« Musette Accordion » on the vineyards path

Mario Bruneau

This is a translation of the French article published in LE TOUR (Sutton-Dunham-Frelighsburg) Winter 2004

Alone, the expression « accordéon musette » evokes feelings of freedom and lightness of the Belle Epoque, suggests pictures of bad boys, street urchins. It also reminds us the daily life of workers in the Parisian suburbs who would come to the bal musette to escape their daily boredom or the painters of the Butte Montmartre.

If you’re here today reading this, it’s probably because of its title that intrigued you. It drew your attention because you’re interested by the accordion and you’re not alone. Indeed, the accordion is experiencing a rise in popularity and especially the “musette accordion” This article will trace a part of its history and attempt to explain the origin of its name. We will also see how it relates to wine by the “taverns” near the Marne river called “guinguettes”.[1]

“Musette” has we have seen above, is a term strongly associated with the Parisian spirit. It follows from the meeting of two communities that came to settle in Paris at the end of the 19th century. There was the Auvergnats with their “bagpipes” called “cabrette” who were coming from the Gare d’Austerlitz and on the other side, the Italians which came by the Gare de Lyon bringing their accordion along. The “musette accordion” expression is so ambiguous because those two terms define two completely different musical instruments. In fact, the old musette is not even an accordion. It is a kind of bagpipe and the musette style was named after this old French musical instrument which was already used in bals of the thirteenth century, way before Cyril Demian from Vienna invented his “akkordion” in 1829. The musette (cabrette) bagpipe was different from the commonly known bagpipes in which the bag (air tank) was filled by means of bellows activated by the musician’s right arm. There was no need to blow in the double reed fitted pipe in order to produce sounds. The musician could even sing along his playing. In Auvergne, the air bag was made out of a goat skin (cabri) hence the name “cabrette” given to the instrument (cabri = goat skin) The musette was a powerful instrument and where adopted for all *musette* designated balls. In the mid-19th century, the Auvergnats organized balls around Paris and the expression “go to the bal musette” was used.

During the 19th century, the Auvergnats started to come to Paris so that they could earn a living selling heating charcoal. They brought their cabrette and since they where used to do business in cafés, a lot of auvergnats cafés opened mainly in the 11th arrondissement and on the famous street Rue de Lappe. Those places took the name of “Cafés charbon” since on top of coffee, they would sell wine, heating wood and charcoal. Those cafés will soon become musette animated balls. But by the end of the 19th century, the Auvergnats couldn’t stand being replaced by the Italians who started to arrive in Paris with their “vulgar” accordion. Most of the time, those disputes evolved into real fights but this rather uncomfortable situation was solved in 1909 when the daughter of Bouscatel, a famous musette player married the Italian accordionist Peguri. It is at the start of the twentieth century that musette accordion got into Jazz with the influence of the “manouches” guitarists like the three Sarrane brothers, Matelo and Baro Ferret and of course their fourth “spiritual” brother Django Reinhardt. [2]

Another important fact about musette history is that Paris had an always growing fortification wall surrounding its access so after the construction of the 1785 wall, people had to pay an extra tax in order to get in and sell their goods inside Paris. Several cafes and pubs are then improvised on the outside of the walls and became the benchmark of a small wildlife smugglers and traffickers. Thay drank the wine from nearby vineyards the “guinguet” which was cheaper because it was not imposed. This was the birth of the “guinguettes” (taverns) Later, people would come to spend a day in the country and escape the big cities’ pollution. They’d eat fried fish, eel stew and mussels and fries accompanied by localy produced wine and they would dance to the sound of the musette accordion.

Amongst the creators of the musette style it is worth to mention Péguri, Vacher, Privat, Viseur, Muréna, Peyronnin, Colombo and Prud’homme which composed « J’aime les nuits de Montréal » a well known tune from Montreal, Quebec. Today there are still good stylists that perpetuate the true musette, with all its poetry and charm. Some names stand out like Richard Galliano, my friend Daniel Colin, Daniel Mille, François Parisi, etc. They were all part of the group met under the initiative of the late Patrick Tandin under the label “La Lichère” The project lasted long enough to produce three CDs under the title “Paris Musette” These three CDs have become a must for all musette accordion lovers. After the death of Patrick Tandin, thanks to the publisher Frémeaux and Associates who took over, these CDs are still available.[3]

Like the Buenos Aires’ tango and Bahia’s bossa-nova, Parisian musette is one of the rare Urban Folklore to have stood the test of time I sincerely believe that musette is not less than an important world heritage that we must keep alive. My wife and I are contributing to this on the BATEAU-MOUCHE in Montreal where we offer a little from Paris every nights on the St-Laurence river.

Mario Bruneau

[1] Pierre Monichon in « L’Accordéon » 1985 éditions Payot, Lausanne

[2] Franck Bergerot in the « Paris musette » CD boolket. ref: CD LLL 137

[3] FRÉMEAUX et ASSOCIÉS publisher 20, rue Robert Giraudineau, 94300 Vincennes, France

www.fremeaux.com © Eiffel Tower photo by James Terry