Shane MacGowan and Alan Stivell

 There have been plenty of obituaries for Shane MacGowan over recent days, some good, some bad. All giving him the credit he deserved and probably could have heard more of during his career. 

I saw The Pogues live a couple of times, and when living in Paris in the 90s was friendly with a mainly Irish crowd, for whom The Pogues - by then separated from MacGwan who was forging a career as a solo artist- were a landmark of recent Irish musical culture.

It was during these years that MacGowan would work with Alan Stivell, a French musician who was always ready to celebrate the celtic connections between Brittany, Ireland, and the other celtic nations.

Shane MacGowan appeared on two tracks on Stivell's Again album, a collection that saw him revisit earlier work, this time in collaboration with other artists. Three tracks featured MagGowan, Tri Martelot, Suite Sudarmoricaine and The Foggy Dew.

Many artists who worked with MacGown or who knew him have paid tribute to his unique talent, Stivell among them. 

He wrote: "It was a great gift he gave me, and for me a tip of the hat to these punk musicians to whom we owe their participation in a new Celtic wave that was about to emerge. 

"His iconoclastic way of interpreting Irish songs, the opposite of an almost classical polished approach, seduced me like many people." 

They worked together shortly after MacGowan parted from The Pogues, the collaboration probably being a welcome opportunity for him in what was no doubt an uncertain time. 

If it's a footnote to an extraordinary career and the life of a unique artist, it's a worthy one.

Dom DufF: Kalon

A new single by Breton folk singer Dom DufF, with the track Kalon.

It's in Breton, the title means 'Heart'. I don't speak Breton, but that doesn't stop the track being an earworm after just a couple of listens.

Duff's releases a new album to be entitled Ker in October.

His last album, 2013's Babel Pow Wow won the best breton Album of 2014 award by France 3 TV

Artists like Dom DufF don't just keep the Breton language and culture alive, they keep it vigorous and essential.  Long may it continue.

Merzhin: L'Éclaireur

I've always had plenty of time for Breton indie rock band Merzhin, and it's great to see s new video for the
track L'Éclaireur

Merzhin are an act who manage to produce a very decent contemporary indie rock, and effortlessly infuse it with a Breton flavour.

A careful listen to this track reveals the bombarde - a traditional Breton instrument - being played, but it's a million miles away from folk rock.

They've always been an impressive live act, and it's nice to see a video doing them justice.

The track comes from their Des heures a la Seconds album, which came out in March and is being released on vinyl on June 23.

Celtic Connections 2014

This week sees the start of the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, and while its focus is on traditional and folk music, there're much of interest to French music fans.

The event has been running for 21 years, and was initially established to fill the normally quiet schedule that the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall had in January.

It has since then become one of the world's biggest celebrations of celtic music, and has become a more diverse event. While celtic music remains at its core, it also embraces traditional music from outwith the traditional celtic countries.

A number of French acts play this year's Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, including Dub Inc, one of the country's best reggae bands. They play at the ABC on Friday January 17.



Meanwhile, other acts from the wider francophone sphere take to the stage, including Paris-based Cape verde singer  Mayra Andrade who plays on January 21, who was recently shortlisted in the best World Music Album category in the 2014 Victoires de la musique awards.



Amadou and Mariam play on January 22 at the Royal Concert Hall, and while for technical reasons not performing their Eclipse set, it's a great opportunity to see one of Africa's most popular exports in recent years.



There is a Breton night featuring Barzaz and Ronan Le Bars Group



 Manu Dibango from  Camerooon has been a pioneer of world music, with his blend of jazz, funk, afro beat and hip hop. He plays on January 26.



Also, Winston McAnuff and Fixi play on January 31, reggae veteran McAnuff now living in Paris where he collaborated with Fixi for 1007 Paris Rockin' and 2013's A New Day.

Nolwenn Leroy: Sixième Continent

A new video by Breton chanteuse Nolwenn Leroy for the song Sixième Continent.

The song comes from her album Ô Filles de l'Eau which was released in November last year and continues her mission to make Celtic music with a commercial modern sound.

The album is her fifth, and it followed the Bretonne album from 2010, a number one album in France for over seven weeks that featured her versions of modern and traditional celtic songs.

Her latest collection keeps the celtic style, but with the songs more focussed on sea-related themes.

Nolwenn initially won the second series of the TV show Star Academy in 2002 and had her first number one single the following year.

While her previous single from Ô Filles de l'Eau, Juste pour me souvenir, didn't make quite such a big splash, her new clip and her extensive tour dates from this month through the rest of the year show that Nolwenn remains a big fish in the French music sea.

Rétro: Alan Stivell in Cork, Ireland 1978

I've been listening a lot to Alan Stivell in the past few weeks, and much as I enjoy his later work, I think much of his acoustic work has aged better. This clip from 78 is an absolute gem.

The Foggy Dew, the Irish song performed here, was one friends and I were familiar with from Stivell's back catalogue. It wasn't until recent years that I discovered that it was regarded as a 'rebel song'. We were always more into music than politics.

The song refers to the Easter Rising in Ireland against British rule, and encourages Irishmen to fight for a free Ireland rather than fight for the Bristish in World War One.

I also came across a reference to Stivell recently in Carol Clerk's epic Hawkwind biography the Saga of Hawkwind, with a brief mention of him playing at the Stonehenge free festival in the 80s, where he was joined by Hawkwind's Nik Turner.

Many versions of the song have been recorded over the years, by vocalists including Sinead O'Connor, who performed it with traditional Irish musicians like The Chieftans, and there have been other versions by the likes of The Dubliners.

The Foggy Dew was recorded by Stivell on his breakthrough Olympia 72 album, and a later version featuring Shane McGowan on his 1993 album Again.

Les Ramoneuers de Menhirs: Quebec tour

A huge number of live dates announced by Breton language punkers Les Ramoneuers de Menhirs.

The band have just begun a tour of Quebec and play fest noz dates and gigs over the summer, then go on to play dates in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands in August, and more dates towards the end of the year across France.

Les Ramoneuers de Menhirs not only take Breton language and the Celtic culture into the 21st century, they're active in raising awareness of political issues, from ecology to anarchism, antifascism to anti-nuclear, and put Breton culture into a wider global context of resistance.

The band's most recent album, Amzer an dispac'h - their second - was released in 2010.

Full details on their website: www.ramoneursdemenhirs.fr

St Patrick's Day - Alan Stivell and Shane MacGowan

With St Patrick's Day marking celebrating Ireland and celtic culture, I again though it worth marking the occasion on the blog.

The celtic culture of Brittany has much in common with Ireland, with many similarities, but is less well known internationally.

I think I decided to put this track on the blog for this occasion ages ago, featuring as it does one of Brittany's most famous voices with one of Ireland's best known figures. I know the Pogues weren't born in Ireland, but there are many of the Irish diaspora who would describe themselves as Irish despite not having been born there.

St Patrick's is a wonderfully inclusive celebration of nationality and culture, and the shared celtic culture between Ireland and Brittany is certainly worth celebrating

Alan Stivell: A l'Olympia 40th anniversary

Breton musician Alan Stivell has marked the 40th anniversary of his A l'Olympia album and concert with a special show in Paris.

On February 16 he played a special show at the Olympia venue in Paris, with guests Nolwenn Leroy and guitarist Dan Ar Braz among others.

Stivell's 1972 album marked a turning point in the mainstream popularity of Breton music, taking it from a specialised folk audience to a more widespread audience.

The album showed that Breton music not only had a heritage, but also had a future.

The release also came at the prefect time, coming as it did at a time when an increased interest in celtic culture was developing and when a rock audience, by this point well versed in more progressive musical developments, was able to embrace more sophisticated ideas.

The Breton language, which must have been unfamiliar to many who bought the album, was unlikely to have been much of an obstacle to the sophisticated early 70s rock fan. Remember that this was an era when Magma - France's biggest prog band - was performing in Kobain, their own language.

The fact that it was also a live album would also have been in its favour, as during that era the live album was a marker of musical authenticity, allowing the artist to present their work in its natural environment and untainted by the commercial pressures and compromises of the studio.

An anniversary of a recording that marked a revival of Breton culture gives an opportunity to reflect on how things have changed in the years since.

While in matters of politics there has been no dramatic changes - Brittany is no closer to Independence than it was in 1972, unlike in Scotland where a referendum on the issue is imminent - there's no denying that Breton culture is now not only accepted in France but it is also a source of pride in Brittany itself.

Alan Stivell has released a 2CD collection that combines a remastered version of the A l'Olympia with a disc that features a selection of his best known songs from his long career.

Breton band Daonet release debut album 'Donemat'

A few years ago a tape surfaced of Jimi Hendrix apparently performing the track 'Land of my Fathers', the Welsh national anthem. Those with some knowledge of France or Celtic culture will know that the tune is the same as that used as the national anthem of Brittany, Bro Gozh Ma Zadou.

However, the recording - which was played on the BBC news in 2007 in the UK - turned out to be a hoax. Had it been genuine it would have been a holy grail for those into celtic music and rock music, in not just Wales but in Brittany as well.

The national anthem of Brittany is a source of price, sung at occasions from football matches to political meetings, and interpretations of it vary from the boisterous to the beautiful.

Breton band rock Daonet, who release out their debut album Donemat today, are the latest to update the song. Their album features an interpretation of the song that puts it squarely in a modern celtic rock context.

The band have been on my radar since the days of MySpace, and I'm pleased to report that the album is great piece of work.

The release comes three years after the Nantes-based three piece released their Rok a Raok EP. Those three years have seen the band mature and develop their craft and the album sees the band becoming impressive musical ambassadors for Brittany.

There have been other great Breton rock acts in the past, EV, Stivell, Soldat Louis and Merzhin to name just a few, and by the looks of things Daonet will not be long until Daonet take their place among them.

New: Yann Tiersen - Monuments

A new video for the new single monuments by Yann Tiersen.

The single comes out as a limited edition vinyl 7', which is available to order from yanntiersen.com

While best known for his work on the Amelie soundtrack, he's had a long career as a musician, his first album coming out in 1995 having been learning piano, violin and guitar from an early age, with a classical training at musical academies.

He has collaborated with Lisa Germano, Neil Hannon from the Divine Comedy, Stuart Staples from the Tindersticks, Liz Fraser from the Cocteau Twins and Jane Birkin

He's was also behind the soundtrack for the film Goodbye Lenin and the documentary Tabarly.

Last year he released Dust Lane, his sixth album, recorded in Ouessant, an island off the coast of West Britanny.

His new album Skyline comes out on October 18, and he is touring the UK in October with dates in London, Brighton, Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham

Monuments from Yann Tiersen on Vimeo.

Festivals: Bruce Springsteen at Vieilles Charrues

Bruce Springsteen played the Vieilles Charrues Festival in Carhaix in Finistère, Brittany in 2009.

The festival - France's biggest music festival - is a four-day event, with 240,000 people attending last year.

It has been running since 1992, and was originally held in the village of Landeleau in Brittany, and has continued to grow ever since, attracting bigger audiences and bigger acts year after year.

In the same way that T in the Park retains a Scottish flavour, the Vieilles Charrues Festival retains a Breton character despite featuring both international acts and artists from across France.

The video shows how The Boss learned how to speak to the crowd in Breton, his teacher being asked if he spoke the language as Bruce wanted to address the crowd in Breton. He wrote phonetically the phrase he wanted to say: Hello Carhaix, how are you doing?

The 2011 Vieilles Charrues Festival takes place from July 14-17, and features Scorpions, Pulp, Kaiser Chiefs, David Guetta, Lou Reed and the Chemical Brothers and PJ Harvey.

Whether any of them take the time to learn some Breton remains to be seen.

News: Merzhin on Taratata

Breton band Merzhin played on the French TV programme Taratata last night, a special edition of the programme dedicated to Celtic music.

The show also featured Andrea Corr, Donovan, Alan Stivell and Nolwenn Leroy.

I covered Merzhin last month, and I'm only too happy to feature them again.

For me, the highlight of the programme had to be their version of the song The Partisan, a number originally made famous by Leonard Cohen, his version being in French and English like the Merzhin cover.

The song, originally titled "La Complainte du Partisan" was written in 1943 by Anna Marly, a Russian-born French singer songwriter. It was written while in London, where she fled following the fall of France, and came into contact with the Free French Forces.

She also wrote another better-know song Le Chant de Partisan, which was adopted as an anthem by French resistance forces in France and in exile, used as an unofficial national anthem while the Nazis banned La Marseillaise.

Leonard Cohen's version of the song led to many other cover versions of the song, including interpretations from Joan Baez to political punk bands like Red Union and Workers' United Front.

On account of the song le Chant de Partisan, Marly was named a chevalier de La Légion d'Honneur by François Mitterrand in 1985.

The Merzhin version is closer to the Leonard Cohen version than the Anna Marly original, and although it features more instrumental colour than Cohen's stark original, it retains the haunting quality of a remarkable song.

The band also played the song L'Étincelle from the 2010 album Plus loin vers l'ouest and were briefly interviewed for the programme.

St Patrick's Day: Nolwenn Leroy

Last year the blog marked St Patrick's Day with a track by Alan Stivell singing an Irish song, so time again to mark the celtic connection between France and the other celtic nations.

This time with Nolwenn Leroy, currently at number one in the French album charts, and her version of the Irish song Mna Na H-Eireann.

It's been sung by others, including Alan Stivell and Kate Bush, and while I've featured Nolwenn before, it's quite remarkable to have an album of Breton songs at number one, even with an Irish folk song in gaelic included on it.

I could hardly image he same thing happening in the UK.

For a winner of the Star Academy academy TV talent show, it's a bold choice to sing in Irish gaelic. I'm sure there were plenty of other more commercially friendly songs that she could have done, even one of the many Irish songs in English that could probably have reached a wider audience.

But a gaelic song fits in well with a collection of Breton songs, and maybe one day Brittany's national day will be as well known as Ireland's is.

News: Scotland to win the Tour de France?

So Scotland might be the host for the Grand Départ for the Tour de France in 2017?

Here's a report I wrote for the STV News website on Monday.

Here's hoping! I wonder if people realise what a big deal it is? Huge viewing figures, massive logistics and millions looking at Scotland in the height of the summer.

The benefits would be massive, so fingers crossed it comes to something. Never mind London getting the Olympics, this is the one I want!

Hopefully the Tour organisers will look at not only the history of the links with Scotland, but also at how we coped with the Papal visit last year and how we deal with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

We should certainly be in with more than an outside chance.

So to mark the momentous occasion (ok, perhaps a little bit prematurely...) here's Breton band Merzhin's Maillot Jaune.


Merzhin Maillot Jaune
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St Patrick's - Celtic connection

It's St Patrick's Day, which while not a big festival in France, is worth marking on this blog. If only in recognition of the fact that when I lived in Paris the overwhelming majority of English speakers I spent time with were Irish, a fact no doubt linked to one of the most memorable St Patrick's celebrations I attended, involving a dégustation of Jamiesons whiskey in one of the city's fine Irish pubs...

There are now many Irish pubs in Paris and across France, numerous links between the two countries in every level, but the ties between Ireland and France seem to me to be most apparent in Celtic music.

To mark St Paddy's without further ado, the legend that is Alan Stivell, with Brian Boru. Originally from his '95 album of the same name, this version from the '99 live 'Bretagnes a Bercy' DVD.



There will be more Breton music on this site in the future. That's for sure. There will also probably be more Alan Stivell Sláinte!