The Festival's Geography

The "Festival Interceltique" is the high point in Lorient's annual music calendar and each year the Breton fishing town welcomes thousands of visitors to its customary festival landmarks. Fans of the famous Breton pipe-bands known as bagadoù gather at the Moustoir Stadium for the grand finale of the pipe-band contest. Lorient's stadium also hosts the popular "Nuits Magiques" compered by festival director, Jean-Pierre Pichard. L'Espace Kergroise is reserved for mainstream events pulling in crowds of several thousand while the Palais des Congrès (a much less picturesque venue) hosts more obscure evenings such as the annual bagpipe contest and intellectual debates on Celtic themes.

Le Cabaret absorbs the overspill from these three main venues and groups invited to play in its cosy Breton ambience take to the stage in front of two to four hundred fans sitting at tables eating and drinking. This year Le Cabaret featured an eclectic line-up of groups ranging from Scottish neo-Celtic hard rockers Big Jessie to trendy Irish/Celtic Texans Clandestine. Fans of more obscure fusion sounds also gathered at Le Cabaret to enjoy an unusual mix of harp and diatonic accordion courtesy of the Alain Pennec Quartet. One of the highlight's of Le Cabaret's concerts this year came on Saturday August 5th when the Breton group Kof A Kof (their name means Stomach to Stomach!) brought the house down with an evening of Breton baloche from the 20s and 30s (featuring Roland Becker on tenor sax and Régis Huiban on chromatic accordion).

Swaying to Old Sea Shanties
Given Lorient's history as a thriving fishing port (in fact, the town still boasts a small community of fishermen today, although the industry is no longer what it once was), no festival of Celtic music would have been complete without an evening of sea shanties! Le Cabaret proved to be the ideal venue for such rollicking sing-along nights and the group Djiboudjep got things off to a good start, delighting the audience with their music and their hard-drinking Captain Haddock looks. On Tuesday August 8th, Charivari (c.f. photo) and Shangaïé took to the stage in front of a packed-out Cabaret, some 500 fans swaying along to the shanty sound and downing copious amounts of alcohol as the second concert kicked off well after 11.

Gone are the days when groups stuck to harbourside songs and sea shanties (traditionally sung by sailors and seafarers as they worked on deck). These days traditional shanty melodies are mixed with everything from blues to biguine, creating an original deep-sea fusion of sounds. Led by Laurent Drouet (guitar, banjo, piano and composition), Charivari put on a decent show, delighting the audience with their salt-flavoured tangos. The group, who hail from Pont l'Abbé in "Bigoudin" country, have just released their first (self-financed) album Du bois qui craque and we wish them the best of luck. But it was Shangaïé who really brought the house down at Le Cabaret. This trio of shanty specialists, led by Gilles Beuzet (vocals and chromatic accordion) oozed energy, enthusiasm and impeccable professionalism as they got the crowd up on their feet swaying to shanty songs, jokes and Old Sea Salt anecdotes. Fans who fancy trying out a spot of Shangaïé at home could do worse than invest in a copy of the group's latest album, Sans retour ni consigne (Escalibur).

And The Celtic Fun Goes On …

And the good news is the "Festival Interceltique" is far from over: On Wednesday August 9th fans can catch a cerebral/sensual mix of jazz and Breton sounds at the Palais des Congrès courtesy of Riccardo Del Fra, Annie Ebrel and guests. On Thursday August 10th L'Espace Kergroise hosts a special American evening featuring the renowned harpist Deborah Henson-Conant and on Friday August 11th follows this with an unmissable concert from Jose Angel Hevia (whose album Terra de Nadie has sold a million copies to date!) Alternatively, on Friday night the Palais des Congrès hosts an evening with the traditional string quartet Arz Nevez. Erik Marchand and Le Taraf de Caransebes promise an evening of non-stop gavottes and horas in the "Moustoir" auditorium on Saturday August 12th. And whatever you do, don't miss the grand finale of this year's "Festival Interceltique" on Sunday August 13th when the musical army L'Héritage des Celtes invade the Moustoir Stadium led by legendary Breton folk star Dan Ar Braz (but more of that on Monday!)

Jérôme Samuel

If you'd like to find out more about Lorient's "Festival Interceltique" check out the festival's web site at Festival Interceltique de Lorient