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Play It!
Arz Nevez
Breton Music for String Quartet
by Matt Wehling
It had been raining for weeks on end, and parts of the Brittany region of France had experienced the worst flooding in memory, when I sat down with Yves Ribis and Youenn Lorec to discuss their Breton string quartet, Arz Nevez. The group recently released its first CD in Europe, and was just back from playing in Montreal when we met for a chat that was half in French, half in English, but commenced with the traditional Breton untranslatable toast of Yec'hed Mad (pronounced "Yer Mat") as our drinks arrived. Breton language and culture have had a strong resurgence here in the past 30 years. For example, Ribis' children attend schools that do all of their teaching in Breton, as opposed to French. And Breton music has had a particularly strong renaissance.
Lorec plays first violin in Arz Nevez; Ribis, an accomplished guitarist of traditional Breton music, arranges or composes the group's music. Ribis formed the group using classically trained musicians from Brittany to realize his vision of a string quartet that would bridge the gap between traditional and classical music. I asked Ribis how his background influences his arranging, as the arrangements on the disc sound as if they were done by a person knowledgeable in both classical and traditional worlds. Most attempts I've heard to play traditional music outside a traditional setting sound stilted, overworked, or even condescending.
"Yes, often classical musicians look down on the traditional, which is not the case in the east, such as the Balkans or Greece," Ribis stated sadly. "I'm a self taught guitar player, and I enrolled in a French national music school when I was 20 in order to learn about theory and composition." This was relatively late to be entering a French national school. There is an age limit, which varies for the different instruments, and it affected Ribis' choice of instrument. "I studied contrabass because the age limit was higher. You can't start by studying the violin in a national school unless you're less than 12 or 13."
However, French children can start in a national music school at a very young age, as Ribis' children have. Typically they begin with an hour of solfège, a course in learning to sight-read music and sing in tune. "If you want to scare a little boy, go up and whisper 'solfège' in his ear," joked Ribis. From solfège, students go on to choir or learning an instrument, perhaps attending three hours per week of music (one hour each of solfège, choir, and their instrument) at the local national school. This is an optional extracurricular activity, and not oriented towards a professional musical career, but places appreciation of music as an important part of life.
Thus, Ribis' background for arranging comes out of his work as a professional traditional musician, but it is well-informed by his studies in theory, arranging, and quartet music. He is a man who is well-versed in many styles of music, from classical to Breton dance tunes to background music for Tex Avery cartoons to Jimi Hendrix. What the quartet is trying to do is encourage people who are knowledgeable about one style of music to explore other styles. Said Ribis, "We're able to reach people who listen to classical music but who might never buy a disc by traditional musicians."
Lorec interjected, "And at the same time, we might get people with a folk orientation interested in hearing quartet music after having seen a quartet in person for the first time."
Indeed, the first gig I saw the quartet play was at a bar in the town of Quimper, well known as a gathering place for those interested in Breton culture and traditional music. This bar, the Ceili, is a place where it is not odd to see a group of bagpipers tuning up as you walk in. Yet Arz Nevez’ music caused any number of traditional music lovers to stop and listen to their playing. “Unfortunately, organizers always want to put a quartet in a quiet, church-like setting," explained Ribis. "But with this new quartet, we can play anywhere."
The quartet originally consisted of Lorec and three teachers from the French national school system, whose teaching demands never allowed Arz Nevez to be more than just a part-time project. The new quartet is made up of Lorec on first violin, Fabienne Pratali on second,
Roseline Macario on viola, and Maud Caron on cello-all are full-time professional musicians, which allows for more traveling, performing, and working on new arrangements. New arrangements usually come from Ribis in a skeletal form, and Ribis and the players flesh them out together. Some aspects must remain from the original, to provide structure or harmonies, but in general, Ribis said, the quartet tries out Ribis' ideas, and then arrangements solidify gradually, organically. “It's more like Baroque music," mused Ribis. "The form is there, but it's up to the players to put in the nuances through improvisation." Initially, the musicians wanted to sight-read everything, but Ribis insisted that they first learn the melodies by ear. He feels that before one can freely interpret the music, one must know the melody by heart.
Lorec comes out of a classical background, but has always listened to various forms of traditional music. ("Very often, classical musicians listen to traditional music but don't play," said Ribis. "Why, I don't know.") About three years ago, Lorec was recruited to help with the technical aspects of a group formed by fiddler Frederic "Sam" Samzun of the Breton city of Lorient. The group, Fidil, comprises up to 40 string musicians playing traditional music. "Because there's no common Breton repertoire, there aren't really informal Breton music sessions, as in Irish music," explained Lorec, "so Sam started this association to interest a variety of people in playing Breton music together." On any given night, Fidil has absolute beginners playing next to professionals who have the night off. One member is an accomplished player of the Breton bombarde (a traditional double-reed wind instrument) with a number of recordings and books to his credit, who has recently taken up fiddle. The spirit is very open and very fun. The night I saw them play (and subsequently got roped into joining them for the second set despite having little experience playing Breton music), the venue was a smoky downstairs bar, not far from the middle of nowhere. Like Arz Nevez, Fidil plays a variety of venues, trying to open up people to all sorts of different music.
Arz Nevez recorded its first CD, Pevar en avel, in the Revolver studio just outside I.orient. Judging from photos in the disc jacket, Revolver looks like a comfortable place to make a recording. "Oh, it is!" enthused Ribis. "While the band recorded, I cooked, and I could hear everything from the kitchen, so I could jump in with suggestions." Even this process suggests a reciprocal relationship between Ribis and the quartet, as Lorec added, "And we'd stop playing in order to supervise how he was spicing the food!" Fortunately, the studio had what any French group requires for a successful recording: fresh, edible wild mushrooms growing just on the other side of the parking lot. (Pevar en avel is distributed in Europe by Sony; North American buyers may contact Molene Musique at [33] 2-99-79-28-28, fax [33] 99-79-22-11, or e-mail molene.musiques@ wanadoo.fr.)
Ribis and Lorec feel that Arz Nevez is part of a "new spirit in classical music," an openness, a search for inspiration." A return to roots, like Ravel or Debussy," said Ribis. "They were at a real crossroads period of music, and could have easily gone atonal, but instead went backward to find further inspiration." He added the work of Kronos and Kennedy's Jimi Hendrix reworkings as further examples. "I can see if you were coming from the classical side, that might seem strange. But do you love Hendrix? I do. I just see it as a musician interpreting the work of a previous composer. If you know Hendrix well, and if you come to the music from the side of Hendrix being interpreted by a violinist, I think what Nigel Kennedy has done is wonderful."
As part of Arz Nevez' efforts to bridge classical and Breton music, and to bring new audiences to both, the group recently played at McGill University in Montreal one night, then the next night at a Soiree Bretagne for expatriate Bretons living in Canada. Future plans are to contact North American festivals in order to bring their mixture to American audiences. "The disc is just the start of our work," both men said. "We can go anywhere from here."
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| © 2006 Matthew R. Wehling, Northfield MN USA
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