Gavotte slide

This is the tune called ‘Gavotte’ on the first Lunasa recording Track1, second tune.
Donogh Henessy has found out later it is a Laride known from the breton group Kornog.
Although to my knowledge a laride is a dance tune in 4/4 with 8 bars per part the notation here is useful to learn the tune as Lunasa played it.

As Lunasa recorded it, it is part of the tradition now, isn’t it?

3/2 would have been a better time signature - 12/8 suggests 4 groups of three 1/8-notes per bar, like a slide or single jig, which this is clearly not.

I don’t know much about Breton dance music, but other breton tunes in 3/2 certainly exist.

12/8 is a good time signature for a gavotte. 4/4 could have been right as well. One of the things that make Gavottes dances interesting is actually this balance between binary and ternary, so if the key signature is 12/8, you shall make it a bit more binary, it does not have to sound like a slide or a jig.
Gavotte (Dans tro in Breton) is cool stuff to dance.

Laridé à six temps (3/2) - as mentioned in the original contribution above - not a gavotte.

T: Laridé à six temps
M: 3/2
L: 1/8
K: Bdor
|:BABc d2 cd ed c2|BABc d2 cd ed c2:|
|:FBBG A2 B2 cBAG|FBBG A2 B2 cA B2:|

- and can be found with descriptions for the dance and other tunes in:

"The Breton Dance & Tune Book"
compiled by Dave Shepherd
Dragonfly Music, 1989

…or ridée in 6 time. This one is quite a common tune in the Breton tradition. There are dozens of versions of it. Here’s one I do:

X:1
T:Ridée 6 temps
M:6/4
L:1/8
K:Em
A3/2G/A3/2B/ c2 B3/2c/d3/2c/ B2 |1A3/2G/A3/2B/ c2 B3/2c/d3/2c/ B2 :|2A3/2G/A3/2B/ c2 B3/2c/d3/2c/B3/2d/ ::c2 A2 G3/2A/ B3/2d/c3/2B/A3/2B/ |c2 A2 G3/2A/ B3/2d/c3/2B/A3/2B/ :|

You will find ridée 6 temps normally written in, well, 6 time. This may tend to confuse Irish musicians who might be tempted to do 2 groups of 3. But it the pattern on a ridée à six temps is 3 groups of 2. There are also ridée à huit (8) temps, laridées (in 4 or 6) and simply "ridées" (also in 4). The terminology depends upon how close you are to the French border.

P.S. I can’t magine how a gavotte could possibly be written in 12/8. The entire point of the gavotte is the stress on the 7th beat. Write it out in 12 and you got a big mess on your hands. Also, "Dans tro" simply means a "dance from the region of…" e.g.: "dans tro gavotte" (a dance from the region where gavottes are common) or "dans tro plinn" (a dance from the plinn region), etc. Sorry to be so anal, but this stuff is important to me.

Not ‘anal’, very welcomed, valued comment. I like your ‘version’ too, if not the ABCs that way. I have seen it notated as you’ve mentioned it, "3 groups of 2", or 3/2. I find it easier to follow it simplified, with or without the swing notated, the first examples are without the ‘>’, in order to make reading it easier:

T:Ridée 6 temps
M:6/4
L:1/8
K:Em
|: AG AB c2 Bc dc B2 |1 AG AB c2 Bc dc B2 :|
2 AG AB c2 Bc dc Bd ||
|: c2 A2 GA Bd cB AB | c2 A2 GA Bd cB AB :|

M:3/2:

|: AGAB c2 Bc dc B2 |1 AGAB c2 Bc dc B2 :|
2 AGAB c2 Bc dcBd ||
|: c2 A2 GABd cBAB | c2 A2 GABd cBAB :|

& with ~ ‘>’ = 3-to-2, the usual if swung:

|: A>GA>B c2 B>c d>c B2 |1 A>GA>B c2 B>c d>c B2 :|
2 A>GA>B c2 B>c d>cB>d ||
|: c2 A2 G>AB>d c>BA>B | c2 A2 G>AB>d c>BA>B :|

To add to the confusion, breton musicians can begin a set of ridées with tunes in 6 times, and continue the same dance with laridés tunes i.e in 8 times… Which can be tricky for the dancers, and breton dancing likes that kind of trick (for example, the "trompeuse de Dinan" is a dance and a tune where the musicians can insert rests wherever they want - trompeuse means confusing !)
To go back to the tunes written here, see this video, with another confusing title "laridé 6 temps" (a better title would have been simply "ridées") :
https://youtu.be/lpPwh-fqy4g?t=1m25s

play video

I know another version of this tune (setting 5), with a different second part that can be heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYgfRoic4ak

play video

Concerning the key, I prefer to consider it as in Am (for all the settings proposed, except the one with 3 sharps), as far as there are no F#. Try some variations with F’s, what sounds better : with or without sharp on F ? My opinion is without sharp ! Furthermore, the tune ends on A which is a good indication of its key.

and
AGAB c2 B2|
is the start of a an dro (?)