Historical instruments
Two melodic pipes are drilled on the same piece of wood: the pihet.
They work with a simple reed like the saxophone or clarinet. The one on the left has several game holes, it is with him that we play the melody. The right-hand bore, which can be used as a drone, also allows the musician, thanks to a play hole, to perform rhythms and polyphonies.
This tube is lengthened by a piece of wood: the brunider which can be removed to change the tuning of the instrument.
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The boha
bagpipe of Landes
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An evolution
In the comparative study of the bohas, the ever tangible evolution of the instrument, with the continuous contribution of new technologies, leads us to believe that rather than a succession of ruptures, the Landes bagpipe is located in a continuum and an adaptation necessary to a practice that is still relevant today.
The boha is historically present in three departments of New Aquitaine: mainly in the Landes but also in the south of the Gironde and the west of the Lot et Garonne.
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Today it is played beyond its historical playing area as is the case for most musical instruments.
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The caremèra
or chalemia
© photo : Félix Arnaudin
The instrument is composed of 3 parts, a reed in a piece of cane or feather, a melodic pipe and a horn that serves as a resonator.
To obtain the dynamics of the play we adopt the same type of closed fingering as for the boha.
The circular breathing technique is very suitable for this instrument.
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Félix Arnaudin had bought a caremera from the old musician Pierre Fronsac in 1907. This instrument is part of the stock of the Ecomusée de la Haute Landes in Sabres-40.
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The caremera was played at the midnight mass. Up to a dozen musicians could be heard playing in unison. It was also used to make people dance.
bagpipes bohas maker