Crested Hens

CRESTED HENS, THE (Les Poules huppées). French, Bourrée à 3 temps (3/8 time). E Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). Composed in 1983 by French national and hurdy-gurdy (vielle a roue) player, Gilles Chabenat, who remarks that some bars of a Debussy composition served as inspiration for the germ of the tune. It is of a type from central France, where it is also a folk dance, and is usually played at a medium tempo, although this tune is often heard played slower (a la the Irish group Solas who popularized the tune and translated the title). Gilles remarks that the title was a kind of nonsense play, from his teenage years. The tune is often mistakenly ascribed Breton origins, and to varying degrees of antiquity, however, it is a modern composition by Chabenat.