Les Campagnards is a French music and dance group comprising Alan Keith, Gary Breitbard, Bruce Culbertson and Jena Rauti.
The melodies and songs presented by the group have been gathered from both traditional and popular sources in France. The tunes played, include a mixture of popular ballroom dance types - waltzes, polkas, schottishes and mazurkas, along with regional dances - bourrees, rondos, bransles and fandangos. The songs, including many well-known and popular ones from Paris, are about the usual subjects of love, rejection, war, drinking and dancing, and can be in English as well as the French language.
The instruments used, are a mixture of traditional French - cornemuses (French bagpipes - see Alan's Instrument Collection - Bagpipes) and vielle à roue (hurdy-gurdy), and popular ones - diatonic (button) and chromatic (piano) accordions, and violin.
In addition to the songs and instrumental melodies presented, distictive dances of various regions are often demonstrated during the group' performances; indeed, French dance instruction can be provided for your event when requested.
Gary Breitbard started music at an early age and excells in the playing of many folk instruments and musical styles. His instrumentation includes piano and diatonic accordions, fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, cornemuse (French bagpipe), hurdy-gurdy, and piano-forte. He also sings and is a dance teacher and caller. His folk music playing styles include Celtic, French, Italian, German, E. European, Balkan, French-Canadian and Old-Timey American.
Jena Rauti
Bruce Culbertson is interested in all kinds of traditional fiddling and has played the instrument for thirty-five years. He was a founding member of the West Coast's first contra-dance band in the early 1970s. Also in the 70s, Galway accordionist Kevin Keegan and Dublin piper Dave Page sparked his interest in Irish music, and he performed with Dave in the Siamsa Gael Ceili Band. Bruce continues to play regularly for Irish set dancing in the Bay Area. In 1977, Bruce collected Scottish music on Cape Breton Island for Rounder Records.
Alan Keith has been playing music since grade school and professionally since high school. With over 35 years of folk and traditional music experience, he has collected, built and learned to play in excess of 30 instruments. Although his main instrumentation consists of various bagpipes and accordions, he plays a number of other wind and percussion instruments as well. Alan has either lead or been a member of over twenty different folk ensembles. He is presently a member of three groups and performs numerous solo engagements as well. Alan is featured on Le Soleil's recordings Le Soleil and Bal Folk en Californie, on French Creek's Fait en Californie, and on Tour de France's Music of the French Provinces. (See Recordings For Sale for offerings and further information.)
Barbara Sloan (special guest musician)
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