Julian Cuvilliez consacre cette conférence à ce que l’on sait de la musique des Celtes et aux instruments dont jouaient les Gaulois. Il projette en 3D des artefacts rarement montrés et fait sonner des instruments reconstitués par l’archéologie expérimentale. Parmi les pièces commentées, le buste du Barde à la lyre et les monnaies du trésor des Baïocasses. Un temps de rencontre et d’échanges prolonge la séance.
Region: Brittany
Fest noz with Kelt Ha Breizh at l’île aux oiseaux
A fest noz comes to l’île aux oiseaux at Corn Er Pont, in Guern, with Kelt Ha Breizh playing for the dancers. The evening marks the fourth anniversary of L’École aux Oiseaux, and it departs from the venue’s usual concert format: the floor goes to dancers, not to an audience in seats. Kelt Ha Breizh carry the dance music in two sets. A shared meal of chicken supreme, fries and salad opens it, and places are taken by reservation.
La Miellerie d’Alré, l’abeille noire à Auray
Pierre Bourlès keeps his hives across the Pays d’Auray, from the Golfe du Morbihan and the Ria d’Etel to the Baie de Quiberon, and the bee is the abeille noire de Bretagne. Visitors follow the honey trail through the workshops, from harvest to bottling, and taste what comes out. The race is conserved, not farmed for yield, with the association Abeille Noire Atlantique credited for the breeding. The honey is extracted and jarred in Auray.
La brosserie d’Art Léonard à Saint-Brieuc
The Léonard workshop at Saint-Brieuc assembles fine brushes for the beaux-arts trade and the big cosmetics houses. It has stayed in the same family for seven generations, and the visit follows that assembly step by step. Saint-Brieuc has been a brushmaking town for over a century: Raphael, Isabey and Léonard, in the Sauer group, are the last three fine-brush names in France. The know-how carries the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label.
Visite de l’atelier de costumes bretons Damm Veur
Damm Veur is the workshop of Mickaël, who makes and restores traditional Breton costume at Noyal-Pontivy. He works à l’ancienne: the seams are sewn by hand, and an old machine still turns beside him. The cloth he uses is antique or modern, chosen for what a given costume needs. The visit is to the bench itself, with the maker at work on it, not a finished garment behind glass.
Bal Basque Fest Noz au festival Dispar Amzer
Gavottes and andros fill the hall at Douarnenez, answered by dances from the Basque Country. Two Breton singing pairs carry the kan-ha-diskan, Diridollou with Lavigne and Quéré with Le Menn, while Bilaka Kolektiboa brings the Basque dance. Txistu, xirula, gaita and alboka sound against harp, bassoon and bombarde. Dixit sings with Morgane Gregory, Klervi Piel and Sterenn Toscer. The bal is one night of Festival Dispar Amzer at Place des Halles.
Dremmwel : quarante ans de scène
Dremmwel is a traditional-music group based at Quimper, and this concert marks the forty years it has spent on the road. The programme reworks part of its repertoire and honours the musicians who shaped it. The storyteller Patrik Ewen holds the narrative thread on the theme of the horizon, which is what dremmwel means in Breton. The guests around him include the harpist Klervi Rivière and the Bigouden ensemble Bagad Cap Caval.
Chaud ! Les châtaignes at La Ferme d’Antan
La Ferme d’Antan hands a whole day to the chestnut, at the hamlet of Saint Esprit des Bois in Plédéliac. The forge is run and loaves go into the oven while old trades are shown at work, beside rooms of autumn varieties, photographs and creative workshops. A meal at midday, tastings and a sale of produce carry the rest of the afternoon. The day ends in a fest-deiz, the dance taken in daylight, behind Asteure, Land Segal Trad and Nomad.
The île Vierge and its keepers, guided in breton
This walk on the île Vierge is delivered in breton, and its own announcement is written in that language before any other. The guide talks through the island’s history, its lighthouses and the life of the diwallerien, the keepers, in days gone by. The group gathers at Kastell Ac’h to take the boat, then has half an hour guided and half an hour free on the island. The tall lighthouse itself is not entered and the party stays between four and nine.
Brasserie de Trévarn opens its brewhouse, Saint-Urbain
The Brasserie de Trévarn works out of a farm at Saint-Urbain, and it opens the brewhouse for the Breton tourist offices’ fortnight of company visits. The tour begins with the ingredients of beer, what each one is for and how it behaves. It follows the brewing itself and the styles that come out of it, then ends with a tasting and the chance to buy. The raw materials are mainly Breton and the beers carry the Nature et Progrès mention.