Marcel Guilloux is a veteran of the Breton music scene. A highly-skilled singer in the Kan ha Diskan style, and keen Breton dancer, he has helped pass on his knowledge to the next generation.
Various factors have combined to give Brittany a unique culture of music and dance: the Breton musical tradition is Celtic in origin, but Celtic music has evolved in different directions in the different countries in which the Celts settled – in Wales, for example, it is associated with the harp and singing in Chapel, whilst in Scotland it is associated with bagpipes more than anything else. The Breton tradition has some similarities to that of Ireland: a close association between music and dance has been preserved, and when no musical instruments have been available, the human voice has been used to keep time for the dancers. This is the origin of the famous ‘Kan ha Diskan’ – a form of singing in which one singer, the kaner, ‘calls’ the song, and another singer, the diskaner, makes the response; if the dancers know the song, they too can take the part of the diskaner. Different songs are associated with different dances.
As with almost every rural society around the world, Brittany’s music is extremely rich and varied; it reflects time-honoured customs and ways of life and in times-gone-by there were certainly hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of different dances, each of which was specific to a particular locality. When people from a village got together – perhaps for a family gathering, or perhaps after a day of work in the fields, singing and dancing would ensue; in fact old people talk about a time in their youth when people were more or less always singing – when they were cooking, when they were washing the clothes, when they were hoeing the fields, and when they were working in the vegetable patch, and no one was ever too far from breaking into a dance.
When people came together in larger groups – perhaps at religious festivals, pardons, or weddings, then dances would be shared, different people would sing different songs, and local variations of a dance could be danced.
In addition to the the Kan ha Diskan, there was a tradition of singing laments and ballads – Gwerzioù and Sonioù – and for a time in the 1900s there was a craze for new songs to be printed and distributed by travelling singers going from fair to fair during the summer months.
In addition to the tradition of dancing to the sound of the human voice, there is, however, also a long history of making and playing musical instruments in Brittany. The most famous, and most distinctive Breton instruments are the binioù and the bombard: the binioù is a small bagpipe, and the bombard is a wind instrument, similar to an oboe. Between them they are capable of making an imposing sound, requiring no amplification even in the open air, at a large festival or gathering, and they are traditionally used to set the beat for Breton dances. There is also a long history of violin and clarinet making in Brittany; and accordians have also been popular since the late 1800s, and in more recent times, the guitar, and also instruments from other Celtic countries, such as the harp and the Scottish bagpipes have gained in popularity.
ROBERT BASTARD is a skilled singer and teacher of Kan ha Diskan. The duo BASTARD Tad ha Mab (father & son) can be seen at many of the fest noz in the Plinn area.
It could be said that there are several present-day strands to Breton music: there are still some performers, now quite old, who can remember life as it used to be when people sang and danced to celebrate the joys of a day working together. There are also people who have worked to preserve the tradition of an independent musical culture in Brittany: these include people like the famous harpist, Alan Stivell, and also Loeiz Ropars who helped to pioneer the idea of the modern Fest-Noz in the 1970s – using amplification for the music, and special, indoor venues. There is now also a generation of younger musicians, inspired by the musical culture of Brittany, but having to find a way to make it relevant to a world in which people do not gather together after a day in the fields. In addition to the Fest-Nozes that take place throughout the year, the Breton summer is still marked by almost innumerable music festivals, ranging from the very small, to the huge, in which musicans of all ages are invited to play.
Written by Gareth Lewis. First published in the Central Brittany Journal August 2010. Illustations by Samuel Lewis.
