Brittany (French: Bretagne; Breton: Breizh; Gallo: Bertaèyn) is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. It is characterized as one of the six Celtic nations. Since the early 1970s, Brittany has experienced a tremendous revival of its folk music. Along with flourishing traditional forms such as the bombard-binou pair and fest-noz ensembles incorporating other additional instruments, it has also branched out into numerous sub-genres.
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Brittany (French: Bretagne; Breton: Breizh; Gallo: Bertaèyn) is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. It is characterized as one of the six Celtic nations. Since the early 1970s, Brittany has experienced a tremendous revival of its folk music. Along with flourishing traditional forms such as the bombard-binou pair and fest-noz ensembles incorporating other additional instruments, it has also branched out into numerous sub-genres.
Kan ha diskan (roughly translated as call and response singing) is probably the most common type of Breton vocal music and is the most typical style to accompany dance music. It has become perhaps the most integral part of the Breton roots revival and was the first genre of Breton music to gain some mainstream success, both in Brittany and abroad. Other types of Breton folk song include kantikoù (hymns), gwerzioù and sonioù (laments and ballads), chants de marins (shanties or sailor songs), and various types of instrumental music. Since the Breton folk music revival, Scottish bagpipes and Irish harps have been added to the Breton repertoire, though Brittany retains its own unbroken piping traditions as well as mainstay instruments such as the bombard. The Celtic harp is also a key element of Breton music; it was common in the Middle Ages, forgotten by the 18th century, and revived by Alan Stivell, the most famous performer of modern Breton music.
