While visiting the various regions of France, one might wonder what he might have heard in those places a century ago.<\/p>\n
Between June and July of 1912, Brunot and his assistant Charles Bruneau toured the Ardennes region of France and Belgium in an automobile. They visited 35 villages and returned to Paris with 166 recordings (oral testimonies, dialogues, folk tales and songs).<\/p>\n
In June 1913, Brunot visited the Berry region of central France, collecting material about the late author George Sand. Finally, in August of 1913, he toured the Limousin region, producing 72 phonograph recordings. Listen to\u00a0Le vingt-cinq de d\u00e9cembre, je me suis t’engag\u00e9<\/em><\/a>\u00a0registered by Ferdinand Brunot in 1913.<\/p>\n Later,\u00a0Roger D\u00e9vigne<\/a>, Director of the\u00a0Phonoth\u00e8que nationale<\/em>\u00a0from its creation in 1938 until 1953, followed Brunot’s idea of phonographic linguistic map.<\/p>\n He organised several sound recording missions: in the Proven\u00e7al Alps in 1939, in Languedoc-Roussillon Pyrenees in 1941-1942, in Normandy and Vend\u00e9e in 1946, leaving us precious testimony of local traditions. Those recordings are now part of the National Library of France\u2019s collections. They are carefully preserved and stored. They have been restaured, digitised and made available online through\u00a0Gallica<\/a>\u00a0and, more recently, through\u00a0Europeana Sounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n The past still resonates today\u2026 Let\u2019s rediscover this precious heritage together.<\/p>\n During the European Heritage Days, the National Library of France organises, as part of the\u00a0Europeana Sounds project<\/a>, a big public event.<\/p>\n On Sunday 18 September, we will gather to listen to some traditional French music recorded in 1913 and in 1946. Pascal Cordereix, Head of the sound archives service at the Audiovisual Department of the BnF will present the recordings, BnF\u2019s sound collections and their dissemination via the Europeana Sounds project. Then, singers specialised in traditional music will take the floor to reinterpret those same recordings. For more information about this event please visit\u00a0the Europeana Sounds website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"