Our musical tour of European music continues today with a celebration of the distinctly Celtic music from the Breton region of France. Alan Stivell is a French, Breton and Celtic musician and singer, songwriter, recording artist, and master of the Celtic harp. From the early 1970s, he revived global interest in the Celtic (specifically Breton) harp and Celtic music as part of world music. As a bagpiper and bombard player, he modernized traditional Breton music and singing in the Breton language. A precursor of Celtic rock, he is inspired by the union of the Celtic cultures and is a keeper of the Breton culture.
Stivell’s first recording came in 1960 (“Musique gaelique”), a single that was followed by the LP Telenn Geltiek in 1964. He already recorded solo harp and harp backing singers in 1959 with Breiz ma bro (“Brittany my country”) and a Mouez Breiz EP (“Voice of Brittany”) with the female singer Andrea Ar Gouilh. His stage name, Stivell, means “fountain” or “spring” in Breton. The name refers both to the Breton renewal and to his surname Cochevelou (an evolution of kozh stivelloù, “the old fountains”). In 1970, Stivell released his first hits, the single “Broceliande” and the album Reflets, both on the Philips label. He became closely associated with the burgeoning Breton roots revival, especially after the release of the purely instrumental 1971 album Renaissance of the Celtic Harp, which won one of the most famous awards in France, the prize of the Academie Charles Cros.
On 28 February 1972, Stivell performed a concert in the Olympia theater, a famous music hall in Paris, where Alan and his band played music combining traditional Celtic music with modern sounds (electric guitar, drums, etc.). This concert made Stivell and his music well known throughout France. At this time, Stivell’s eclectic approach to music was very new and was considered risky, but it soon became popular. Over 1,500,000 records of that concert (A l’Olympia) were sold. Alan Stivell’s new found fame propelled him to tour across France, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.
Chemins de Terre his fifth album originally released in 1973. It was this album that first introduced me to Stivell’s music and helped me to understand the link between the Breton and Cornish peoples. It was produced by Franck Giboni. It was retitled From Celtic Roots… in England and Celtic Rock in Germany.
He continued recording, and published a collection of Breton poetry in 1976. With his 1980 Symphonie Celtique, he mixed for the first time elements of rock, a symphonic orchestra, Celtic instruments and such non-European ethnic elements as Berber vocalist Djourha and sitarist Narenda Bataju. The folk music revival faded somewhat in the 1980s. Though Alan Stivell still maintained a popular following, he did not reach the heights of popularity that he had in the 1970s. He continued touring in many parts of the world and recording for a loyal fanbase. He also worked with the English singer Kate Bush.
In the 1990s, Stivell recorded with the French singer Laurent Voulzy, Irish traditional performer Shane MacGowan and Senegalese singer Doudou N’Diaye Rose. The album was Again, and it became very popular in France, the beginning of a Celtic new wave. Stivell’s records in the late 1990s contained more pronounced rock elements, and he performed at a rock festival called Transmusicales in Rennes. He continued working with a variety of musicians, inviting Paddy Moloney (of The Chieftains), Jim Kerr (of Simple Minds), and Youssou N’Dour to be in his very international 1 Douar / 1 Earth album.
