The Compagny Macke-Bornauw & Les Beaux Jours are pleased to present this Trad Machine project with Gabriel Lenoir, Aurélien Tanghe and Benjamin Macke from Shillelagh and Birgit Bornauw. To complement the courses we have been giving for many years, we want to make available to as many people as possible an ensemble repertoire in traditional music adapted to current instruments and practices.

The melodies and arrangements that are offered can easily be adapted for dances, for playing with a group of friends, for use in educational programmes and so on.
We offer parts at various levels, some suited to beginner instrumentalists and others to more advanced musicians. We have chosen the most common tunings for the instruments: 16 pouces bagpipes and the G/C accordion. For the guitar, Aurélien has recorded two versions: one in standard tuning (EADGBE), and the second in DADGAD open tuning, which is what he normally uses.

Orality is a key element of traditional music, and we attach great importance to it. We have therefore developed several functions on the audio/video recordings to make it possible to listen to them at different speeds, isolate each part so that it can be heard within the group of players, either separately or in association with a particular instrument, or zoom in to observe the musicians’ fingering or playing techniques in detail. Oral transmission is also visual transmission.
We also provide the scores for each part, which will definitely be of great value to musicians who are less accustomed to learning by ear. We have written out the bare bones of each piece on these scores, leaving out details of ornamentation, accentuation and so on to make them easier to read. To explore these aspects in greater depth, please refer to the recordings where you will be able to understand our proposals concerning accent, supporting the dancing, and minor ornamental, rhythmic and melodic variations.
We believe in the freedom to interpret, add ornamentation to and arrange this repertoire.

All the material you will find in this Trad Machine project should therefore be thought of as a suggestion or guide. From this starting point, you can do whatever you like! You can reshuffle the structures, remove instruments, add new ones, adapt parts, or even introduce ideas of your own into the arrangements!

Happy music-making!