A Fest Noz (Breton: festival of the night) is a Breton traditional festival, similar to a céilí. The Breton language ( Brezhoneg) formerly often called Armoric or Armorican, is a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany Brittany (Breizh bʁejs Bretagne; Gallo: Bertaèyn) is a former independent Celtic kingdom and Duchy, now incorporated into A céilidh ( (in modern usage is a traditional Gaelic social Dance originating in Ireland and Scotland, but now common throughout the
There is traditional music and dancing, accompanied by drinking.
Although the traditional dances of the Fest Noz are old, some dating back to the Middle Ages, the Fest Noz tradition is more recent, dating back no further than the 1950s. Year 1950 ( MCML) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
The plural in Breton is festoù-noz, but the Goadec sisters (a family of traditional singers) used to say festnozoù, and the French may also say in French des fest-noz. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people
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Fest-noz
A fest-noz is a traditional festival (essentially a dance) in Brittany. Many festoù-noz are held outside Brittany, bringing the Breton culture to life outside Breton territory.
In the past, many of these dances were held officially in order to trample the ground so as to have a firm earth floor in a house or a solid surface for farm work (the "aire neuve" dances), which explains the presence of stamping movements in the dances. At one time the church banned "kof-a-kof" (stomach-to-stomach) dances, meaning dancing in pairs. These festivals were a chance for young people to meet and size each other up, on a social level, by their clothes, and also to see how quickly they got tired since dances would sometimes go on for a long time and involve complex and swift steps needing a certain amount of effort and skill.
These days, dancers are mainly looking to have a good time dancing in a group and spend some quality time together. A lot of people talk of sometimes reaching a state of trance thanks to the music (powerful and repetitive, which could also be compared to that of raves) and the physical exertion. A rave (or rave party) is a term in use since the 1980s to describe Dance Parties (often all-night events In many ways, taking part in a large fest-noz (like those which are often held near larger Breton towns and cities) is like an evening in a night club.
The dances
There are hundreds of traditional dances, of which the most well-known are gavottes, the an dro, the 'hanter dro, the plinn and the Scottish. The gavotte (also gavot or gavote) originated as a French Folk dance, taking its name from the Gavot people of the Pays de Gap An Dro or "En dro" ( Breton: "The Turn" is a Breton Folk dance in 2/4 During the fest-noz, most dances are practised in a chain or in a circle (everyone holds hands), but there are also dances in pairs and "choreographed" dances», meaning dances enriched with precise artistic elements (sequences, figures, etc. ). Fest Noz Spezet images.
The music
There are principally two types of music that you can hear at these festivals: music sung a cappella (kan ha diskan, . A cappella (Italian or Latin "From the chapel/choir" Music is Vocal music or Singing without instrumental Accompaniment Kan ha diskan is likely the most common type of traditional Music of Brittany. . . ), accompanied with music or purely instrumental. Before the invention of microphones and amplified instruments, the instruments that were most often used were the bombarde (a sort of oboe or shawm) and the Breton bagpipes (biniou kozh), due to their high volume. The bombarde, or bombard (in Breton is a folk Musical instrument from Brittany and Cornwall that is a cross between an Oboe Bagpipes are a class of Musical instrument, Aerophones using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag You could also find the diatonic accordion, the clarinet, and occasionally the violin and the hurdy-gurdy. The accordion is a portable box-shaped Musical instrument of the hand-held Bellows -driven free-reed aerophone family sometimes referred to as a Squeezebox The clarinet is a Musical instrument in the Woodwind family The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word The violin is a bowed String instrument with four strings usually tuned in Perfect fifths It is the smallest and highest-pitched member A hurdy gurdy (also known as a wheel fiddle) is a stringed Musical instrument in which the strings are sounded by means of a Rosined wheel which the strings After the Second World War, the Scottish bagpipes (and biniou bras) became commonplace in Brittany thanks to bagadoù (musical groups) and thus often replaced the biniou-kozh. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including A bagad is a Breton band composed of Bagpipes ( Breton: biniou, French: Cornemuse Bombardes and Percussion (made The basic clarinet (treujenn-gaol - "cabbage core" in Breton) had all but disappeared but has regained popularity over the past few years.
Other than the traditional instruments, there are nowadays groups with many different styles of music ranging from rock, jazz (Diwall, Skeduz,. Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States . . ) to punk and also mixes with styles from other countries. String instruments (the violin, the double-bass, the acoustic guitar, the electric guitar, the bass guitar) and North-African percussion instruments have long since been adopted. To varying degrees, some Fest-Noz groups also use electronic keyboards and synthesisers (Strobinell, Sonerien Du, Les Baragouineurs, Plantec. . . ). Brass instruments are becoming more and more commonplace, often bringing with them sounds approaching those of oriental music.
The programme
There is no standard programme, but one may note the regular holding of a «free stage» before the arrival of a well-known group where the stage is open to any willing musician, singer or group. . . and it is often the latter who, at the end of the night, keep the hardcore dancers who always want more dancing into the small hours.
Between each group, there may be a short break allowing the dancers to have a snack with a choice generally including crêpes, galettes-saucisses, far breton, kouign amann and, to drink, cider, apple juice, beer, and chouchen, a traditional drink made from fermenting honey in water. A crêpe (kreɪp French kʀɛp is a type of very thin cooked Pancake usually made from Wheat Flour. For the non-alcoholic beverage commonly known in the US as "cider" see Apple cider. Chouchen ( Breton chouchenn) is an Alcoholic beverage popular in Brittany, France.
See also
External links
Since the early 1970 Brittany has experienced a revival of its Folk music, modernizing and adapting it into Folk rock and other fusion genres Noze looan is a style of Cornish-Celtic Dance, and associated music and events similar to the Breton Fest Noz. A céilidh ( (in modern usage is a traditional Gaelic social Dance originating in Ireland and Scotland, but now common throughout theDapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic