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 Photo - 28 Ko |
Three hundred men and women await the cantata. Six choirs sing a modern piece composed from times past, the Cantata of the end of the world("Kanadenn Penn ar bed") was composed by Jeff Le Peven from a piece by Pierre-Jakes Helias. The end of the world in this case is Finistere (from the Roman Finnis Terrae), the celts who had come from Asia had completed their search for the sun. Reaching the furthermost bounds of Europe, they would not give up and built boats to continue their search towards the west. This feeling of frustration and exile for the quest for the end of the world is personified by Pierre-Jakes Helias as pure torment in search of the elusive.The strength of the celt identity at this show was surprisingly strong, a public spectacle which enabled the heart to speak. |
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The active resistance of Bolivia Manta.
The bronzed faces with prominent features seem to spring from the past. The fall of the maya and inca empires has not prevented the bodies and traditions from surviving the conquistador mutilations. It is the past of the minority indians from Peru, the equator and Bolivia, which Carlos and Julio Arguedas of Bolivia Manta are attempting to maintain and embellish. The musicians` thick ritual costumes and the dancers` summoning the original Andeans contrast with the warmth of the colours, the music and the dances. Beneath the exotic surface, the festival audiences have shown, by calling back the group at the end of the show, the relationship and the dynamisms of the breton and andean cultures. As with other cultures, in Brittany and the Andes the past must be defended without being isolated. A dilemma once summed up by Pierre-Jakes Helias with the words: Yesterday without tomorrow, today would mean nothing. |
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 Photo - 43 Ko |
"This is music to wake the dead!" Pat Sacaze`s accordean opens and closes making heads spin. Although there are only four performers on stage, the musicians of the "Swing cajun" group go to great lengths to put together their boisterous rhythms. The contrast with the austere surroundings of the Eveche gardens is striking with a knowledgeable public and well-behaved children even though they have ants in their pants. Pat and his associates know their business and alternate between country blues and rock blues, true masters of dance from the cajun region. An area at ease with its traditions, mixing dance, music and simplicity as portrayed by the image of the "Swing Cajun" singer. " After a few more songs you find yourself at the bar to talk about it". |
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Only the sun goes to bed in Quimper.
To celebrate traditions the day is not long enough. As with all breton festivals, whether big or small, the festivities will carry on until the end of the week: when the sun sets the Bretons come to life and go with friends and family to the fest-noz, a breton night festival. Sometimes even music is not necessary; the 'gouerz' duet sings a capella chanting traditional songs which gradually leads to a long snake of dancers. Partners are often strangers but that doesn`t last for long: each dancer takes the hand of a stranger and skips rhythmically united by the dance. Only shyness doesn`t participate in the festivals. |
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His classmates nicknamed him "le Pohu", 'the moaner'. Pierre-Jakes Helias, legend teller, critic, and master of breton literature was greatly influenced by his family`s pride and his double heritage. On the one hand he had his native breton culture and on the other, an adopted more contemporary French culture. He loved classical writers from Gerard de Nerval to Shakespeare -, Helias a late writer himself, combined his pride and his identity in the novel Le Cheval d`orgueil (The horse of pride). This chronical of the Breton region in the process of losing its history was translated into twenty languages and made a strong name for the culture which was gradually losing its identity. Today the festival de Cornouaille pays homage to this "wonderful" man with an exhibition organized by his friends with a film documentary about his novel. Pierre-Jakes Helias passed away in 1995, however his name lives on in the festival de Cornouaille, representing the combination of the traditional and modern. The heritage which he left to the Bretons and cultural minorities can be summed up in one word: pride. |
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Keep on puffing!
Before her audition Marine has butterflies in her stomach. A breton from Concarneau, she is a traditional musician who only started playing the bombard three years ago. Today she is entering the Pierre Pulve competition which is open to beginners. With her friend Aureline from Landerneau they have rehearsed, too little for their liking, the marches and dances that they will perform. The judges are also traditional musicians from a bagad similar to that of the girls. Aurelie plays the biniou braz, the bigger of the two bourdons which emits a low-pitched sound and needs a constant breath of air. Her friend accompanies her on the bombard, a traditional flute which requires a constant and powerful breath. Marine gives every thing she`s got, almost torturing herself, but for the audience its a delight.
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