Treujenn-gaol: France musical instrument

The treujenn-gaol is the Breton term given to the clarinet as used in Breton music. The term ‘treujenn gaol’ was originally a pejorative term invented by the players of the bombard that found the newer musical instrument encroaching on their livelihood.

source of picture: treujenngaol.over-blog..

The clarinet came into Brittany in the 18^th century. The most tradional Breton clarinet is an older version of musical instrument that has 13 or less keys, in comparison to the modern Boehm instrument that is commonly used in the modern day music in France. In the 19^th century, classical musicians discarded older musical instruments in favor of newer versions of musical instruments from producers like Boehm, Albert, etc. substituting the formerly ubiquitous 13-key clarinet in the 19^th century. These discarded musical instruments suddenly found their way into the hands of the folk players and the treujenn-gaol was born.

After a decline in use in traditional music in the early part of the 20^th century, the musical instrument was revived in the 1970s for it to be used in pairs of instruments and in the music of the bagad.

In the music of Breton, two clarinet typically perform together, or the clarinet performs with an accordion, though they also perform in groups with other musical instruments. The clarinet is a very common part of the Breton jazz bands, together with the saxophone and drums, performing both jazz and traditional songs.