Boha
The boha or Landes bagpipe is a wind instrument used in the music of the Landes region of France . More precisely, it is a bagpipe with a simple reed . It is small and has only a single drone tube , which is integrated into the melody tube called pilhet .
The name boha comes from the verb bohar , which means "to breathe" in Gascognisch . The players of the national bagpipe are called bohaires .
Spread and history
The boha had been widespread in the Landes , Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne departments since the 19th century . Félix Arnaudin recorded many testimonies from players of the national bagpipe and dedicated a section to it in the first volume of his work Des chants populaires de la Grande Lande ( 1912 ). At the beginning of the 20th century, the boha was more and more forgotten. There were around 30 players left in the 1920s. Justin ("Jeanty") Benquet, born in Pindères , is considered one of the last bohaires . He died in 1957 . In the 1970s, instrument makers rediscovered the bagpipes and began building them again. The Bohaires de Gasconha association , founded in 1993, has set itself the goal of reviving this instrument and the culture associated with it. Today there are over 200 boha players .
Construction
The boha consists of four main parts:
- The bag
- It is generally made from goat or lamb leather.
- The blowpipe
- It usually has a valve to prevent the air from escaping again (there are also other systems or they are being tested).
- The pilhet (double pipe)
- It consists of two tubes, a melody tube and a drone tube . The melody tube has seven or eight holes; the drone tube has a hole and is extended by the brunider .
- The brunider
- A piece of wood that extends the drone tube and can be pushed in or pulled out to change the drone tone.
The model in the photo is a reconstruction that has some common extensions (number of finger holes, key, drone, etc.). These allow an expanded repertoire to be played. The original bohas used in the traditional repertoire only have five finger holes on the top of the pilhet and one hole on the back. The overall appearance also differs significantly.
Style of play
The boha is part of the dance culture and is used to accompany dances such as the rondeau , the mazurka , the polka , the waltz , the Scottish ...
The boha is exceptional among the bagpipes. While it originally had a simple reed made of reed, the plastic tongues that have recently been used instead produce a sound that is quite different from the original timbre. But they have the advantage that they are very stable in the long run.
But the real peculiarity results from the drone. First, it can be changed by opening or closing the stopper in the Bourdun. For example, with a pilhet in G, the drone also sounds in G when the grip hole is open and in D when it is closed. In this way a rhythm can be generated, for example to accompany the dance.
If you now take off the brunider , when the handle hole of the drone is closed, the sound is no longer D, but F (always provided the pilhet is in G). Therefore, the brunider is removed to play pieces in minor (for example A minor).
A bagpipe with a similarly variable drone system is the Hungarian bagpipe Duda .