Category: Traditional
Fresu Pellen Marchand Trio: Ar Sorserez
Released in 1998, Condaghes (Silex/Audivis) is a superb trio recording featuring Italian trumpet player Paolo Fresu, Breton guitarist Jacques Pellen and Breton singer Erik Marchand. Double bass player Henri Texier (also born in Brittany) contributes to several tracks as well. What sounds like a very unlikely combination…
Lá Lugh: Mál Bhán Ní Chuilleannáin /The destitution
Lá Lugh was a traditional Irish music duo from County Louth in South Ulster comprised of husband and wife Gerry O’Connor (fiddle) and Eithne Ní Uallacháin (flute and voice). Between 1991 and Eithne Ní Uallacháin’s untimely death in 1999, the duo released three landmark recordings…
The Gloaming
The Gloaming’s self-titled début album is simply magnificent. This is contemporary music that is both deeply rooted in traditional Irish music or sean-nós singing and totally in tune with the 21st century musical zeitgeist. The group emerged in 2011 from the genuine convergence of kindred…
Le Rêve du Diable: Crac!
Crac! is an enchanting 15mn animated short by Frédéric Back originally released in 1981 and featuring a great collection of songs and tunes from the traditional French Canadian repertoire performed by folk group Le Rêve du Diable. Borrowing its name from a traditional reel of…
Ensemble Ériu: Jurna
“Ensemble” is a great word choice: it conveys the idea of a group of musicians playing in the field of either classical, contemporary or jazz music, while in the Irish context, composer Seán Ó Riada’s band Ceoltóirí Chualann introduced the idea of ensemble playing in…
This is How we Fly
Part contemporary dance project, part innovative folk band venturing into the realms of jazz, world, ambient and improvised music, This is How we Fly is simply a fascinating proposition in today’s musical landscape. Formed in 2010 by Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh (fiddle & hardanger fiddle), Seán…
Didier Squiban: Ridée de Loperhet
Didier Squiban is a French pianist based in Brittany who has been adapting and transposing traditional song and dance tunes from the Breton repertoire into the jazz idiom since the late 1970s. Traditional music has always been a fertile ground for jazz with so many…
Yann-Fañch Kemener & Aldo Ripoche: Ar veleien
Since his début in 1977, traditional Breton singer Yann-Fañch Kemener has made a huge contribution to the popularity of gwerzioù (unaccompanied laments) and to the revival of the “kan ha diskan” style, the traditional call and response singing for dancers. Now one of the most…