Some of my past musical experiences show this: I
founded SKOLVAN, and played in this
group for 15 years, before leaving to pursue other musical endeavors. COCKTAIL
DIATONIQUE, ensemble of four diatonic accordions whose existence
was ephemeral but quite remarkable. This was an innovative move which
culminated in concerts and a CD with Richard Galliano. A
TRIO, original and jazzy, with
Gildas Boclé (double bass) or Thierry Moreau (cello)
and Dom
Molard (percussion) and
nowadays in Fiskal Bazar, with Hélène
Brunet (guitars, laùd) and Gaëlle Branthomme
(cello) and contemporary dancer Patricia Blot I played improvisational music for a marionnette theater («The Dragon's Egg»), a show presented entirely in poetry…
I
set laments from the Pays Gallo to music, with singer Véronique Bourjot
and the group Jolie Vilaine. And I play music for dancing of course! In DUO with Stéphane Morvan on the wooden flute or Fañch Landreau on the fiddle, in TRIO with CHOUK with Roland Conq or Hélène Brunet.
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Biography In 1976, while I was a student in Rennes, for the very first time I saw and heard a diatonic accordion. The following day I bought one! The following year I lived in England, in Lancashire. There I met Pete Coe and began to seriously learn to play the accordion. I then returned to Brittany and played in my first festoù-noz (breton ceilis), in solo or in duet with Gilles Derambure. Begenning
in 1981 I was Professor at the « Conservatoire Régional
de Musique et Danses Traditionnelles de Bretagne » (known now
as "Amzer Nevez"). From 1985 to 1988 I was professor of diatonic
accordion at the National School of Music in Lorient. In 1984,
with two other teachers of the conservatoire, Youenn Le Bihan
(bombarde and "piston") and Patrice Quéré
(fiddle) I founded the group Skolvan.
It was the beginning of a 15 year adventure! In 1991 I founded the group Cocktail Diatonique with Jacques Beauchamp, Ronan Robert and Patrick Lancien.
I waited until 1997 to record my first solo album «an droug hirnez». «An exciting artistic approach» -Trad Magazine In 1999 I left Skolvan... Painful seperation... But this new freedom allows me to have many musical experiences:
"trad"
in duets with musicians from different horizons: Stéphane Morvan
(wooden flute), Fañch Landreau (violin), or in trios Chouk
! and Perroches-Brunet-Hayes, a short-lived
fest-noz group: TÎNTAL: with
Dédé Thomas (binioù kozh), Stéphane
Morvan (bombard), Frank Le Bloas (bouzouki),Jean-François
Roger (percussion) more
"jazzy" in trio concerts, with Thierry Moreau
(cello) or Gildas Boclé (doublebass) and Dom Molard
(percussion)
artistic
direction of first two CD's by Spontus (2000 and 2002) the band
Jolie Vilaine with singer Véro
Bourjot, Vincent Guérin (doublebass), Jean-François
Roger (percussion) and Erwan Bérenguer (guitar) the"Atlantic roads " concert gathering 17 musicians from Ireland, Quebec and Brittany. With Jean Baron and Christian Anneix, Manu Lannhuel, Nicolas Quéméner, Christian Lemaitre, Josephine Marsh, Phil Callery, Bernard Simard, Normand Miron... composition and improvisation of the music for a theater piece featuring marionnettes and live actor ("le Théâtre Bleu") «the Dragon's egg» and «ma Pomme» in 2004
the band BELEN, with Scottish, English
and Breton female musicians and singers : Mary Macmaster (celtic
harp, voice), Jo Freya (sax, clarinet, voice), Brigitte Kloareg
(voice), Hélène Brunet (guitar, laùd) the band la Godinette with Jean Baron and Christian Anneix... in 2005 Diamik with Gwenael Kivijer (chromatic button accordion), Brigitte Kloareg (voice) and Julian Sutton from Newcastle (diatonic accordion)... in 2006 creation of Fiskal bazar for concerts, with Hélène Brunet (guitars, laùd) and Gaëlle Branthomme (cello) in 2007 elaboration of the Katharsis project, putting on stage musicians, painters and sculptors, dancers... |
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My playing is influenced by traditional Breton accordionists (both diatonic and chromatic) - especially Jean Coatéval and Yves Gac, both recently deceased. Other influences are "sonneurs" (pipers of traditional Breton bagpipe (or binioù) and the Breton bombard) and traditional singers. Amongst the traditional non-Breton accordionists that I especially enjoy, I would like to name : Serge Desaunay, Ricardo Tesi, John Kirkpatrick, Martin O'Connor, Phil Cunningham, Clifton Chénier, Maria Kalaniemi... and so many others ! Finally, I would like to say how much I admire other styles of music, such as those of Richard Galliano and Astor Piazzola, but also Gus Viseur, speaking of accordion players only, because I also listen to other musicians, from John Coltrane to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and all styles of music, from hard-rock (Led Zeppelin...) to classical (Ravel, Debussy...), jazz (be-bop...), traditional music from all countries (Africa, Asia...) and so many other styles... |
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