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Gilles Servat is a French singer, born in Tarbes in southern France in 1945, into a family whose roots lay in the Nantes region of Brittany. He is an ardent promoter ardent of the Breton culture, and sings in both French and Breton, as well as the other celtic languages, and was a member of Dan ar Braz's Héritage des Celtes. He is also a poet and novelist.
He spent his early childhood and teenage years around Nantes and Cholet, after his father obtains a position of chief of the personnel at the factory Ernault-Batignolles. [1] During this time, he is influenced by Georges Brassens and Léo Ferré, which shows not only on his writing, but furthermore on his way to think and react to events. [2]
After a baccalauréat in literature, he studied sculpture, painting, drawing and engraving at the École régionale des beaux-arts d'Angers, with the goal of becoming a teacher. The rise in popularity of conceptual art made him change his career path. He then spent four years in Angers and two in Paris, where he worked for some months at the ORTF. [3]
He started writing in 1967, to be able to express himself freely and create his repertoire. In may 1968, he discovered the Breton political problems after meeting Serge Bihan, from Groix, and makes a parallel with the struggles a friend from Occitania told him about. In an interview published in the magazine Autrement in 1979, he states that Paris allowed the various communities of regional minorities to meet and create links between themselves. [4] In 1969, he stays on the island of Groix to perform there all summer, which became a key moment in his relationship with Brittany. There, he lived with the working class, reads the book Ar en deulin by Yann-Ber Kalloc'h, understood his roots and decided to sing them. He first met Glenmor while performing at Chez Pouzoulic, the café of the island. The famous bard joined him on stage for a few songs and said "Who said bardism was dead?" afterwards. [5] At the end of summer, he came back to Paris for work, and performed regularly at the café La Ville de Guingamp (in Montparnasse), where he was discovered by the owner of the Ti-Jos who invited him to play there.
For more than two years, he busked by playing every evening at the Ti-Jos, a meeting place for the Bretons living in Paris. [6] It is there that sung La Blanche Hermine for the first time in 1970. [2] Living in Paris made him feel more Breton and he said he discovered his "bretonnitude" there [7] and gave him the inspiration for the song Montparnasse blues. He also began to learn the Breton language with the association Kêr Vreizh. Leaving a career as a civil servant in the PTT administration, he became a professional musician, motivated by the discovery of Alan Stivell. Gilles Servat also joined the Goursez Vreizh. [8] In 1972, He moved to Nantes.
His music evokes the Isle of Groix, off the coast of Morbihan.
His music was originally inspired by the works of Breton musicians Glenmor and Alan Stivell. The title song from his first album, La Blanche Hermine , the White Ermine being the national emblem of Brittany, became an anthem for Bretons.
In the 1990s he became part of the Héritage des Celtes, led by Dan Ar Braz and featuring the most famous names in Celtic music.
In 1998 he released the album "Touche pas à la Blanche Hermine" ("Don't Touch The White Stoat") as a defiant stand against the French National Front who had used Servat's song La blanche Hermine during its meetings.
Servat sings in Breton, [9] French and English.
Servat is also an actor and writer; he has authored several novels inspired by Celtic myths and legends. He is also a campaigner for the Breton language and a supporter of the Skol Diwan Breton language schools.
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Since the early 1970s, Brittany has experienced a tremendous revival of its folk music. Along with flourishing traditional forms such as the bombard-biniou pair and fest-noz ensembles incorporating other additional instruments, it has also branched out into numerous subgenres.
The flag of Brittany, a region in the northwest of France, is called the Gwenn-ha-du, which means white and black, in Breton. The flag was designed in 1923 by Morvan Marchal. It is also unofficially used in the department of Loire-Atlantique, although this now belongs to the Pays de la Loire and not to the region of Brittany, as the territory of Loire-Atlantique is historically part of the province of Brittany. Nantes, its prefecture, was once one of the two capital cities of Brittany.
Dan Ar Braz is a Breton guitarist-singer-composer and the founder of L'Héritage des Celtes, a 50-piece Pan-Celt band. Leading guitarist in Celtic music, he recorded as a soloist and with Celtic harp player Alan Stivell. He represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996.
Kan ar Bobl is a Breton music competition created in 1973, that takes place in Lorient as part of the Festival Interceltique de Lorient. It was the brainchild of Polig Montjarret.
Jef Le Penven was a French composer, born in Pontivy, Morbihan, Brittany.
Héritage des Celtes is a folk-rock album by Dan Ar Braz and Héritage des Celtes musicians, released in 1994 by Columbia France, catalogue number COL 477763 2.
Red Cardell is a French, Breton rock band, that mixes Breton music with rock, folk, blues, world music and chanson réaliste.
Glenmor was the stage name of Emile Le Scanf (1931–1996), a Breton protest singer who sought to preserve the Breton language and adapt local traditions of folk singing to the radical culture of the 1960s and 70s. He is also known by the Breton name Milig Ar Skañv.
Mikael Bodlore-Penlaez is a Breton author and cartographer. He co-edited, with Divi Kervella, the first bilingual Atlas of Brittany who has received several awards, including the "Brittany's Prize of the Book".
L'Héritage des Celtes is a 50-piece Pan-Celt band with musicians from Celtic nations, started by two Bretons in the town of Quimper ; the producer Jacques Bernard and the guitarist Dan Ar Braz. It started as a gathering of friends to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Festival de Cornouaille in 1993. The adventure surpassed all expectations: 2.5 million albums sold, thousands of spectators in biggest stages of France and two Victoires de la Musique awards in 1996 and 1998. Their fame within France was so great that in 1996 they represented France in the 41st Eurovision Song Contest. In August 2000 the group played at the Festival Interceltique in Lorient where Dan Ar Braz announced that it would be the final concert.
Pop-Plinn is a traditional air of a Breton dance transformed into pop music by Alan Stivell. The "Dañs Plinn" is a fast and physical dance where the dancer makes two small jumps by holding the arm of his neighbors.
The Festival de Cornouaille is an annual festival taking place in Quimper, a city in the south-west of Brittany, a western region of France. The festival begins on the third Sunday of July and lasts for one week. It has been held since 1923 and is one of the biggest cultural events in Brittany.
Keltia Musique is a French independent record label and distribution company specializing in Celtic music. It was founded in 1978 in Quimper, Brittany, by Hervé Le Meur.
Again is the Alan Stivell's seventeenth album released in 1993 under the Keltia III label by Disques Dreyfus and Sony Music in France. He registers again his greatest successes of the seventies with updated arrangements and help of prestigious guests : Kate Bush, Shane MacGowan from the Irish group The Pogues, the Senegal singer Doudou Ndiaye Rose, the French singers Laurent Voulzy and Breton singers Gilles Servat and Yann-Fañch Kemener.
Al Liamm is a bimonthly magazine of culture and literature in the Breton language.
The Order of the Ermine was originally a chivalric order of the 14th and 15th centuries in the Duchy of Brittany. The ermine is the emblem of Brittany. In the 20th century, it was revived by the Cultural Institute of Brittany as an honor for those contributing to Breton culture. It was created in 1972 to honor those who contribute to Breton culture and development. At its head is a Chancellor and two vice-chancellors: Riwanon Kervella and André Lavanant. The siege is at the Institut Culturel de Bretagne, the castle of the Ermine, Vannes.
Donatien Laurent was a French musicologist and linguist.
La Blanche Hermine is a 1970 song by French singer Gilles Servat with lyrics affirming the Breton identity. It was first published on the eponymous album from 1971, which was certified gold. Calling for an armed uprising against the French, the song quickly became an anthem in Brittany and popular in all of France.
Andrée Le Gouil, known by her stage name Andrea Ar Gouilh, is a French singer.
"Me zo ganet e kreiz ar mor" is an autobiographical poem by the Breton-language writer Yann-Ber Kalloc'h which celebrates the island of Groix, where he was born, and describes his parents' struggles and his own. In a setting by Jef Le Penven it has become one of the most popular Breton-language songs, performed by Alan Stivell, Yann-Fañch Kemener, Julie Fowlis and others. The title has several variants, including Me zo ganet e kreiz er mor and Me zo gañnet é kreiz er mor.
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