FolkWorld Issue 42 07/2010; Festival Announcement by Lisardo Lombardía
Year of Brittany
Festival Interceltique, 6-15 Aug 2010
For the last 40 years, the Lorient Interceltic Festival has tried to prove that traditional cultures are not frozen in time but, quite the opposite, eager to blend and create. As a living showcase, Lorient has become the event not to be missed for Celtic cultures. Every summer more than 4,500 musicians, singers, dancers and visual artists from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, Galicia, Asturias, Brittany, the USA, Canada and Australia converge on the Port of Lorient.
Alan Stivell @ FolkWorld: FW#6, #18, #34, #38 |
Bretons have always known how to cultivate and maintain a spirit of openness while preserving their Celtic roots. Since its inception in 1971, the Lorient Interceltic Festival has succeeded in building a unique meeting place, year after year. It has spotlighted Brittany alongside other nations and, little by little, has forged a new concept that promotes communication: Interceltism.
In just a few years the Interceltic Festival has become a great worldwide gathering of Celtic cultures. Initially, only the Celtic lands of the British Isles were included in the festival line-up : Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man...and then those in northern Spain were brought in: Galicia and Asturias, and, finally, in a third phase, those lands that welcomed the Celtic diaspora to other continents: Australia, Canada and the United States. Today, this festival focuses on research, creativity and encounters, open to the world, each year welcoming more than 4,500 artists and 650,000 spectators.
We are now celebrating the 40th edition of this Festival. This year, Brittany and the know-how of the Breton people will be in the spotlight, for it is they who built this emblematic crossroads.
Bretons bear their culture, but they have also taken the initiative to share it with the rest of the world! In the age of globalisation, it is wrong to debate identity vs. universality. No one is from nowhere. We are citizens of the world to the extent that we are rooted in a specific place on the planet. We therefore invite you to experience this major event with us. 2010 will be the year to celebrate Brittany, as well as a cosmopolitan Celtic culture.
From Brittany to the world, from the whole world to Brittany, the Lorient Interceltic Festival is once again – and more than ever – an event not to be missed!
Frigg @ FolkWorld: FW#35 @ www.myspace.com/friggtheband |
Session A9 @ FolkWorld: FW#28, #36, #37 @
www.myspace.com/sessiona9
|
Lisardo Lombardía is General Director of the Lorient Interceltic Festival.
Photo Credits:
(1) Festival Logo (by Festival Interceltique);
(2) Alan Stivell (by Bardentreffen);
(3) Frigg (by folkBALTICA);
(4) Session A9 (by Walkin' Tom).
To the German FolkWorld |
© The Mollis - Editors of FolkWorld; Published 07/2010
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