The
Festival interceltique de Lorient
(French),
Emvod Ar Gelted An Oriant
(Breton) or
Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient
in English, is an annual
Celtic
festival, located in the city of
Lorient
,
Brittany
,
France
. It was founded in 1971 by
Polig Monjarret
[
fr
]
.
This annual festival takes place in the heart of the city every August and is dedicated to the cultural traditions of the
Celtic nations
(
pays celtes
in French), highlighting
Celtic music
and
dance
and also including other arts such as
painting
,
photography
,
theatre
,
sculpture
, traditional
artisanry
as well as
sport
and
gastronomy
.
Participants come from
Brittany
,
Ireland
,
Scotland
,
Cornwall
,
Wales
,
Cumbria
, the
Isle of Man
,
Cape Breton Island
,
Galicia
,
Asturias
,
Acadia
, and the entire Celtic
diaspora
.
Programme of events
[
edit
]
The main festival sites are located throughout the city, with more formal events taking place at the
Palais des Congres
,
Grand Theatre
or
Eglise Saint Louis
. The larger events take place at the
Parc du Moustoir
(the home of
Lorient Football Club
which can hold up to 10,000 spectators), the
Port de Peche
or in grand marquees.
The festival begins with the
Cotriade
(fr) or
Kaoteriad
(br), a traditional Breton seafood supper, which takes place in the
Port de Peche
(fr) or
Porzh Pesketa
(br) harbour district accompanied by sea shanties and traditional Breton marine music.
On Sunday morning the
Grand Parade of Celtic Nations
takes place with over 3,500 musicians, singers, pipebands and dancers from all over the Celtic world parading through the city streets in
national costume
.
The finals of the
National
Bagado
u Championship
takes place at the
Parc de Moustoir
during the first weekend of the festival. In addition individual competitions take place for pipers.
There are demonstrations and tournaments in celtic wrestling (
Gouren
,
Cornish wrestling
and
Scottish backhold
) with representatives from the Celtic nations taking part.
Master classes
take place each morning. Afternoon events include folk and traditional music concerts and dance displays. Evening events include orchestral concerts, rock concerts and "Nuits Magiques", displays of pipe bands, dancers, choirs and fireworks.
Throughout the festival the "Village Celtique" (fr) or "Marc'had Etrekeltiek" (br) is open in the centre of the city offering food, music and literature, clothing and crafts.
On the final Saturday of the festival folk and rock musicians perform at the fishing harbour for the
Nuit de Port de Peche
.
There is also much activity on the festival fringe, with musicians giving free performances in many of the city’s bars and pubs every evening until late.
The festival organisers have more recently embarked on similar ventures such as the
St Patrick's Day
concert in
Paris
, France, which attracts a crowd of 70,000 spectators and the Celtica concert in
Nantes
, Brittany.
-
Lorient Interceltic Festival in Brittany
-
Bagad of Lann-Bihoue at Lorient Interceltic Festival in Brittany
-
Dances
-
Lorient Interceltic Festival
-
See also
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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