Epourall

The new album from western French folk band Ciac Boum is a new direction for them. Bigger, stranger arrangements, tapping into drone and psych folk. Original compositions mix with folk songs and tunes, inspired by Ciac Boum’s renown as one of the best folk dance bands. But their roots are still strong in the deep traditions of the little known Poitevin language and culture from Poitou-Charentes and La Vendée. Far from the beaten tourist track, this region was the ancestral home of Canada’s Acadians and influenced Québécois culture heavily. In this region, fiddlers call dances while playing, and the music is full of shouted exclamations and twisty mouth music. Ciac Boum’s songs in Poitevin are from singer and fiddler Christian Pacher, a rare speaker of this northern French language and a wonderfully distinct vocalist. He learned at the feet of tradition bearers, like a shepherdess named Magazite from the island of Noirmoutier who told him “I’ve spent half my life crying, and the other half singing.”