{"id":5507,"date":"2014-04-28T17:50:50","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T21:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=5507"},"modified":"2018-08-24T15:56:32","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T19:56:32","slug":"monday-april-28-2014-saint-barthelemy-llann-gouh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=5507","title":{"rendered":"Monday, April 28, 2014 \u2014 Saint-Barth\u00e9lemy &<\/span> Lann Gouh"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fab\u00adu\u00adlous night of music and con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion. An assort\u00adment of local musi\u00adcians at the vil\u00adlage pub called Sterenn Roz (The Rose Star). These \u201cses\u00adsion trad<\/em>\u201d have been held here for at least a quar\u00adter cen\u00adtu\u00adry. Young and old, play\u00ading in dif\u00adfer\u00adent com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtions through\u00adout the evening. No stage, just a com\u00adfort\u00adable mix of musi\u00adcians and clien\u00adtele. Peo\u00adple switch\u00ading instru\u00adments, drop\u00adping in or drop\u00adping out of a song as the spir\u00adit moved them, glances exchanged between play\u00aders who found a com\u00admon groove. The Celtic way. There were accor\u00addions; gui\u00adtars, bag\u00adpipes, and a cou\u00adple of reed instru\u00adments resem\u00adbling a medieval shawm which they called a bom\u00adbarde<\/em>. Call-and-response, knees and feet catch\u00ading the tem\u00adpo. The style of per\u00adfor\u00admance, the rhythms and melodies bore a strong resem\u00adblance to Cana\u00addi\u00adan folk music (It\u2019s no acci\u00addent that the acknowl\u00adedged region\u00adal heart of Cana\u00addi\u00adan folk is Cape Bre\u00adton<\/em>, Nova Sco\u00adtia). But the fid\u00addle, the work\u00adhorse of Cana\u00addi\u00adan music, played no part. So the effect was a bit weird to me, as if some\u00adone played blue\u00adgrass with no banjo.<\/p>\n

\"While<\/a>

While this pic\u00adture is from last year, these are most\u00adly peo\u00adple I saw when I was there.<\/p><\/div>\n

As it got lat\u00ader, some of the musi\u00adcians left, but most stayed until the last cus\u00adtomer left \u2014 the last, except for me, who could not tear myself away from the good time feel\u00ading. At this point, the pub\u00ad\u2019s own\u00ader asked me if I would care to share a drink with the musi\u00adcians. What fol\u00adlowed was a par\u00adty in the back room, and \u201ca drink\u201d turned out to be a full-scale par\u00adty with bot\u00adtles of wine and stronger stuff, cheese, meat, bread, pas\u00adtries. The con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion was loud, unbri\u00addled, rang\u00ading from broad humor to earnest pol\u00adi\u00adtics, musi\u00adcal his\u00adto\u00adry, phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy, this thing and that. I was prob\u00ada\u00adbly thought of as an odd\u00adi\u00adty, but I seemed to have gained accep\u00adtance. We final\u00adly stum\u00adbled off into the dark\u00adness at 5 AM<\/span>. I fell asleep at my lodg\u00adings dread\u00ading the hang\u00adover I would get, but it did not materialize.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

The archae\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal site at Lann Gouh, north of Saint-Barth\u00e9le\u00admy and on the oth\u00ader side of the riv\u00ader Blavet, is a vil\u00adlage that seems to have been found\u00aded around the year 980 AD<\/span>. It was aban\u00addoned a few cen\u00adturies lat\u00ader. Its hous\u00ades dis\u00adap\u00adpeared under wind-blown soil, grass and scrub, but left mounds vis\u00adi\u00adble enough to arouse the sus\u00adpi\u00adcions of archae\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgists. The full extent of the vil\u00adlage is not yet known, but sev\u00aden\u00adteen struc\u00adtures have been exca\u00advat\u00aded so far. What\u00adev\u00ader its total extent, it was fair\u00adly large for a late 10th cen\u00adtu\u00adry set\u00adtle\u00adment in such an out-of-the-way place, and impor\u00adtant enough to mer\u00adit a sub\u00adstan\u00adtial perime\u00adter wall.<\/p>\n

\"Current<\/a>

Cur\u00adrent inhab\u00adi\u00adtant of Lann Gouh<\/p><\/div>\n

A dis\u00adtinc\u00adtive fea\u00adture of the site is its almost total lack of arti\u00adfacts. This seems to be because some sud\u00adden polit\u00adi\u00adcal or eco\u00adnom\u00adic change trig\u00adgered its com\u00adplete aban\u00addon\u00adment. It is well doc\u00adu\u00adment\u00aded that Bre\u00adton vil\u00adlagers in lat\u00ader peri\u00adods would thor\u00adough\u00adly clean a house before leav\u00ading it, remov\u00ading every\u00adthing that was portable or poten\u00adtial\u00adly use\u00adful. The few items that have been found are the sort that could be over\u00adlooked in such circumstances.This is an anal\u00ado\u00adgy from a lat\u00ader con\u00adtext, but it would explain the strik\u00ading absence of finds.The site, on a steep hill\u00adtop with lim\u00adit\u00aded approach\u00ades, would have been very defen\u00adsi\u00adble, but lacked a reli\u00adable water source with\u00adout climb\u00ading down to the valley.<\/p>\n

How\u00adev\u00ader, much can be learned despite the lack of pot\u00adtery, spin\u00addle stones, etc that nor\u00admal\u00adly fig\u00adure in inter\u00adpret\u00ading a site. The sub\u00adstan\u00adtial stone foun\u00adda\u00adtions of the build\u00adings are very well pre\u00adserved, mak\u00ading recon\u00adstruc\u00adtion of them easy. Most were sin\u00adgle-room, sin\u00adgle-entrance struc\u00adtures of wood and thatch built on low stone walls in a rec\u00adtan\u00adgu\u00adlar pat\u00adtern. Each was divid\u00aded in half between space for humans and for live\u00adstock. They were not sub\u00adstan\u00adtial\u00adly dif\u00adfer\u00adent from peas\u00adant dwellings in the Iron Age.<\/p>\n

The most inter\u00adest\u00ading dis\u00adcov\u00ader\u00adies at the site have been paly\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal. These are par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly rich, and give us a pic\u00adture of the wide vari\u00adety of plants that were grown for cook\u00ading, med\u00adi\u00adcine, fab\u00adric dye\u00ading, and oth\u00ader uses (mar\u00adi\u00adjua\u00adna per\u00adhaps account\u00ading for one of the \u201coth\u00ader uses\u201d).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s prob\u00ada\u00adble that the vil\u00adlage was inten\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly plant\u00aded there by a local sub-fief\u00addom of the Counts of Bri\u00adtan\u00adny, per\u00adhaps under a lord based in Pon\u00adtivy. The Counts don\u2019t seem to have had much con\u00adtrol over the Bre\u00adton high\u00adlands, and might have parceled out the ter\u00adri\u00adto\u00adry to whomev\u00ader thought they could wring a mar\u00adgin\u00adal sur\u00adplus from rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly remote and self-sus\u00adtain\u00ading vil\u00adlages such as this one.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like\u00adly that the region was espe\u00adcial\u00adly pro\u00adduc\u00adtive in the tenth and eleventh cen\u00adturies. The soil is good, but the ter\u00adrain is rough, forests intractable and trans\u00adporta\u00adtion must have been ter\u00adri\u00adble. Nowa\u00addays, it is spec\u00adtac\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly pro\u00adduc\u00adtive. Every farm I\u2019ve seen has been mod\u00adern and well-run. This seems to be a recent phe\u00adnom\u00ade\u00adnon, the result of a wave of agri\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal reform that swept Brit\u00adtany short\u00adly after World War II<\/span>. At the time, the region stepped for\u00adward to feed war-rav\u00adaged France, and adopt\u00aded many new tech\u00adniques. This is not the Sovi\u00adet-style col\u00adlec\u00adtivized cor\u00adpo\u00adrate agri\u00adcul\u00adture that dom\u00adi\u00adnates the Unit\u00aded States (and, increas\u00ading\u00adly, Cana\u00adda). These are indi\u00advid\u00adual farms owned by indi\u00advid\u00adual farm\u00aders. You can buy their high-qual\u00adi\u00adty prod\u00aducts in every local store: milk that tastes like milk is sup\u00adposed to, but\u00adter that cre\u00adates bliss in your mouth, and, of course, the char\u00adcu\u00adterie<\/em> that the region is famous for. I\u2019ve been eat\u00ading this stuff every day, and it\u2019s damn good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A fab\u00adu\u00adlous night of music and con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion. An assort\u00adment of local musi\u00adcians at the vil\u00adlage pub called Sterenn Roz (The Rose Star). These \u201cses\u00adsion trad\u201d have been held here for at least a quar\u00adter cen\u00adtu\u00adry. Young and old, play\u00ading in dif\u00adfer\u00adent com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtions throughout \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,940,947,943],"tags":[1117,1456,1466],"class_list":["post-5507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-am-blog-2014","category-c-listening","category-cm-listening-2014","tag-breton-music","tag-saint-barthelemy","tag-sterenn-roz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5507"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5551,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507\/revisions\/5551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}