Bombarde

The bombarde is a French folk instrument from Brittany. A cross between an oboe and a conical-bored pipe chanter, it is blown in the mouth, with the reed between the lips. Typically pitched in B flat, it plays a diatonic scale over two octaves.

Producing a very strident and powerful tone, it is most commonly heard today in bagades, the Breton version of the pipe bands. Traditionally it was used in a duet with the Biniou for Breton folk dancing.

The Bombarde requires so much breath that bombard players can rarely play for long periods. This suits Breton music, where there is often a solo line which is then echoed by a chorus: the bombarde plays the solo line and then the player recovers while the other instruments play the echo.