The Festival Interceltique Lorient

Our first weekend in Bretagne, we stayed in a town called Concarneau, by the sea, and went to the Festival Interceltique in nearby Lorient. The festival is an enormous week-long celebration of Celtic music, and this year’s theme was Diaspora—so there were Celtic music groups there from all over the world, including Africa.

The parade was a highlight, with lots of bagpipers, marching bands, dancers, and people in traditional dress:



Mugambi and I bought tickets to what we thought was a bagpipe concert, but turned out to be the World Series of the bagpipe world—the finals of a global bagpipe competition. When the first bagpiper walked out onto the stage, I thought, wow, bagpipers can be hot! There was just something about a guy in a kilt with a bagpipe, striding confidently across a stage. Then when he started playing, I changed my mind. Not because the music wasn’t awesome—but because playing the bagpipes does weird things to your face. Observe:



We got to see a performance of Celtic music by an extremely talented group of musicians from both Boston and Glasgow. Everyone on the stage here was PHENOMENAL at their individual instruments and a lot of them sang harmony, too! Kinda makes me wish I could play an instrument well.

And did I mention the food? This was my first exposure to Breton food. Galettes, a kind of crepe made with dark wheat and full of savory things like meat, cheese, onions, and egg, was a favorite—but the galettes here were sub-par compared to the ones to come. Mugambi and I got galettes for dinner and bought a bottle of Breton cider to split. Cider is to Bretagne what wine is to the rest of France—an art form. We wandered among food stalls, swigging from our bottle of cider and buying Breton treats like far Bretagne--a kind of flan with prunes that is a regional specialty and that I’ll learn how to make in time for Christmas—as well as chocolate crepes and a random croque monsieur. At the end of the day it started pouring, so we took refuge under an awning and listened to a Celtic rock band while we waited for it to stop. Not such a bad day!