21 April – Traditional Breton music – Yann-Fanch KEMENER (France)

Saturday 21st April: Traditional Breton music

led by Yann-Fanch KEMENER (France)

The Breton vocal world rests on three ancient pillars. There are long laments and epic ballads, "gwerzioù," and "soniù", religious hymns, "kantikoù", and, of course, singing for dancing, "kan ha diskan," in which two singers provide the rhythmic melody. Whilst in the religious songs we meet with the repercussions of the ecclesiastical musical practices that expanded throughout Europe, the old ballads retain their distinctive Celtic melody close to Irish and Scottish songs in Gaelic. The inimitable, riveting rhythmic pulsations of Breton gavottes and other circle and chain dances can be found nowhere else in the world.

Although, nowadays, Breton singers, often perform with bands of various forms, the deeply rooted tradition of singing without accompaniment is still alive and incredibly wide-spread. And it is this singing that we will focus on, in all of the above-mentioned forms.

Our guide through the melancholic and rough musical landscape of lower Brittany is Yann-Fañch Kemener, a singer, storyteller, collector and folklorist, who, unlike many of his countrymen, has never set off along the highway of dulcet folk-pop and has always honestly walked his way to other adherents along the twisting byways of field research. At the same time, though, all his life he has endeavoured to treat the material he uncovers both boldly and experimentally, in addition to completely traditional practices we can find trips to jazz, classical music and electronica in his musical portfolio.

For more detailed reading and musical examples see http://blog.rond.cz/kemener/

Workshop is held in cooperation with o.s Rond.

Partners:

The workshop will take place from 10 am to 5.30 pm with the break for lunch in DDM Slezská 21, Praha 2. The price is CZK 890,-/ 790,- for students, senior citizens and parents on maternity leave. This workshop will be translated to czech language.

VIDEOS:

SHORT PORTRAIT (IN FRENCH)

Yann-Fañch Kemener from Institut culturel de Bretagne / on Vimeo.

MUSIC SAMPLES: