Denez Prigent

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Denez Prigent at the Festival de Cornouaille 2014 in Quimper .

Denez Prigent (born February 17, 1966 in Santec , Finistère ) is a songwriter and interpreter of Breton songs . His favorite styles are the Kan ha diskan (dance song) and the gwerz (lamentation), a dramatic song that tells a story or legend.

Since his first appearance at the age of 16, he has made a name for himself with the a cappella interpretation of traditional chants; later with the modernization of Breton music, where original texts are accompanied by a mixture of acoustic instruments and electronic sounds.

So far he has released five studio albums as well as one live album and regularly gives concerts in France and other countries.

The career of a traditional and modern singer

The beginnings in the family

During his childhood, Denez Prigent spent the weekends with his grandparents. With his grandmother he discovered the harmony between the Breton language, nature and song.

As a boarding school student in Brest, he prefers listening to Breton songs with a Walkman to studying.

At the age of 14 he was initiated into the Kan ha Diskan by Alain Leclère, a former student of Manuel Kerjean . He, in turn, is known to have trained other Breton singers like Erik Marchand . Two years later, in 1982, he sang in a duo with Alain Leclère at the festoù-noz . He wins several prizes at Kan ar Bobl , a singing competition in Brittany.

It is worth mentioning the first prizes at the Kan ha diskan 1987, the new Breton singing in 1988 and the traditional singing in 1990.

In 1988 his passion for the Breton language moved him to become a lecturer in Breton in Carhaix. At the same time he is invited to festivals of traditional music, such as Les Tombées de la Nuit in Rennes and the Festival Interceltique in Lorient .

The mayor of Rennes, which in 1991 became the twin town of Alma-Ata (Almaty, former capital of Kazakhstan), suggested that he sing at the local festival there, Voice of Asia . Surprised by this invitation, he wrote the humorous song Son Alma Ata , which was later published on the album Sarac'h . It addresses the absurdity of being invited to Kazakhstan to sing as a Breton. This first concert abroad gives him the opportunity to get to know the Kazakh people, who at the time belonged to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and to draw a parallel with the Breton people and France.

In 1991 Denez Prigent resigned from his position as a lecturer in order to devote himself entirely to singing. While collecting texts for traditional songs, he met Eugénie Ebrel , one of the Sœurs Goadec , who was dictated to him by Ti Eliz Iza , and her daughter Louise Ebrel , who decided to accompany him on stage.

In 1992 he sang a cappella at the Transmusicales Festival in Rennes in front of an uninitiated rock audience, which applauded him. Because of this success, he leaves the Daouarn group , with whom he performed on his first festoù-noz. He takes part in the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Francofolies , the Midem , the Printemps de Bourges , the Coup de Cœur francophone (Quebec, Canada), the Festival Middle Europe (Germany - Austria - Czech Republic), the Celtic Connections (Scotland ), Expo '98 (Portugal), or at the Eisteddfod Festival (Wales).

A first album a cappella

Denez with musicians and dancers.

In 1993 he released his first album Ar gouriz koar (the wax belt).

Although Ar gouriz koar is not intended for an album, but rather a demo recording, for example for festival organizers, almost 50,000 copies are sold.

The songs on this first album are mostly traditional and, with the exception of three, are interpreted a cappella. Plac'h Landelo was penned by Bernez Tangi, Gwerz ar vezhinerien by Denez Abernot - both members of the former group Storlok - while Gwerz an aksidan by Denez Prigent himself.

Since that first album, he has remained true to the two main genres of Breton singing: the Kan ha diskan, and the arrhythmic gwerz , in which the singer has to convey feelings at the same time as he talks about a tragic event.

The Auvidis / Silex label , on which Ar gouriz koar was released, does not pay the singer. He signs with Barclay for his next album and takes legal action against Auvidis / Silex. He succeeds in ensuring that the album is no longer distributed, and the label keeps the tapes as a revenge. Denez Prigent therefore decides to completely re-record it for a second edition. This is released by Barclay in 1996, like all of his subsequent albums.

The content of the new edition has been changed slightly. Instead of Gwerz Penmarc'h , Deuit Ganin and Son Marivonig there are other traditional tracks on the album: Ar bugel koar , Ar goulenn , Biskoazh kement all! and P'edon was bont to naoned . There is also Tio, tio , a lullaby written by Germain Horellou. The new edition is also the opportunity for Denez Prigent to adopt the unified Breton orthography ( brezhoneg peurunvan - the unified Breton).

The encounter with electronic music

Rave party in Brittany

Influenced by his wife, Denez Prigent went to the first rave party held in Rennes in 1993, despite his prejudices. There he discovers music that, like Breton music, serves dance. He notices that electronic music is technically similar to Breton in terms of rhythm and the closely spaced notes. Since then he has had the idea of ​​using them to accompany his singing.

In 1995 Denez Prigent took part in Dao Dezi . The aim of this project by Eric Mouquet (from the Duo Deep Forest ) and Guilan Joncheray is to deal with Breton music in the same way that Deep Forest did with African music, namely to merge traditional texts and electronic music.

Michel Sanchez , the other member of Deep Forest, takes part in the album, which is recorded and mixed by Erwin Autrique. The Breton singers Arnaud Maisonneuve and Manu Lann Huel are also involved, as is the group Tri Yann . It is the first time that Denez Prigent has mixed Breton singing and electronic music.

A spark of gold

The Saint-Corentin Cathedral in Quimper , one of the stations of the Tro Breizh

In 1997 he released his second album Me 'zalc'h ennon ur fulenn aour (I keep a spark of gold in me).

Denez Prigent writes all the lyrics (apart from the traditional piece Ar rannoù , excerpt from the Barzaz Breiz ) and most of the melodies in which traditional instruments and electronic sounds are merged. The lyrics address the classic Gwerz themes: injustice, sickness and death. E trouz ar gêr , about the artificial side of a life in the city, and An hentoù adkavet , about the rebirth of Tro Breizh , are his first songs dedicated to Brittany, its culture and its relationship with nature.

To select the electronic sounds, Denez Prigent contacted Arnaud Rebotini, who opened his record collection for him. Most of the samples used are jungle sounds, the tempo of which, on the order of 160 to 170 bpm , fits well with Breton singing. For most arrangements, the vocals are recorded first, and the electronic sounds are then added.

This combination of ancient singing and very modern music is illustrated in Ar rannoù , one of the oldest texts in the Breton language. Denez Prigent reassembles the traditional melody with electronic sounds.

Although the audience is divided in view of the great difference between the a cappella singing of the debut album and the samples of the second album, Denez Prigent believes that the essentials have been preserved: the loyalty to the arrhythmic side of Breton music, without a fixed meter. Especially in the gwerz, the singer must primarily convey the intensity of the singing, and not sing to the rhythm, but instead take breaks at suitable moments.

For Denez Prigent, a gwerz with a fixed timing becomes a chanson , while an electronic arrangement that takes the arrhythmic side into account is perfectly natural.

Likewise, he attaches great importance to the traditional pronunciation of the Breton language, which includes the dibril , a rolled R that is only used in sung Breton. It is also important for him to stay true to the rules of gwerz writing, with lyrics that are often very long and only a part of which is included on the album, and their timeless themes that are not subject to fashion. This form of singing goes back to the 5th century.

This fidelity to tradition is by no means a way of closing in on yourself. On the contrary, for Denez Prigent the further development of Breton music is a way of opening up to other cultures.

Denez Prigent's verses are mostly eight-syllable, with a caesura generally in the middle. This form is common in the Breton language, which has a large number of one- or two-syllable words and therefore does not need long verses. He only writes in Breton, a language which - according to him - in contrast to French , could preserve its sacred side (Côté Sacré). As a result, some chants remain untranslatable, even for their bilingual author.

In 1998 he took part in the rock opera Excalibur, la légende des Celtes , together with Roger Hodgson (ex-singer of the group Supertramp ), Angelo Branduardi , Didier Lockwood and others. a.

Sur le chemin d'écume

Floodable dam at low tide

In 2000 Denez Prigent released his new album titled Irvi - plural of the word erv . It describes a dam or a path that connects an island with the mainland or two islands with each other and which can only be used at low tide.

The song Hent-eon (chemin d'écume) - the title song, so to speak - describes the wish of a resident of Lesconil to be buried on one of these roads in order to be protected by nature forever. This idea of ​​a connection between two worlds, between life and death, is repeated in Daouzek huñvre (Twelve Dreams), where seven lost souls walk in their fleshly shell - one behind the other - on a chemin d'écume .

In the continuation of Me 'zalc'h ennon ur fulenn aour , Denez Prigent writes all the lyrics and most of the melodies.

In this album, too, traditional instruments merge with electronic sounds. The latter are more subtle than in the previous album. Irvi therefore sounds less jungle and more new age . Guest musicians include jazz musician Louis Sclavis , hurdy-gurdy player Valentin Clastrier , and Uilleann Pipes player Davy Spillane .

French lyrics appear for the first time in an album by Denez Prigent. You are spoken by Bertrand Cantat in Daouzek huñvr , the structure of which speaks to the twelve series by Ar rannoù . Another voice on this album is Lisa Gerrard , the singer of Dead Can Dance , in Gortoz a ran (I'm waiting). This song, which the album begins with, is featured on the soundtrack of the Ridley Scott film Black Hawk Down .

The Bagad Kemper Denez Prigent also accompanies guest musicians in E trouz ar gêr and Ar sonerien du (both on the bonus CD). The latter is a song about the legend of the black musicians, a brass duo made of bagpipes and bombarde. They are arrested by the police because they believe they are two thieves they are looking for. The two musicians are hanged and buried in Pont l'Abbé before their innocence is proven. Their graves are still a place of pilgrimage today.

Denez Prigent provides a personal version of this legend in which the policemen kill the musicians themselves and hang them so they don't have to admit that they let the real thieves escape. This version emphasizes the image of debauchery that the conformists associated with festival music at the time.

The album is nominated for the Victoires de la Musique 2001.

After a series of concerts, Denez Prigent recorded the album Live Holl a-gevret! at the Festival Interceltique 2001 in Lorient, with the Bagad Roñsed-Mor from Locoal-Mendon as a guest musician.

Sarac'h, the return to the origins

The urban environment of Rennes

The following album Sarac'h (rustling of the wind in the foliage) was released in 2003.

You can find Lisa Gerrard there, but also Yanka Rupkina , the soloist of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares , Karen Matheson from the group Capercaillie and the Sami singer Mari Boine . Denez Prigent also invites bouzouki player Dónal Lunny , oud player Nabil Khalidi and violinist Farhad Bouallagi . Although this album still contains electronic sounds, the acoustic instruments are dominant.

Two traditional pieces open the album: An hini a garan , with Lisa Gerrard, and E garnison! , in a duet with Louise Ebrel . Denez Prigent integrates two unpublished texts into Sarac'h , written at the beginning of his career in 1991 : Son Alma Ata and Ar gwez-sapin .

The Costa Rican nature

In contrast to the previous albums, Sarac'h contains very personal lyrics in which the author speaks of himself: N'eus forzh ... addresses the importance of singing, thanks to which Denez Prigent never gets discouraged ( leskiñ a ra va zan atav : my fire is always burning). He also takes up a verse that was already in E trouz ar gêr and that sums up his way of life: n'eus ket un deiz na ganfen ket (there is no day that I do not sing). Dispi is a very pessimistic inventory of the state of culture and that of the Breton language, a key issue for Denez Prigent. There he speaks of his despair in the face of this situation. He writes that the dream of returning to intergenerational harmony around the Breton language and culture is a madness.

The title song on its own sums up the essential beliefs of Denez Prigent. It speaks to his return to nature when, used to the incessant noise of the cars on the street where he lives in Rennes, he decides to buy a house in Lanvellec (Côtes d'Armor). At this time he rediscovered the silence of nature against the background of the rustling wind in the trees. This gives him the impression that he puts into words: modernization separates people from nature and drives them to withdraw behind their screens on their own .

Sarac'h wins the Grand Prix du disque du Télégramme in 2004 .

After that Denez Prigent sang on big stages. These are, for example, the Stade de France (as part of St. Patrick), the Paléo Festival Nyon (Switzerland), the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy , the Rencontres Trans Musicales in China, the theater of the city of Paris, the Festival des Vieilles Charrues (big stage), the Casino de Paris, the Rozrywki Theater in Poland, the Voices Festival (Germany), the ancient Roman theater of Vienne and the theater in Tenerife (Canary Islands).

Recurring themes

Brittany and nature

Spruce protection: a foreign body on Cap-Sizun

For Denez Prigent, protecting nature in Brittany is just as important as preserving traditions. That is why in An hentoù adkavet he pays homage to the hikers who sing across Brittany while they regret that there will be no more space on the roads except for cars. Likewise, Argwez-sapin , a song about land consolidation, criticizes the replacement of the deciduous trees traditionally found in Brittany with conifers and again establishes the same connection: those who are made to forget their culture one day forgets their nature .

Protest against genetically modified organisms.

The discomfort Denez Prigent feels about living in the city is treated in E trouz ar gêr ; it ends with heralding the end of the world. And in Melezourioù-glav , where he sees hope in the last natural element that remains: rain. Failing to find nature around him, the author keeps it in his memory ( Kereñvor ). In the end he returns to life in the country.

Hent-eon takes up the theme of harmony with nature until death. The narrator demands to be buried in a chemin d'écume in order to understand forever the rhythm of ebb and flow, protected by his true family: rain, birds, wind and sea.

This view experiences a variant in Geotenn ar marv , where Denez Prigent denounces the use of genetically modified organisms in agriculture. It makes no sense to him to sing in Breton about an earth changed by this herb of death that those sow who, without the slightest shame, have changed what could not be changed .

Injustice, sickness, death

A factory in Copsa Mica

In the gwerz tradition, Denez Prigent translates dramatic situations into words that he encounters on a trip, during a conversation or in the media. An droug-red tells of an Ebola epidemic in Zaire. The main character, who sees everyone around her die, kills an old woman who is a symbol of the disease.

Copsa Mica contacted the Sometra factory, representative of the Copsa Mica metallurgical industry in Romania. This factory is extremely polluting, but it is almost the only employer in town. Therefore, in order to survive, the young people feel obliged to go there to operate the blast furnace, which is slowly killing them.

Gwerz Kiev tells of the Holodomor , the famine that struck Kiev in the 1930s and killed four million people.

Chinese soldiers at the parade

Ur fulenn aour is the lament of a young girl in the Philippines who was sold by her parents to be a prostitute. A variant of this theme is forced marriage, the victim of which is the narrator of A-dreñv va zi . Before the age of 13, given to a man who degrades her to a slave, she sheds her tears on a tree she has planted. This tree bears the best fruit there is because she hung her husband, mother-in-law and parents on it.

Denez Prigent does not neglect the big issues of international politics, e.g. B. with An iliz ruz , a very clear description of the massacre of two thousand people in a church in Nyarubuye in Rwanda: They cut off their heads without pity / how to mow the wheat in summer . Ar chas ruz tells of the Chinese invasion of Tibet, where the red dogs not only kill the men, but also their culture.

Two songs are dedicated to another type of tragedy: infanticide . Ar wezenn-dar tells of India, where the dowry system and anti- birth policies have encouraged murder, especially of girls. Ar vamm lazherez stages a woman who kills her first twelve daughters before she is herself killed by the thirteenth, who survives through supernatural powers to successfully end her vengeance.

Albums and events

Discography

  • 1992: Ha daouarn (only released on music cassette)
  • 1993: Ar gouriz koar (new recording 1996)
  • 1997: Me 'zalc'h ennon ur fulenn aour
  • 2000: Irvi
  • 2002: Live holl a-gevret
  • 2003: Sarac'h
  • 2011: Denez Best Of
  • 2015: Ul liorzh vurzudhus: An enchanting garden
  • 2018: Mil Hent - Mille chemins

Participation

bibliography

The Barzaz Breiz , a collection of popular songs from Brittany written by Théodore Hersart de La Villemarqué , especially the Gwerz, is a source of inspiration for Denez Prigent. The fourth edition (1846) is available in French.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Daniel Morvan, Bernard Galeron: Brittany, Terre de Musique. 2001, ISBN 2-9516936-0-5 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Festival des Vieilles Charrues.fr: Denez Prigent . ( Memento of December 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved December 20, 2009
  3. ↑ Great Song: Denez Prigent - La biography. Retrieved December 20, 2009
  4. ↑ a b c d e Mondomix.com: Benjamin MiNiMuM: Portrait de: Denez Prigent. ( Memento of the original from December 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 18, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mondomix.com
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Ethnotempos: Stéphane Fougère: Denez Prigent - sur les chemins des lueurs d'espoir. ( Memento of the original from July 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 20, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rythmes-croises.org
  6. ^ Jérémie Pierre Jouan: Erik Marchand et les Balkaniks. ( Memento of the original from December 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 2, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chantdumonde.com
  7. ↑ a b Le Télégramme.com: Frédéric Jambon: Denez Prigent. "Sarac'h": Grand Prix du Disque du Télegramme. ( Memento of the original from May 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. February 11, 2004. Retrieved December 5, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / prixdudisque.blogs.letelegramme.com
  8. ↑ Universal Music.fr: Denez Prigent: His biography ( Memento of the original from December 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Retrieved December 20, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.universalmusic.fr
  9. ↑ a b c d e An Tour Tan: Conversation with Denez Prigent during the broadcast An divskouarn o nijal , broadcast on Arvorig FM and Radio Kerne on December 15, 2003.
  10. ↑ Biography Denez Prigent - Das Projekt Dao Dezi, p. 10  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / 2007.festival-cornouaille.com  
  11. ↑ To Tour Tan.org: Conversation between Denez Prigent and Anna Louarn at the Festival Vieilles Charrues (2001) (br) Retrieved on January 2, 2010
  12. ↑ Jacme Gaudí's: Denez Prigent Le Bard et la Jungle. . Retrieved December 20, 2009
  13. ↑ Chemin d'écume literally means foam path. What is meant here is the meerschaum as an image for the flooding of the path
  14. ↑ a b Ethnotempos: Didier Le Goff: Denez Prigent. ( Memento of the original from December 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 20, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / rythmes-croises.org
  15. ^ Denez Prigent in the Internet Movie Database (fr + en).
  16. ↑ Collectif: La musique bretonne: Histoire des sonneurs de tradition. Le Chasse-Marée, Douarnenez, March 3, 2003, ISBN 978-2-903708-67-2 .
  17. ↑ Mondomix.com: Newsletter 023 - January 2001 ( Memento of the original from July 30th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Retrieved December 29, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mondomix.com
  18. ↑ a b c d e Booklet Sarac'h
  19. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Booklet Me 'zalc'h ennon ur fulenn aour
  20. ↑ M-la-music.net: Stéphane Guiheneuf: Denez Prigent. ( Memento of the original from July 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 20, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.m-la-music.net
  21. ↑ a b c d Booklet Irvi
  22. ↑ Skank Hunt. Retrieved October 10, 2016 .
  23. ↑ Barzaz Breiz Volume 1 and Barzaz Breiz Volume 2

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Prigent, Denez
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Breton singer and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH 17th February 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Santec