by Sean Hillen

More than 40 years ago, as a young reporter for the leading daily newspaper in Kansas City, Missouri in the flatlands of the American Midwest, I wrote a story about a visiting up-and-coming Scottish traditional music group called Capercaillie.

Last week, in southern Brittany, France, I found myself in a packed hall listening to that very same group, still playing some of the tunes that made them famous and that I remembered so well from decades before.

Now living in Donegal, on Ireland’s northwest coast, I travelled three-hours on a high-speed TGV train from Paris to the charming city of Lorient with my wife to experience what is now the largest Celtic music festival in Europe, Festival Interceltique Lorient. 

Under clear blue skies and sunshine for four days, we meandered from one stage setting to another in the multi-hectare site scenically located beside a narrow inlet filled with bobbing yachts and enjoyed a wide range of concerts and competitions.

Highlight for us was the evening performance of Galicia-based Luar Na Lubre, an eclectic nine-member group who seamlessly fuse their native traditional music with other Celtic influences, and have been doing so for 40 years under the direction of founder and multi-instrumentalist, Bieito Romero. During an enthralling, almost mystical, two-hour concert, gaita (Galician bagpipes), zanfona (hurdy-gurdy) and pandeiro (Galician frame drum) blended brilliantly with diatonic accordion, fiddle, flute, tin whistle, bouzouki and guitar, their esoteric melodies beguiling listeners into an intricate dream-like land of rhythms, both gentle and furious.

Competing closely as our second choice performance was ‘Horizons Celtiques,’ a spectacular music, dance and singing performance hosted in the local city stadium under a velvet night sky. More than 500 performers from eight countries and regions took part, from Ireland and Scotland to the Isle of Man, Wales and Asturias, proudly displaying the best of their cultural heritage. 

The festival, its 55th edition, also featured Irish group, Dervish, originally from Sligo, led by Cathy Jordan, and – as mentioned – Capercaillie, one of the leading lights of the modern Scottish Gaelic revival, their members being from Oban, Argyll and Bute. Founded by Donald Shaw and fronted by his wife,  singer Karen Matheson, both now in their sixth decade of life, they understandably weren’t as dynamic as they were back in their 20s in Kansas City. But then again, neither am I. In this respect, we were mirrors of each other in so many ways. We have all mellowed, which is not such a bad thing.

Watching and listening to them on stage, I was suddenly wrapped in a soft shawl of nostalgia, bittersweet memories gently caressing me as I weighed the ups and downs of my own life over the previous four decades, the failures, the successes, remembrance of them adding unexpected emotions to my overall experience, some of which I’m still trying to decipher. 

But back to the festival itself, no true Celtic get-together would be complete without the presence of the legendary Carlos Núñez Muñoz, from Vigo in Galicia, world-renowned master of the gaita. Carlos performed not one but two separate packed concerts featuring music from his CD, ‘Celtic Sea’ which highlights the fantasy and mystery surrounding the world of Celticism. 

As the theme of this year’s Festival Interceltique was ‘Cornwall, at the heart of the Celtic Sea,’ my wife and I also enjoyed groups from that region such as the 3 Daft Monkeys,‘Splann,’ (meaning shining, bright, or splendid), a high-energy ceilidh and barn dance band and ‘Salt and Sky,’ a dynamic folk band.

Creating added dimension to the 10-day festival were the various musical competitions of which the accordion and harp were particularly memorable. There were also art exhibitions and classes, as well as movie and documentary showings, including one on The Bothy Band, a highly-influential 1970s group from Ireland.

Jean-Philippe Mauras, the festival’s artistic director, was extremely pleased. “The richness of the program, the quality of the performances, and the increasingly comprehensive services allowed festival-goers to experience an intense and entertaining cultural experience,” he said. “This momentum puts all our teams in the best position to begin preparing the 2027 edition, dedicated to Women of the Celtic Nations.”

Friendly Leslie Le Gal, director of ALBA agency in charge of press and media relations, described the festival as a “tremendous success,” adding, “With so many enthusiastic attendees and talented performers from so many different countries, there was a wonderful atmosphere, an overwhelmingly joyous sense of Celtic celebration.”