Préquelle
Préquelle 2026
2026-prequelle.7z (MP3)This album might be a sort of prequel to the next three I hope to make… but which I haven’t got round to yet. Here, I’ve brought together and organised a few tracks that I’ve enjoyed playing over the last few years, some rough recordings, partly to test the waters.
This pre-album is likely to undergo a few more minor tweaks: finishing track 14 and tracks 5 to 15 have to be mastered.
Kisses.
~ Florent ~
Tracks
1. The Cuckoo’s Hornpipe (trad)
Was I about to go completely cuckoo? In 2024, intrigued by my memory – and other brain gadgets – not working properly, I decided, just for the adventure, to learn a new instrument. That’s why I sometimes play the garmoshka (a small Russian diatonic accordion) on this album. I enjoyed looking for ‘garmoshkable’ tunes outside the instrument’s usual repertoire, such as this hornpipe, recorded at the farm during Christmas week 2025.
This tune can be found on a 1921 78-rpm record entitled Murray’s Fancy by Michael Coleman (1891–1945), an Irish fiddler from County Sligo. It was notably covered by Paddy O’Brien in 1954 – who inspired me here – and by Liz Carrol and Tommy Maguire in 1978, under the title The Cuckoo.
If you’re wondering about the conclusions of my experiment: OK, the fat thing in my skull might still run for a few more years before it ends up as a museum piece, but it need to get some sleep at night and stop catching stupid viruses.
2. Sussex Cotillion (trad) / Fashion Cotillion (FC)
I discovered the first piece whilst watching Edvin Aronson’s beautiful interpretation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B5pWVSweE0. I later learnt that the tune had already been published in 1801 under the title ‘La Novellé Holéndoise’ in the third volume of A Selection of Scotch, English, Irish, and Foreign Airs by James Aird (Glasgow).
As I needed a second piece that would contrast slightly but be of the same form as the first, I composed this ‘Fashion Cotillion’, the title of which is a nod to the vaudevilles Le cotillon à la mode and Le nouveau cotillon (18th century).
3. Valse à Babeth (FC) / Valse de Louis Juillard (trad)
The Valse à Babeth was originally an exercise for the melodeon, using the basic ‘pull-push’ technique on four buttons. I composed it for my first melodeon pupil.
I found the Valse de Juillard in Jean-Marc Delaunay’s collection Les violons de l’Artense (AMTA, FR, 1999). I had a bit of fun playing ascending and descending bass lines! Here you can listen to Henri Tournadre’s ‘tralala’ version, from Champs-sur-Tarentaine (Center France), collected by Olivier Durif in 1976.
4. Bourrée à Malochet (trad)
Gilbert Malochet (1859–1945) was a hurdy-gurdy player from Montluçon (in central France). This bourrée never fails to remind me of my first visit to the Saint-Chartier Festival in 1997. Playing on the car radio was a cassette copy of the Trio Bouffard’s album Revenant de Paris, which began cheerfully with this tune.
5. Laridé 8 temps (trad)
An easy and enjoyable melody to play, which I often suggest to beginners learning the violin or melodeon. It’s more of a concert version than a fest noz one, somewhat in the spirit of Kornog, who released it in 1984 on the album Première.
You can hear the first flute I ever made, carved one morning ‘just to see if it is possible’ from an alder branch that was lying there waiting to be used in the stove to heat up a cup of coffee. The dark sound of the double bass is down to the fact that it was recorded by placing the microphone inside its body to avoid picking up the shouts of the children playing nearby. Atmosphere!
6. Eestival (FC)
A garmoshka version of this previously recorded piece. A depiction of the stifling moments of oppressive humidity during the Estonian summer.
Télécharger : MP3
7. Passe-moi le ballet (FC)
Composed and recorded in 2010, this scottish is a depiction of a scene (as my tunes often are) that amused me: in their kitchen, Tristan and Laura where clearing up and doing the washing-up. Unaware of all this activity, Sophie was more or less dancing absently. ‘Come on, Sophie, could you do something?’ ‘But I’m helping you: I’m doing the ballet!’ There’s a play on words here in French: ballet is pronounced \ba.lɛ\ the same as balai, which means ‘brooms’.
Télécharger : MP3
8. Keigapere (trad)
Recorded in the woods for a video (you can hear footsteps crunching through the autumn leaves). This is the tune for an Estonian couple dance that is rarely heard, even in Estonia, as it is difficult to dance. Be that as it may, the tune is easy to play. I learnt it from Leanne Barbo in 2011.
I play on a folk flute I carved from a goat’s horn. Technically speaking, it’s a vessel flute (like ocarinas) with the mouthpiece at the widest end of the horn. This type of flute is often called a gemshorn – perhaps a little pompously – in reference to a little instrument so called by Sebastian Virdung in a work published in 1511.
Télécharger : MP3
9. Nõianeitsi (trad)
Music of a social dance collected on the Estonian island of Saaremaa.
This is the audio from a video in which I filmed myself playing the garmoshka, the mandolin and the double bass in front of a microphone placed off-camera. On the floor. Very clever. The result: the creaking of the floorboards multiplied by three throughout the whole track. Sorry.
Télécharger : MP3
WIP…
And a special thank to those who support my little works, whether through donations or messages. It really warms my heart!