Jean-René Guérin spends an evening on gallo and lets the language show its many facets. The session mixes short films, slideshows and told stories, and the audience is there to join in, not to sit still. What holds it together is the langue gallèse itself, carried by a host who works for it, not explained from outside. A friendly get-together follows at the salle polyvalente of Lamballe-Armor.
Region: Brittany
Three trades behind the forest of Brocéliande
Brocéliande is known for its legends, and this walk asks what work goes on behind them. Around the Jardin aux Moines, three parties read the same stretch of forest in turn: a storytelling guide from the Office de tourisme de Brocéliande-Paimpont, timber professionals from Fibois Bretagne, and foresters from the CNPF. Visitors hear how the forest is told, then how it is cut and sold. The trail runs two kilometres and sets out only if five sign on.
La langue des crêpes, a tongue not handed down
Jean Philippe Davodeau turns crêpes on stage and asks why the langue bretonne his grandparents spoke was never passed down to him. The question sends him to psychanalyse and sociologie to work out what happened au pays. What comes back is a cabaret conférence that keeps slipping out of his hands into situations with no sense in them. Two comédiens chanteurs hold the stage with him, Bob Simon among them.
Chataignes grillees a la Bogue d’Or, Redon
Kristine Allard takes children and their parents through Redon to explain how its festival of autumn came about. The walk follows the origin of the foire Teillouse and of the Bogue, the two gatherings that fill the town at harvest. The chestnut is then set out as the emblematic tree of the pays de Redon, with its fruit and its prized wood. It closes on the knack of telling a châtaigne from a marron.
Comme un souffle: Breton Accordion Concert-Reading
Comme un souffle is a concert-reading for two accordions, given at the Centre Culturel Perenn in Cléguérec. Morgane Simon’s compositions for the diatonic accordion meet Jérémy Simon’s improvisations on the chromatic concert accordion. Between the pieces the duo reads passages from Bauchau, Jaccottet, Schmitt, Blanckaert and Rimbaud. The music is of Breton inspiration, and by the close the small and large bellows are heard as a single breath.
Les Vignes de la Ria: a Breton Vineyard at Kerlézo
Commercial vine growing was barred in Brittany for most of the last century, and Les Vignes de la Ria is among the estates planting since the ban lifted. At Kerlézo, on a former family dairy farm, 25,000 vines now cover five hectares of granite soil. The visit crosses the plots, enters the winery in the old barn, and closes with a tasting of the estate’s first wines. Romain Le Guillou and viticulturist Adrien Michel work the vines organically.
Bogue d’Or singing workshop with Rachele Andrioli
Rachele Andrioli leads the singing workshop of the Bogue d’Or, one of four run by the Groupement Culturel Breton des Pays de Vilaine. Work turns on polyphony and on what the Apulian repertoire shares with Eastern Europe, Africa and South America. For its 51st edition the festival has left the Croix des Marins for the Carré 9 and its marquees, home to fest-noz, fest-deiz and the concours chant à danser. Andrioli sings again at Chicass’Noz.
Quimperlé Les Rias opens its workshops
Fifteen or so firms of the Quimperlé Les Rias destination take visitors behind their own doors. Breweries, a paper mill, a distillery, artisan studios and specialist companies are among them, so craft, farming and industry sit side by side. Forty-four tourist offices across Brittany stand behind the fortnight. Quimperlé’s own share turns on food production and the métiers d’art.
Goënidou by Carriage from Berrien
Au Cul du Cheval keeps its yard at Le Goënidou in Berrien, where goats graze beside the horses. Two draught horses, Breton and Percheron, are harnessed before the carriage sets off along the lanes. The driver explains animal traction, Breton history and the local plants on the way. The route ends at the archaeological site of the Goënidou, the ruins of a medieval village its people left. An organic local snack and a Breton tale can be added.
Entre terre et mer, Breton cooking workshop in Saint-Suliac
This is a participatory cooking workshop held in the village of Saint-Suliac, opposite the grocer’s shop. The menu is built from products emblematic of the Breton culinary heritage, and it runs to three courses. A Breizh samoussa opens it, filled with seasonal vegetables and kari gosse. A fish fillet follows, chosen from the day’s catch and served with a cider sauce and glazed seasonal vegetables, before pommé breton closes the table.