Branle du Parlement: concertina trio

[Jim Besser]

Friends played this yesterday during an (online) session, and it seemed like good raw material for another excursion into the bizarre world of overdubbing. Branle du Parlement - I know absolutely nothing about the tune - played on Anglo CG concertina (2 tracks) and baritone Anglo concertina. Still experimenting with procedures for reducing latency; getting better, but not there yet.

 

https://soundcloud.com/concertinist/branle-du-parlement-may-15-jb1

[Paul_Hardy]

I think the Branle du Parlement is the 20C dance, and the tune is old - I know it and have it in my tunebook as Kemp's Jig (John Kempe danced from London to Norwich in 1660 to win a bet). 

 

Very nice playing and multitracking.

[Jim Besser]

3 minutes ago, Paul_Hardy said:

I think the Branle du Parlement is the 20C dance, and the tune is old - I know it and have it in my tunebook as Kemp's Jig (John Kempe danced from London to Norwich in 1660 to win a bet). 

 

Very nice playing and multitracking.

 

Ah, Kemp's; I thought it sounded familiar. I have the Folger Consort recording.

 

I asked a friend who's deeply into French dance music.  Her answer: it's an English renaissance piece by the 16th Century composer John Dowland.  As you say, the dance was written in the 1990s and passed into the balfolk world, except that branles are not popular with balfolk dancers, so it quickly faded.

 

Another interesting fact: branles, circle dances which preceded square and line dances in the French tradition, were often danced to sung music.

[Paul_Hardy]

I recognised it from one of my favourite albums ever - The band Gryphon, and their first album also called Gryphon. It's the first track on the album.

[Jim Besser]

2 hours ago, Paul_Hardy said:

I recognised it from one of my favourite albums ever - The band Gryphon, and their first album also called Gryphon. It's the first track on the album.

 

Ah...and a good album it is.