La Mal Coiffée

Music of Occitania refers to the diverse traditional and art-music practices associated with the Occitan-speaking regions of southern France (and adjacent Occitan valleys in Italy and Spain’s Val d’Aran). It encompasses medieval troubadour song, rural dance repertoires, distinctive regional instruments (notably several bagpipe types, hurdy-gurdy, and the galoubet–tambourin pair), and contemporary revival and fusion scenes that perform in the Occitan language. Historic strands include the 12th–13th century troubadour lyric tradition (canso, alba, planh, sirventes), later village dances such as the farandole, rondeau, and bourrée à 2/3 temps, and local polyphonic and responsorial singing. In the 20th–21st centuries, artist-collectives and folk ensembles have revitalized these repertoires, often blending them with chanson, reggae/dub, hip hop, and world-folk aesthetics, while centering Occitan identity and language.