Music featured fairly prominently in

this holiday. As well as the bagads and dancers we went to two concerts. The first was at Bannalec and featured a singer and a cellist singing traditional songs in Breton. The songs were all very haunting. Afterwards I talked with some of the folk who were there as well as the performers. They were part of the Breton cultural scene and they compared the state of the Welsh language with the state of Breton. I was surprised not to have heard Breton spoken at all, not in the streets, not in the shops, nowhere, even in the small towns. Compare this with somewhere like, for example, Rhuthin, Dolgellau or Bala where you'd be routinely greeted in Welsh in shops etc.

They said that 20 years ago you'd have heard Breton on the streets in towns like Bannalec, but no more. People admired the Welsh scene greatly.

The second concert we went to was given by Clarisse Lavanant, who sang an entire evening unaccompanied (unless you count a percussion egg, a tambourine and a glockenspiel). It was quite amazing as a performance and I wished Catrin had been there to hear her. She sang in the little chapel pictured above and brought her own microphone, amplifier, etc.

I was surprised by the strength of Breton feeling.