Chants d'Auvergne

"Sing your country, sing your land!"

Such was the advice of Dédodat de Séverac to the young Joseph Canteloube de Malaret (1879-1957) when the latter shared his dismay at the petty squabbles taking over the Parisian music scene in the Belle-Epoque. Although Canteloube had started collecting folk songs from his native Cantal in 1895, he only began the harmonisation of Baïlero in 1923, thus inaugurating the first of the five Chants d'Auvergne series that would bring him fame.

Renowned baritone François Le Roux chose to begin his anthology with a famous shepherd song recorded near Vic-sur-Cère (in the Haute Auvergne) in which the baïles (shepherds in pasture commons) call to each other from hilltops, soaring their vocals across rivers, valleys and hills.

Singers who wish to immerse themselves in one of the ten melodies that compose this tender, picturesque musical landscape can use the Piano accompaniment audio file, accessible through a download card.