CCMC Tune Swap: September 8th, 2007 #2: The Wren

As I mentioned in the previous post, Cassie brought in this march called “The Wren” for the club this month. It’s a brilliant tune! I thought it sounded a bit like an An Dro recorded by Chicago based whistler/flutist Larry Nugent on his album Two for Two. In case you don’t know, an An Dro is a Breton folk dance in 2/4 time. According to the wikipedia article: “An Dros often have songs associated with them, and these are usually sung as a verse/chorus or call/response, with the leader singing the verses or calls. The musicians will sometimes play from the middle of the dance floor, and the dancers will then often form a spiral around them. You will occasionally run into quite vigorous versions of the dance with large, sharp movements (typically in Breton contexts); be sure you’re comfortable with the basic rhythm before you join in…” To see one being danced, check out this video on Youtube. Notice that the bombarde player is standing in the middle of the dance circle! According to thesession.org, “The Wren” and the tune Larry recorded may be variations of the same tune, just in different keys. Not being an expert in Breton music, I can’t confirm or deny this (they could possibly be different melodies to different songs). Either way, “The Wren” is a fantastic Breton tune that sounds great in B minor. Thanks again to Cassie for sharing it with us today!