriège under the name aboès. The instrument was also present in the Gascon Pyrenees under the name of clarin, and in the Lauragais under the name of amboèsa. Some models were also found in western Rouergue, and the instrument was known under the name of amboèsa in the Lot department.
- Different types of bagpipes existed and are still popular in the Limousin under the name of chabreta, in Auvergne and Rouergue under the name of cabra or cabreta, in the high Languedoc under the name of craba or bodega, and in Gascony under the name of boha. Traces of bagpipes were also found in the Pyrenees.
-The fife, or lo pifre, was once present throughout the Occitan region. It remained more in vogue in the Landes and Gironde through ripataulèras (fife and percussion groups), and around Nice, the Quercy, the Montagne Noire and other local areas.
Six-hole flutes were found almost everywhere, along with three-hole flutes in certain areas such as Provence where they remained popular under the name of galobet, and in the Béarn and Landes where they are known as flabuta. The three-hole flute player is accompanied by a tom-tom (string drum) in the Béarn, and by a tamborin (tabor drum) in Provence.
The hurdy-gurdy, often called viòla or sansònha, is mainly found in the Massif Central (Auvergne, Limousin), the Landes and the Nice regions.
-As for the violin, it first appeared in the 16th century. It became popular everywhere but mainly remained in vogue in the Auvergne, Limousin, Quercy, Dauphiné and Alpine regions. These instruments were played at all festive events, whether official, private, religious or secular, especially for dancing. Starting in the 19th century, they faced competition from the instruments of musical societies (brass and wooden instruments), and then from the accordion upon its popularisation in the late 19th century.
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ANATOLIA
The name << Anatolia >> comes from the Ancient Greek and means «East». Anatolia is a vast group of territories located at the western edge of Asia. In strict geographical terms, it covers the lands located west of a line stretching from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, and separated from Europe on the northwest by the Sea of Marmara.
The region boasts several musical styles: at traditional festivities, music and dancing accompany ceremonies (weddings, circumcisions and seasonal festivities). The music, which is often played by Gypsy musicians, combines the high-pitched sounds of Zurna oboes and Davul drums. This type of band is found from Turkey to China and through the Balkans. This music accompanies regional dances: the halay in the East, the zeybek on the coasts of the Aegean Sea and everywhere the çiftetelli and the karsilama, in couple dances.
To the North of this territory, the Laz - a group of Georgian-speaking people - live near the Black Sea. Their music is characterised by rapid, complex rhythms and its main instruments are the small kamancheh and the tulum bagpipe. In the South-East, the popular instrument is the mey, which resembles the Armenian duduk. In the South-West, in the mountains, the sipsi flute and the violon are widely played. In Thrace and in Istanbul, Gypsy bands play a music which resembles that of Balkan bands, featuring the clarinette and the darbuka drum.
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EUROPE
Consisting in large plains ranging mountain massifs, the foothills are primarily passageways. Either Cantabrian Range on the Atlantic shore, Pyrenean Mountains, or Apennines drawing Italy's backbone, all these foothills experience the flocks' transhumance punctuating the course of seasons.
Cows, sheep, horses wander from a land to another, from a world to another in the jingling of bells.
The naive art of the Provencal crib figurines definitely fixed the character of the traditional shepherd holding a pipe or a Pan flute, guiding the cattle through mountain paths and tracks.
This way, music and instruments passed from hand to hand, influential and influenced as well, while langages were taking shape by crossing mounts, rivers or foothills.
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AFRICA
From the Mashreq to the Maghreb, i.e. from the Levantine to the West of the << Arab Countries >>, the oboe combined with the drum is an integrant part of the Islam cultures. One would even forget that it was known in Egypt more than three thousand years ago.
Essentially a festive instrument, it also accompanies the fights, the sporting trainings and even the taming of horses. In Egypt, people say that where the horse is, the mizmar must be.
Although having integrated Islam into their African and pantheist origins, the Gnawa singers and musicians still practice nowadays in Morocco their therapeutic rites of possession. The bewitching syncope of the gambri, qraqeb and drum invites all the << men in pain >> to enter a curative and consented trance.
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INDIA
Seravasti is the name of a former river and also of the goddess of Arts who is often represented playing the lute.
However, the six other Indian sacred rivers keep on flowing and their waters play an essential part in the life of the countries they cross. In the valley of the Indus burst one of our most ancient civilisations.
For more than 5000 years, fecundity rituals take place on river banks. The Kumbhamela celebrations perpetuate these ancient ceremonies: the believers plunge jugs full of seeds in the sacred waters.
Another ritual of purification consists in diving in the waters of the Kaveri or the Ganges. Thus, the believer can hope to put an end to the cycle of reincarnations. Songs and music always accompany liturgy. Their main goal is to call the attention of gods. Don't forget that Brahma created the universe from the sound << Om >>.
Oboes (shenai) and drums (mridangs) are the base of the ritual music played on the occasion of wedding parades, numerous religious ceremonies and acts of devotion.
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EAST ASIA
To the contrary of western minds which privilege a dual reading of the universe, Oriental ones prefer a complementary vision which transcends duality and favours its resolution. The female and dark yin principle (among other qualities) and the male and luminous yang principle balance each other. These energies are opposite and inseparable as well. Possible discrepancies are systematically corrected by the interaction of oppositions within a harmonious complementary system (oboe-drum) for example.
On the Chinese territories, various ethnic groups play oboe. They even invented specific variants of this instrument. The << suono >>> for instance, is used in the circus but also accompanies mourning wails.
More than 3500 years old, Hinduism - a religion without dogma or prophet - offers a multifaceted truth. The most diverse symbols coexist without contradicting each other. Music is considered one of the four ways towards Knowledge. Vishnu the Protector plays conch. Shiva the Destructor answers him with a drum. Thousand years later, Buddha, the awakened one spreads his doctrine of renunciation and illumination.
The sound vibration remains a fundamental element of the ritual both in the mantra chanted by the human voice and in the Tibetan prayer wheel, supposed to spread the sacred syllables in the air. The sound vibration reveals the presence of inspiration and inspiration is the genesis of Creation.
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AMERICAS
There is in our memories a condor which never stops passing by, i.e the majestic bird of the famous Peruvian song, << El Condor Pasa >>.
Beyond its apparent innocence, this nostalgic song tells the story of music in the Americas and brings out a cultural reality before and after Columbus.
These various kinds of music cannot be limited to the Andes Cordillera. Mexico, Brazil, Surinam, Guyana etc. also form part of this highly diverse linguistic and musical universe, which the Old World badly knows.
During the Pre-Columbian times, the wind and percussion instruments fulfilled their traditional part by accompanying the social life in its rituals and daily works.
The « bombo », a drum cut out of a tree trunk and fitted with a goat skin or the << kena >> made of wood, bone or terracotta are two emblematic objets of this instrumentation. The guitar inspired the << charango >>, a string instrument made of an armadillo carapace.
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INDIAN OCEAN
For the coast populations, the way through the waters is obvious. For the continental ones, it is an adventure. For all of them, the sea is a route to a world of discoveries and exchanges which makes possible the sale and barter of objects, ideas and inventions. Among other << goods >> spices, silks or slaves followed these sea routes.
From Madagascar to the Indian Ocean islands, the various ways of life relating to climates, flora, fauna, or poorness made people invent original instruments.
Along these shores, human ingenuity made music with thousand various things. Bamboos, giant shells, coconuts, turtle carapaces turned into resonance chambers. Steel bike braking cables became strings.
The world of boats is also the realm of instruments which the seamen take on board: concertina, violin, diatonic accordion, harmonica, Jew's harp.... in turn, all these objects feed the imagination of their discoverers.
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Well, that was quite an education!
After the music museum, we walked back to the car, and drove half an hour to our hotel in La Jonquera, Spain 😁
(We also filled up on gas for about 20¢/liter less than in France 😊)
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