The cabrette ( French: literally "little goat", alternately ''musette'') is a type of

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, Nor ...

which appeared in

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the 19th century, and rapidly spread to

Haute-Auvergne Cantal (; oc, Cantal or ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, with its prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour (the episcopal see) and Mauriac; its residents are known as Cantalians (fren ...

and

Aubrac Aubrac is a small village in the southern Massif Central of France. The name is also applied to the surrounding countryside, which is properly called L'Aubrac in French. The Aubrac region has been a member of the Natura 2000 network since August 20 ...

Details

The cabrette comprises a chanter for playing the melody and a drone, but the latter is not necessarily functional. Though descended from earlier mouth-blown bagpipes, bellows were added to the cabrette in the mid-19th century. It is said that Joseph Faure, of

Saint-Martin-de-Fugères Saint-Martin-de-Fugères () is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France. Population Sights The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail (GR 70), a popular long-distance path, runs through the village. See also *Communes of the Ha ...

Haute-Loire Haute-Loire (; oc, Naut Léger or ''Naut Leir''; English: Upper Loire) is a landlocked department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Named after the Loire River, it is surrounded by the departments of Loire, Ardèche ...

, first applied a bellows to the cabrette. Faure, a carpenter stricken with lung disease, was inspired when he used a bellows to start a fire.

Sources

Dedicated cabrette site

External links

*{{cite web, accessdate=June 3, 2018 , url=http://www.bagpipesociety.org.uk/guide/cabrette/ , title=Guide to the Cabrette , publisher=The Bagpipe Society Bagpipes French musical instruments