← Back to Genres

Celtic

Bleimor, Breton by choice

Alan Stivell

Alan Stivell was born Alan Cochevelou in Riom, in the Auvergne, in 1944, and grew up in Paris. He learned Breton through the Bleimor scout group and by correspondence course, and in 1961 he became musical director of Bagad Bleimor, which won the Breton pipe band championship under him in 1966. He took the name Stivell, Breton for a spring. Philips signed him in 1967, and Renaissance de la harpe celtique won the Charles-Cros prize in 1971. On 28 February 1972 his concert at the Olympia in Paris went out live on Europe 1, and the live album is reported to have sold more than a million copies. Gabriel Yacoub, who later founded Malicorne, played in his band. Kate Bush brought him onto her 1989 album, and in 2006 an asteroid was named after him.

Paris, 5 September 1973

Malicorne

Malicorne were formed in Paris on 5 September 1973 by Gabriel Yacoub and his wife Marie, with Hughes de Courson and Laurent Vercambre. They named themselves after Malicorne-sur-Sarthe, a town known for its faience that they passed through on the way to a gig in Brittany. They played old French songs on the épinette des Vosges, dulcimer, hurdy-gurdy, bowed psaltery and crumhorn, with electric bass and amplification. Almanach in 1976 sold more than 100,000 copies, and in 1978 they made a concept album about a journeyman's tour of France. They had a strong following in Quebec, where they recorded a live album in Montreal. The band ended in 1989, came back in 2010 and played its last show in 2017. Gabriel Yacoub died in January 2025.

The three Johns of Nantes

Tri Yann

Tri Yann an Naoned means the three Johns of Nantes in Breton: Jean Chocun, Jean-Paul Corbineau and Jean-Louis Jossic, who started playing together at the end of the 1960s. Corbineau was still selling fruit and vegetables at a hypermarket when they opened for Juliette Gréco at the Olympia in December 1972. Their first album sold out its pressing within weeks, they turned professional at the start of 1973 and set up their own label, Marzelle, the next year. From the mid-1980s their shows added costumes and stories between songs. Jossic served as culture deputy at Nantes city hall, and in 2008 they passed Les Frères Jacques as France's longest-running band. They played farewell concerts in September 2021, though they have played again since. Corbineau died in 2022.

The Collection