{"id":28858,"date":"2021-05-03T12:29:40","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T10:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.camac-harps.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/bisiad\/"},"modified":"2021-05-03T20:20:18","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T18:20:18","slug":"bisiad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.camac-harps.com\/blog\/en\/news\/bisiad\/","title":{"rendered":"Bisiad… “what you have in your fingers”!"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you haven\u2019t yet heard of Kevin Le Pennec<\/a>, he\u2019s part of the new generation of the modern trad – and we love what he is doing.\u00a0<\/span>Don\u2019t miss him performing on Les Jeudis de la Harpe<\/a>, this Thursday at 19:30 on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Les<\/a><\/p>\n

If you like that, you\u2019ll like this: Kevin has also just released his first album with duo partner Morgane Gr\u00e9gory. Both Kevin and Morgane are winners of the Camac Trophy at the Interceltic Festival in Lorient (Morgane in 2017; it was Kevin\u2019s turn in 2019), and they formed a duo while they were both studying in Brest, Brittany.<\/p>\n

\"Bisiad\"<\/a>Bisiad is an eponymous disc; the duo is named after the Breton word \u201cbiz\u201d, or finger. With the suffix \u201ciad\u201d, it means something like \u201cWhat you have in your fingers\u201d. In Bisiad\u2019s case, it\u2019s a lot!<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to make a dynamic album\u201d, Kevin explains. \u201cFull of dances, sunny, joyful, with the energy and grooves that are such a big part of modern trad. Traditional music has always evolved with the times, if you think about folk rock in the 70s for example. We\u2019ve brought in a lot of pop influences, I would say, but we love playing all types of traditional music, and exploring the Breton, Irish and Scottish sources. Culturally, these tunes are completely different from each other, but that\u2019s also such a fun part of traditional music. We relish its diversity, you can appropriate it and be expressive in so many different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInvitation\u201d, the first track on the album, is based on the Breton Tour, from the same family of dances as the An dro. It\u2019s part of the Haute Bretagne repertoire and sung in French – there is a very specific tradition of francophone popular song in this part of the country. \u201cTraditionally, this tune was sung to invite family, friends and neighbours to a wedding ceremony\u201d, says Kevin. \u201cWe thought it would get our album off to a good start, as an invitation to come and listen to it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kevin<\/a>Following this joyful invitation, the album quickly whisks us to the Shetland Isles – and more dances, this time, reels. \u201cThe fiddle player Anna-Wendy Stevenson taught us these\u201d, Kevin goes on. \u201cThey were a lot of fun to arrange for two harps. And so was track 3, Bis #1! This was Morgane\u2019s idea, because it was the first piece we arranged together. I composed a bass line, and Morgane improvised a melody over the top which concludes with the piece\u2019s tune. It\u2019s based on a Larid\u00e9 in 8, another Breton dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bisiad\u2019s fourth track takes a more sober turn. “Pa oan me plac’hig yaouank” (\u201cWhen I was a young girl\u201d) is a traditional tune from Cornouaille, in southwestern Brittany. Recounting an unhappy marriage, it warns young women to think carefully before entering into wedlock! The harp arrangement is correspondingly piquant, and also complements what Kevin describes as the percussive quality of the Breton language.<\/p>\n

\u201cPull the Knife and Stick It Again\u201d then follows, a Scottish tune Kevin and Morgane discovered via the Talisk trio – and next, The Kerry, a reel that also features Arthur Manuel on guitar and old time banjo. \u201cThe Kerry is one of the poppiest tracks on the album\u201d, says Kevin. \u201cIt\u2019s only got four chords…we thought, why not!\u201d<\/p>\n

The album takes a more reflective tone again with \u201cM\u00e9sange et Rossignols\u201d, one of Kevin\u2019s own compositions. \u201cThis is an anti-misogyny song\u201d, he says, \u201cand I suppose a song against cognitive bias in general. I was really scandalised when I started working as a professional musician, and noticed how often my female colleagues are subject to everyday sexism. There isn\u2019t enough attention paid to their music and that\u2019s a real pity.<\/p>\n

Also, there are many established musical \u201cgurus\u201d who love to explain and judge how things should be done, I\u2019ve experienced this too. I think that music blossoms in a spirit of diversity and open-mindedness, so that\u2019s what I\u2019m singing about here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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