Breton Folk Music

[the_original_ib]

Hey,

"Thank you, Sean, for a great show. I especially enjoyed Ys and René Werneer. These are probably not on CD yet? Where can one find these jewels? It is always a delight to hear somebody pronouncing French names the way they should be, it's like music to one's ears :-)"

Haha. Thanks. I know what you mean, I was reviewing an album the other day that has a song in French sung by someone who has no idea how to speak French. It hurts my ears. I started taking French when I was four years old so my accent is not too bad for an Anglo.

Ys and René Werneer are not yet on CD. However if you do not mind MP3s you should send me an e-mail at sean@toib.net and perhaps I can help you out. These records are not easy to find.

The easiest and cheapest way to check out Breton music in general is the Alan Stivell and Malicorne albums. They have Canadian pressings too so you can often find them for under $10 for the vinyl in Montréal. They are on CD but ironically the CDs are often harder to find and more expensive than the vinyl!

"Sean, why don't you do a show (or a couple), based on your interesting article on Canadian Progressive Rock in the 70s in the latest Expose? I would like to hear musicians like Robert Charlebois, Toubabou, Ville Emard Blues Band, Jacques Blais, Breche, Vos Voisins, Dionysos, Bregent, Michel Madore, Tom Rivest, Eternite, Eden etc."

I would love to. I suppose it's a question of getting organized, but I would like to do a multi-part series on the Montréal scene and base it out of the article. I think I will have time to do it properly in the Spring. Canadian/Quebecois prog is a particular interest of mine as a collector so I'm eager to share it. Part of me worries I will bore people if I go too in depth, but that's always the risk!

I'm pretty stoked that you read and liked the article. It was two years in the making. I am still working on part 2, which will hopefully be in Exposé #29 (not the one coming out in a month or two but the one AFTER that... maybe April 2004).

Regards,
Sean