Interesting albums from the folk and roots music history, by Marius Roeting.
He started by covering his guitar heroes: Hank Marvin (The Shadows, Bert Jansch, Rory Gallagher) and formed a cover band and played famous rock and pop songs as many young people did. At the end of the ’60s, the resident of Quimper met someone with a completely different vision of music. Alan Stivell included guitarist Daniel le Bras in his search for a mix of Breton traditional music and pop and rock influences, utterly different from other music in that time. On Stivell’s breakthrough album ‘Renaissance de l’harpe celtique’, Le Bras played only a minor role. That was not the case in the next album ‘L’Olympia’; here, the guitarist shone with the master. His sharp, slightly distorted electric guitar sound became a defining and returning element in his music. In between, he released a trio album with two fellow musicians; the result was a bit unbalanced, but we can still hear his class as a player.
During the mid-’70s, while still accompanying Stivell – something he kept doing until the ’90s – he left to go to England to become the Fairpoint Convention’s main guitarist. The Breton, who had changed his name to the more Breton Dan Ar Bras (and later Ar Braz), decided to make a solo album. The entirely instrumental ‘Douar Nevez’ (New Land) was the start of a very successful solo career. Ar Braz made a blueprint of what was to become his starting point for all his future albums. Lyrical, sometimes dreamy melodies are expressed with a distorted electric guitar with a slight reverb. The style is laid-back; it feels like he is slightly late when playing the melody; he also plays grace notes from the bagpipe tradition. Later in his career, he started to compose songs with lyrics. His big commercial breakthrough came at the start of the ’90s. Ar Braz receives a composition assignment for a project on the Festival de Cornouaille in Quimper. He rounded up many folk musicians from the entire Celtic music scene and formed L ‘Heritage de Celtes, an ensemble varying from 50 to 70 musicians (including a whole bagpipe band). For a decade, he performed complete shows in large theatres in front of large audiences. The concept was constantly changing a little, but the theme always stayed the same; a contemporary show featuring Breton music. He sold many albums; with each project, he sold hundreds of thousands. The source of this success, however, is the album ‘Douar Nevez’.
Dan Ar Bras (R) with Alan Stivell
Dan Ar Bras during the Fairport Convention period
Alan Stivell – A Olympia – Fontana Discque Dreyfus FDM 36191-2
1. Pop plinn (trad, Stivell) 3:30
MOR – Stations – Spalax 14222
2. Gavotte (Le Bras) 2:47
3. Merci, Monsieur Stephen Stills (Le Bras) 0:42
Dan Ar Braz – Douar Nevez – Hexagone 883 009
4. Intro 0:57
5. Retour de guerre 3:00
6. Naissance de Dahud 1:44
7. Mort et immersion de Malguen fin du voyage 5:44
8. Naissance de la ville 4:39
9. Morvac’h (cheval de la mer) 2:42
10. Orgies nocturnes 3:13
11. L’ennui du roi 2:43
12. Les forces du mal 2:49
13. L’appel du sage 7:29
14. Submersion de la ville 2:57
Dan Ar Braz – Heritage des Celtes – Columbia 4777632
15. Borders Of Salt (trad, Ar Braz) 4:17
16. Call To The Dance (Album Version) (Ar Braz) 3:14
Dan Ar Braz – Dan ar Dans – Coop Breizh CD DAB06
17. Belong [Remix] (Ar Braz) 3:45
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