The Celtic countries are officially six in number:
Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall, and of course Brittany.
To these six countries are added Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria, all three in Spain,
but also the Aosta Valley, in Italy.
More detailed information can be found on
Wikipedia.
These Celtic countries find themselves in their music,
celebrated by events such as the interceltic festival of Lorient.
A few musical instruments are associated with Celtic music,
like the bagpipe or the Celtic harp.
Another page is devoted to bagpipes.
Tri Yann
The group Tri Yann ("the three Johns") is from Nantes.
Their style is inspired by traditional Breton and Celtic music and songs.
Michao's mare is undoubtedly one of Tri Yann's most famous songs,
although in fact it belongs to the traditional French repertoire
and that it was taken over and rearranged by the band.
One of Tri Yann's most beautiful songs is "Si mort a mors" (if death has bitten),
inspired by an anonymous Breton poem, written in French on the occasion of the funeral of Duchess Anne.
The music is that of the traditional Irish song An Cailín Rua.
And to compare, the song An Cailín Rua.
Gilles Servat
Gilles Servat is a committed and activist Breton artist. After attending the Angers School of Fine Arts where he
studied sculpture, painting, drawing and engraving, he moved away from this artistic environment and preferred
writing and especially singing
Gilles Servat's emblematic song is La Blanche Hermine.
This song describes the case of conscience of a man torn between the love of his wife and the armed struggle
for the decolonization of his country. It clearly marks the refusal of Brittany's loss of identity.
It is so well known that many think it belongs to the traditional repertoire.
A political party attempted to use it without permission and was severely reprimanded by the author.
A concert by Gilles Servat.
Denez Prigent
Denez Prigent is a French singer and songwriter of songs in the Breton language.
His favorite genres are kan ha diskan, song and counter-song to dance
and especially the gwerz, a dramatic song recounting a historical fact or a tale
borrowed from Breton or Celtic mythology.
E Garrison (“in garrison”) is a traditional Breton song performed to the tune of a Plinn dance.
It is sung in the form of kan ha diskan, a kind of response song typical of Central Brittany.
The text evokes a story of adultery of a woman with a miller during the husband's garrison in Paris.
Another Kan ha diskan, Peñse Nedeleg (“The Shipwreck of Christmas”), mischievous and lively, tells
to the rhythm of a fisel dance the burlesque story of a Christmas Eve interrupted by the sinking of a cargo ship...
Dozens of boxes of tobacco washed up on the shore, quickly recovered…
The gwerz Gortoz a ran (“I’m waiting”) is a poetic song sung with Lisa Gerrard.
In 2001, Gortoz a ran became the main theme of the soundtrack of the American film
Black Hawk Down by Ridley Scott.
La gwerz kyiv recounts the great famine in Ukraine of the last century, caused by Stalin.
Current events show us that History repeats itself.
Dances
Celtic music goes hand in hand with folk dances.
Breton dances
Dances by the Saint-Malo group Quic-en-Groigne.
Breton dance is very sporty. Here, the performance of Breton comedian Simon Cojean.
Breton folk dances are still as popular with the public as ever.
It is not uncommon during a concert of Breton music to see the public spontaneously start dancing.
Irish dances
Irish dancing is also very popular.
They are characterized above all by rapid movements of the legs,
while the rest of the body, trunk and arms remain fixed and very rigid.
These dances were popularized by the show Riverdance.
