Crested Hens (Les Poules Huppées) - E MinorWaltz, Airi
Tune Information
Author: Gilles Chabenat
Origin: France - Central
Although this tune is often mistakenly thought to be an ancient Breton tune, it was actually written by Gilles Chabenat in 1983. He wrote it on a hurdy gurdy as a "bourrée à trois temps" (3/8 time), and thus was originally played much faster than most people play it now. Gilles stated that some bars of a Debussy composition served as inspiration and explained the title as follows: "I was 15 and couldn’t decide on a title. One day we were playing at oxymorons and my friend said "Poulles Huppées" we all laughed at that for a long time, so I decided to name the tune that. I know it’s a dumb title, but we were just dumb kids."
This very possibly ancient tune is from Brittany, where it is named Dans En Dro after a type of dance that originated in the city of Vannes, located in the southern part of Lower Brittany.
