Since the early 1970s, Brittany has experienced a tremendous revival of its folk music. Along with flourishing traditional forms such as the bombard-binou pair and fest-noz ensembles incorporating other additional instruments, it has also branched out into numerous subgenres.
A bagad is a Breton band, composed of bagpipes, bombards and drums. The pipe band tradition in Brittany was inspired by the Scottish example and has developed since the mid-20th century. A bagad plays mainly Breton music, but a bagad's music is evolutionary: new forms and musical ideas are experimented with at each annual national competition.
Alan Stivell is a Breton and Celtic musician and singer, recording artist, and master of the Celtic harp. From the early 1970s, he revived global interest in the Celtic harp and Celtic music as part of world music. As a bagpiper and bombard player, he modernized traditional Breton music and singing in the Breton language. He was the precursor of Celtic rock. He is inspired by the union of the Celtic cultures and is a staunch defender of the Breton culture.
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, Dan Ar Braz has recorded as a soloist and with innovative Celtic harp player Alan Stivell. He represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996.
The Bretons are a Celtic ethnic group and people native to historical region Brittany. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brittonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain, particularly Cornwall and Devon, mostly during the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain. They migrated in waves from the 3rd to 9th century into Armorica, which was subsequently named Brittany after them.
The Festival Interceltique de Lorient (French), Gouelioù Etrekeltiek An Oriant (Breton) or Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient in English, is an annual Celtic festival, located in the city of Lorient, Brittany, France. It was founded in 1971 by Polig.
The bombard is a contemporary conical-bore double-reed instrument widely used to play traditional Breton music. The bombard is a woodwind instrument, and a member of the shawm family. Like most shawms, it has a broad and very powerful sound, vaguely resembling a trumpet. It is played as other shawms are played, with the double reed placed between the lips. The second octave is 'over-blown'; achieved via increased lip and air pressure or through the use of an octave key. It plays a diatonic scale of up to two octaves, although contemporary instruments frequently have added keywork permitting some degree of chromaticism. A bombard player is known as a talabarder after 'talabard', the older Breton name for the bombard.
Elven is a French commune, located in the department of Morbihan and region of Brittany.
Breton dance is a group of traditional dance forms originating in Brittany, the Celtic region of France. The dance has experienced a reappropriation in the late 1950s, with the development of the Celtic Circles and Fest Noz.
Les Ramoneurs de menhirs is a Breton Celtic punk group formed in 2006. Its members include Éric Gorce on the bombardon, Richard Bévillon on the bagpipes, the traditional vannetais singer Gwenaël Kere and Loran, guitarist from the group Bérurier Noir. They play concerts at fest noz as well as normal rock concerts. Most of their songs are sung in the Breton language.
Excalibur is a three-part "Celtic rock opera" written and directed by Breton folk-rock musician Alan Simon, the first part of which premiered in 1998, and was released as an album in the following year under the French title Excalibur, La légende des Celtes. Its success in France led to two more albums and two novels. In 2009 a spectacular adaptation combining material from the first two albums was performed in Germany under the English title Excalibur: the Celtic Rock Opera, with great success. It was extended with material from the third album in 2011.
Red Cardell is a Breton rock band that mixes Breton music with rock, folk, blues, world music and chanson réaliste.
The Bleuniadur Ensemble is a Breton ballet of music and dance, founded in Saint-Pol-de-Léon in 1978. Bleuniadur means "blossom" in the Breton language. The word exactly describes the dynamic movement of the flower when it opens ("flowering").
À l'Olympia was Stivell's first live album, recording at L'Olympia. It was released by Fontana in 1972.
Bagad Kemper is one of the oldest bagad, Breton pipe bands. Formed in 1949, its first president was none other than Loeïz Ropars, renovator of the Fest Noz and kan ha diskan singer. This ensemble holds the record for the most national Championship title wins.
The Festival de Cornouaille is an annual festival taking place in the city of Quimper, located in the south-west of Brittany (France) in July. The festival has been held since 1923 and is one of the biggest cultural events in Brittany.
The Bagad de Lann-Bihoué is a bagad, a Breton pipe band. It is the bagad of the French Navy. It represents the French Navy and France in multiple national and international events. It has performed regularly in front of Heads of State. It is a source of cultural influence in Brittany, as in the rest of France.
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.
Bagad Cap Caval is a bagad located in the Bigouden area, started in Plomeur in 1984.
Donatien Laurent was a French musicologist and linguist.
