Antoine Bouscatel

Musician, cabrette player

Antoine Bouscatel (1867-1945), the " King of Cabretaires ", was originally from Lascelle in Cantal, and "went up to Paris" in 1890. He played there regularly for the people from Auvergne, and became the owner of a ballroom, the "Bal Bouscat". There he was the first to combine his cabrette (a bagpipe with a lutherie perfected by Auvergne makers in Paris) with the accordion of his Italian son-in-law Péguri . This development would lead years later to the eviction of the bagpipe from Parisian balls, which would nevertheless keep their name of " bals musette ". After a prosperous period, the activity of the Bouscatel ball gradually declined during the interwar period, the accordion ball whose imagery is well known (javas, girls of joy and bad boys in caps) having definitively taken over the family ball of the Auvergnats. He thus ended his life in relative poverty, playing only for a small circle of connoisseurs of the "Auvergne colony", among whom his prestige had remained intact.

As his nickname suggests, Bouscatel was one of the undisputed masters of the difficult instrument that is the cabrette: master of sound quality, of accuracy and of fluidity of playing , very clearly audible despite the quality defects of the support of his recordings (78 rpm records). He was also a master of the virtuoso and complex ornamentation specific to the cabrette, reminders, "picotages" and other finger strokes appreciated by connoisseurs , making the melodies sometimes almost unrecognizable under the variations.

Antonin Bouscatel's repertoire combines "local" melodies (Auvergne) with others of more Parisian inspiration, announcing what is today called the musette . The three-beat bourrées are sometimes based on sung themes, which are ornamented and made more complex over the course of the covers, but also sometimes purely instrumental and pretexts for the demonstration of virtuosity (" La rapida ", " La tricotada "). Other dances: waltzes, mazurkas etc., from the salons of the 19th century, convey other musical climates, with Germanic and Italian influences perceptible even in the compositions of Parisian musicians. Melodies to listen to, the "regrets", with free rhythms and stretched notes, are instrumental adaptations of the open-air songs that once resounded in the countryside. Charged with emotion by the evocation of the "country" for these exiles in Paris, these melodies are also an opportunity for the cabretaires to highlight their musical qualities, through the work of sound, vibration and phrasing .

Bouscatel will remain a reference in the world of bagpipes from the Massif Central, his style and repertoire remaining essential models for most cabrette players. Like those of other Auvergne musicians of his time, his original records from the 1930s and 40s have been found, collected and reissued by passionate collectors. In addition to the vinyl record dedicated to Bouscatel by the Musiciens Routiniers and now unobtainable, we can cite a good number of more recent CDs: " The Golden Age of the Auvergne Bagpipes : Historical Recordings 1895-1976" (Silex-Auvidis 1993), " The Soul of Auvergne " (Epic 1998), and the productions of Michel Esbelin (often at Marianne Mélodie): " Traditional Music from Auvergne and Rouergue " (2007); “ Auvergne of Yesteryear ” (4 CD box set 2012), “ Memories of Auvergne ” (2013), as well as the double CD “ Aveyron Musicians in Paris” (Musicadis – Occitan Conservatory 2001).