Skolvan, Chenchet’n eus an amzer (Keltia Musique, 2000)
Skolvan, Kerzh Ba’n’ Dans (Keltia Musique,1991)
Skolvan, Swing & Tears (Keltia Musique, 1994)
Anyone not afraid of good music that is lively and loud will love Skolvan. This group is a bit more subtle, more textured than Bagad Kemper, as this is a true dance band as opposed to the massed marching band approach of that group. Created more than ten years ago by four of the best Breton instrumentalists around, Skolvan was one of the essential engines of the current revival of the fest noz. A fest noz is quite simply a Night Festival which means, me dear readers, that they dance all night long. And eat. And drink. And court. Bliss! Now Musician Alan Stivell, one of the best known Breton musicians alive today, has been quoted as saying that at a real Fest Noz, as opposed to a Bal Breton, there should be these things present: only local dances performed, only local publicity, free admission with food and drink present, only unaccompanied singing and biniou-bombarde (and clarinet in the Plinn region), and since the fest noz is intended for locals, and they should take place outside of the cities.
Now Skolvan has been known to play these dances, so they are perhaps closer to the old traditions than Bagad Kemper. The mix of instruments is fairly typical of French neo-traditional bands — I’ve got CDs from several other regions of France where accordions, saxes, guitars, percussion, and (oft times) fiddles are in play. Literally. Certainly the accordion forms the core essence of Skolvan as it does his later group, Cocktail Diatonique. It’s not quite Paris cafe music, which also uses an accordion as its main instrument, but it has some similarities.
My rough translation of the biography for Skolvan from the Keltia Musique Web site says their line-up includes Youenn Bihan (bombards , biniou and piston), who is a also violin maker and created the ‘piston,’ a type of bombard close in sound to the oboe baroque, which makes all the originality and the depth of sound of the group. Also present are Yann-Fañch Perroches (diatonic accordion), an accordionist highly regarded for the power and the subtlety of his playing. He’s recently been replaced by Loic Troël. Gilles Bigot (guitar) is known for a creative style of guitar playing specific to Breton music. Also present are Bernard Dreau (saxophone) who was interested very early in the blues, and Domenica Molard (percussion) who adds a distinctive sound to their music.
A fair summation of what you’ll hear is a lively dance music with, as Skolvan notes in the liner notes to Kerzh Ba’n’ Dans (‘Come to the Dance’), a full buffet of choices. All three CDs are must haves. Really. Truly. Kerzh Ba’n’ Dans has such goodies as ‘Trip to Skye’ which is a slow waltz written John Whelan, a well-known Irish musician, ‘Polkas Bognalaises’ which comes from Finistere where Skolvan practices, and ‘Le Sous-Marin S’en Va’, a lively set of tunes from the Redon region. Swing & Tears, which fRoots said was one of the best French albums of the year — and I won’t disagree! — has more guest artists than I’ll list here, more in fact than even an album by Bagad Kemper! ‘Tears’, an invitation as Skolvan puts it to dance, ‘Boules et guirlandes’, another set of what Skolvan calls ‘dance themes’ from the Redon region, and ‘Swing!’, a double gavotte which is Skolvan’s trademark dance. The third album of the three they’ve released, Chenchet’n eus an amzer is the one where Loic replaces Yann Fañch, but me ear can’t tell any noticeable difference. Good bands do that; bad bands are shite no matter who’s in ‘em. ‘Heuliadenn Gouel Ha Daerou‘ is another gavotte, a French dance dating from the 17th Century, as is the the title piece of ‘Chenchet’n eus an amzer’. There’re also lovely chants here such as ‘Pedenn chante‘. As I said a ways back, all three of these are must haves.
Jack Merry
[...] The complete Skolvan recordings [...]