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RESOUND A QUARTERLY OF THE Archives of Traditional Music Volume IX, Number 4 October 1990 singers and bagpipers to pop-rock bands whose arrangements of traditional tunes served as a catalyst for A Musical Renaissance in Brittany the rediscovery of Breton identity by younger genera tions. Lois Kuter A year of research in 1978-79 was made much easier with a car and a gradually expanding network of individuals whose expertise and friendship were invaluable. My task for a doctoral dissertation was to define the adjective "Breton"-what did it mean to be My first field trip to Brittany as a graduate student Breton. Unlike other anthropological and in 1975 was exploratory in the fullest sense. I had already ethnomusicological studies which homed in on a discovered that American libraries have an extremely particular village or specific hypothesis, my research was small collection of literature of very mixed quality related purposely open-ended and wide-ranging. Because ?f a to this Celtic country within France. I had been able to great deal of cultural diversity within Brittany-whIch gather very little information about Breton music, but the appears subtle to an outsider but is sharply perceived, if few references and recordings I had located led me to not clearly defined by Bretons-the adjective "Breton" is believe that it was well worth my while to take a closer about as precise as the adjective "American." Imagine the look at the persistence of Breton culture. response people in the U.s. would give to a foreign In 1975 my travels in Brittany were limited to foot researcher asking them to define" American identity." and public transportation, which meant I was frustrated My questions about "Breton identity" left many Bretons by an inability to attend musical events and meet speechless. Most people in Brittany use a more local individuals who might help me begin my research. identity-as do Americans-and had never given thought Hungry for any information I could get which would give to defining the adjective "Breton." Although I did not me a means to define just what Breton music was and want to lose the open-ended quality of my research, I where and when it was performed, I used every bit of quickly found that I needed a topic to approach the idea evidence I could find, spending a great deal of time in of "Bretonness." libraries, but also scouring the contents of daily The definition of "Breton" music served as an ideal newspapers, magazines, record jackets and posters approach to the wider question of Breton identity. advertising upcoming events. I am certain that store Complimentary to this was an examination of how clerks were perplexed by this individual who spent so identity was marked by the Breton language-a Celtic much time taking notes in the record bins. And, my language unrelated to French still used as the everyday explanations-in a French still far from fluent-that I was language of 300,000 to 500,000 people in Brittany. The a student studying Breton music did little to justify to negative stigma that has been attached to the Breton them my study of record jackets (which in Brittany can language through a conscious attempt on the part of be a source of valuable details unavailable in any other French school teachers and government officials to both medium). "civilize" the peripheries of France and make the Locating musicians and Bretons who were speakers of non-French languages better citizens of studying Breton music was more difficult. As a total France has made the study of sociolinguistics in Brittany stranger in a country where knowing someone and extremely complex. This is compounded by the fact that having their introduction was critical to opening a in the eastern half of Brittany the Breton language has conversation, I wrote letters introducing myself. I was been gone for centuries and a distinct dialect of French fortunate to meet several individuals who generously identifies the unique culture of "Gallos." During the offered suggestions for further research, and i~formation, years of my research the Bretons of eastern Brittany were hospitality. My summer stay in Brittany in 1975 gave me struggling with the definition of their own identity. just enough of an introduction to know that Breton music Folklorists, ethnographers and Bretons of the west had was alive and well in a variety of forms, from traditional managed to convince Gallos that the absence of the organizing local festivals and archives to foster the Breton language in eastern Brittany made them "less unique traditions rooted in the different pays (literally, Breton." (See Kuter 1985 and 1989 for discussion of countries) of Brittany. This trend continues today and has linguistic diversity within Brittany.) Because language fostered a new generation of traditional singers and tended to emphasize social, political and cultural division instrumentalists who strengthen the oral tradition by within Brittany, it proved to be a difficult and sensitive respecting the essentially sociaL nature of learning topic for conversation. Music and other cultural markers traditions from older generations. Young musicians enjoy of Brittany had not escaped the negative social and and respect the social bonds fostered in an oral tradition, political stigmatization the Breton language so clearly but have expanded the network by using recordings and carried, but music served as a more neutral means of publications to document and help make traditions more expressing Breton identity-an identity with many levels. accessible beyond a one-to-one contact. New technologies On one level, Breton identity was highly negative, have not threatened the oral traditions of Brittany, but and distinctively Breton markers such as language and instead strengthen them. Young and old musicians take music traditions marked one as a backwards peasant. advantage of recordings to supplement more direct Many Bretons believed that to get ahead in the world it contacts which include the transmission of far more than was necessary to become French. The old songs were all music. right for old people, but not to be passed on to one's Founded in 1972 by a handful of musicians who children. Fortunately, many Bretons did not believe that simply wanted to share their collection of recordings with it was necessary to abandon their heritage to get ahead in others, Dastum has become a major archive in Europe the world. And others who had emigrated to Paris with some four hundred to five hundred individuals learned first hand that to become French did not contributing tapes, adding up to over 1,500 hours of guarantee paradise. Emigrants returning to Brittany were music, radio programs, oral histories and storytelling (see frequently leaders in creating new contexts and Kuter, forthcoming). Dastum has also become a major institutions to foster Breton traditions. In the 1950s older repository for old photographs and song texts, all performers were urged to dust off their repertoire and indexed by computer. Alone, or in cooperation with a new contexts were created for performance-locally based number of other cultural groups in Brittany, Dastum has contests and dances called the fest noz . Young Bretons produced dozens of well researched books, records, joined Cerdes Celtiques (Celtic Circles) or a bagad (bagpipe cassettes and compact discs documenting traditional band) which were relatively new institutions to Brittany. Breton music. When I visited the archives of Dastum in Young people who participated in these groups were not 1975--then located in the living room of one of the co­ Breton nationalists or even perhaps aware of being founders-I would not have predicted the success of this Breton, but the Cerdes Celtiques and bagads introduced institution. But the "just do it and stop .talking_about it" thousands to the existence of a Breton history and attitude and the direct involvement of musicians distinctive, positive culture, and left a lasting impact on themselves in scholarship and collection boded well for the consciousness of youngsters. the future of Dastum even then, despite their lack of In the 1960s young Bretons were looking for new financial stability. expressions more suited to urban lifestyles, and the folk In the 1990s Brittany can boast of one of the revivals of the U.S. and British Isles did not go healthiest music traditions of Europe. The transmission of unnoticed. Breton pop and folk singers and groups song and instrumental traditions from the past remains appeared during this period-the best known being Alan unbroken-although it has been severely tested at times Stivell. Using traditional music as a base, young and interests a relatively small number of Bretons. The musicians arranged it using electric guitars and a diversity of music in Brittany and the creation of new combination of acoustic instruments which had no music that is rooted (more or less successfully) in Breton tradition in Brittany. Looking back today, Breton traditions is a surer sign of health. In his Guide de La musicians are somewhat horrified by the quality of music Musique Bretonne 1990 Serge Moelo reports the results of a they produced in those days, but this "Breton is survey of the state of music in Brittany. In this country beautiful" phase of consciousness was critical in laying the size of Belgium with a population of approximately the groundwork for a more serious examination of roots. 3.7 million, one can find two hundred musicians who In the 1970s Bretons were feeling uncomfortable make their living by performing or teaching Breton with, or at least very self-conscious about, the music. A directory lists 950 musicians who perform renaissance of traditional music and dances. The older Breton music more or less regularly.

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