Around The World (18)

Hello, Around the Worldmusics finds itself in France, Brittanny (Breton) today. Back in the good old days, before rome culture and christian terror came down on the european peoples the Celts were dominant. What happened was that they were driven west and their druid locally managed lifestyle retreated to the British Isles, Ireland and mainlands most western region, Brittany. To date these regions show a strong genetic link to northern spain-Bask area where their migration started between 9 and 6 thousand years ago. Roman/Greek historians describe them as blonds even lemonising their hair, with females having equal rights ..even active as warriors and as (un)natural form of birthcontrol men preferring boys..but not too much otherwise the women would divorce them and take the possesions. So i guess in a way we are back where we were, if not for those New World Order morons striving for total control, with the help of their alien 'friends', that likely see them as the perfect tools to take over the planet...Back to the music, i guess what i want to say is that the fact that celtic music still carries an emotional punch for most westerners is because its deeply embedded in the culture that started deep in prehistoric times and in ways were the best of our times. Before roman militairy cunning and in its wake a vengeful roman catholic religion slashed and burned away freedom,and introduced money, tax and guilt and all the neuroses that come with those.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Alan Stivell - Tir Na Nog (symphonie celtique) (79 ^ 161 mb)

If there is a single savior of Celtic music, Alan Stivell is probably it. Since the end of the 1960s, he has done more to revive interest in the Celtic (specifically Breton) harp than anyone in the world and, in the process, almost singlehandedly made the world aware of native Breton Celtic music. Since 1971, he has been recording albums of extraordinary beauty and diversity, ranging from ancient Breton and Irish material to modern folk-rock and progressive rock.

He was born Alan Cochevelou, the son of a harp maker. His father was the rediscoverer of the Breton harp, but he started his musical life on a somewhat more conventional instrument, taking up the piano at age five. He was given a harp by his father at age nine, and studied for the next several years under the direction of his father and Miss D. Megevand, a concert harpist, freely mixing classical repertory and arrangements of Breton, English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh folk material. Stivell was playing concerts at age 11, and he began taking up the more general study of traditional popular Celtic music, including the Scottish bagpipes, drum, Irish flute, and tin whistle, while in his teens. He ultimately became well versed in all of these and won honors in national piping competitions in Scotland, and chose the professional name of Stivell, the Breton word meaning fountain, spring, or source. By the age of 21, while studying for his degree in English, he became an established folk musician, recording songs to his own harp accompaniment.


In 1967, he formed a group consisting of himself on harp, bagpipes, and Irish flute and Dan Ar Bras on electric guitar, backed by bass and drums. He released several albums during this period, including Reflections (1971), A L'Olympia (1972), Chemins de Terre (1972), Celtic Rock (1972), and E. Lagonned (1976). For a time during the mid-'70s, his success placed traditional Breton and Celtic music on the English charts on a regular basis. Stivell's biggest accomplishment, however, involved the rebirth and rediscovery of an instrument and an entire cultural history. His career brought to fruition the revival of the Breton harp that his father had begun in the 1930s and '40s,within 20 years there were over 100 players where there had been none.

Alan Stivell's music has found an audience among people who have never been anywhere near Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales. The Celtic peoples were among the western-most settlers of Europe, and occupied some of the bleakest yet most starkly beautiful land in Europe -- the Romans, in particular, couldn't understand why any sane race would want to live in those places; but, of course, the Romans are gone and buried. In contrast Celtic music is still played, and their culture exerts a pull on people the world over. The music has always had an element of loneliness, of the single harpist, piper, or drummer looking out across the vastness to the West (all that lay west was, of course, the Atlantic Ocean . Stivell, captures the inherent joy, wistfulness, and loneliness in this music, his music captures the mystery and strangeness of Breton, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish landscapes that are both ageless and timeless.

Tir Na Nog is a long way from Stivell's solo harp excursions. In addition to various harps, pipes, and whistles played by Stivell, the instrumentation includes a rock band (guitars, bass, drums, keyboards), uilinn pipes, an orchestra of 40-plus players, and a choir. It is not traditional Breton, Irish, or Scottish music, but it is a modern, mixed-ensemble successor to those sources. Obviously Stivell took a risk and got some slack for leaving the 'pure' path, nevertheless, to date, the original double album is Stivell's magnum opus.



Alan Stivell - Tir Na Nog (symphonie celtique) (79 ^ 161mb)

Kelc'h Unan

01 - Beaj (4:38)
02 - Hiraezh: Gwerz 1 (3:22)
03 - Hiraezh: Loc'h Ar Goulenn (3:39)
04 - Divodan (9:20)

Kelc'h Daou

05 - Emskiant (3:46)
06 - Kendaskren (4:01)
07 - Imram (6:38)
08 - Dilestran (3:48)

Kelc'h Tri

09 - Ar C'hammou Kentan (4:06)
10 - Ar Geoded Skedus (4:23)
11 - Ar Bale Trema'r Geoded (5:40)

Kelc'h Tri (Suite)

12 - Gouel Hollvedel I (3:41)
14 - Gouel Hollvedel II (4:17)
15 - Gouel Hollvedel III (4:55)
16 - Gouel Hollvedel IV (2:25)
17 - An Distro (0:43)

***** ***** ***** ***** *****
All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !