We had recorded this song back in 2023, and filmed plenty of sequences while travelling around in Sweden last fall, which was both fitting and inspiring. And then… Breton winter happened!
The longest and darkest winter we ever had in Brittany, long days of rain, and heavy dark grey clouds over our heads had quite an impact on our working and creative flow. When Ciarann tempest hit Brittany, on the day of the Celtic New Year, that was a sign, wasn’t it?
Apart from the difficulty of doing anything outdoors, like filming or taking pictures, we also had to deal with a few issues on our house. Leaks on our roof appeared, mostly due to so many rainy days without the natural stone (slate) being able to dry.
Needless to say, that kept us busy! not in the nicest way.
My (Simone here!) personal health also paid its tribute to these harsh conditions, and time for some warm dry sun was much needed.
That’s how we headed to Portugal for a few weeks, and finally find the energy to finalise this video! We hope you’le enjoy it. And we hope at some point, this song could make its way to an album – yes! We’re still debating on how to make the next album.
Wishing you all a nice spring, enjoy the music, enjoy the sun,
Blessings from sunny Brittany!
Your friends might thank you for letting them know about our music !
We’re so happy and proud to have again brought into the world a beautiful art project, combining music, painting, mixed media and creative video editing. We filmed it in Brittany and finished the editing during our travel here in Sweden. Take your time to enjoy it, it’s an 8 minutes song, so it’s almost like a short movie 😉 But it will be worth your time, we always deliver what we promise 😉
And when it’s done, please leave us a comment saying what part you most enjoyed, and maybe send the link to a friend!
💎 The song is Ar Venjañs, from our album & book Inês. It’s the revenge of Pedro upon the murderers of his beloved Inês (full lyrics with notes, context and all translations in English and French in the illustrated book Inês, also available in digital format). The rhythm of the music is a traditional gavotte rhythm. http://astrakanproject.bandcamp.com/album/in-s
The lyrics are somewhat unrelated to the video itself – but we liked the energy of the music, we’ll touch on the reasons behind it soon in a short video.
💎 The Return of Mother Earth is an allegory of the resistance at play in Brittany to protect the land from more damage from the industrial agriculture. In next week’s video we’ll give you some elements and context, subscribe to be notified http://www.youtube.com/astrakanproject?sub_confirmation=1
💰 You can use this link to donate, and support our creative projects being brought into the world. http://www.paypal.me/astrakan (you don’t actually need a PayPal account, you simply may enter the amount you feel is right for you and your banking details)
Our last busy and creative and magical day in Brittany before we left last week for a long awaited travel combining all that we love: music, nature, creativity, filming, painting, video…
The video comes with the legend of Saint Hervé, a Black Madonna, a labyrinth, and a stunning sunset!
We’ve also been posting very short daily poetic captures in video of our creative journey through Scandinavia (I’m typing from Norway, somewhere next to Roros), and you can see it here:
Why do we sing sad and tragic songs, WHY DOES ONE EVER SING SAD SONGS?
Perak ? Why?
In pop music, contemporary songs, you compose them, you write them to process your break ups, betrayals, losses of a loved one. It’s the power of CATHARSIS, the purification, the transformation of our emotions by sharing and remembering them, so we can release them.
Kannaouennoù don zo memor ha spered ur bobl.
Profound songs are the memory and the spirit of a nation.
Some gwerz tell about facts that can sometimes be traced to a specific tragic event, murders, rapes, killing of a child, battle, the great plague… they somehow could have had that effect.
But gwerzoù tend to also combine not only real tragic facts, but also mythology, poetry, historical events. Sometimes, the meaning of some parts got lost along generations. Instead of SAD or TRAGIC, I would maybe rather say that they’re PROFOUND. They hold something mysterious, timeless, and layered.
Yes, there is power and transmuting horrible stories into something beautiful with a timelessness beauty!
But a POWER as great lies in the POWER of an UNBROKEN ORAL TRADITION
(mettre un bout de SKOLVAN a-capella – dans les bois)
SKOLVAN
We, Yann and I, but other musicians too, have a special relationship with that song. The song itself has similarities with Yskolan (the Black book of Carmarthen – Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin – considered the oldest Welsh manuscript – 1250 (around) (XIIIth century) – and that would have been written by Myrrdin.
It was transmitted only orally in Brittany until the XIXth century, when written by La Villemarquée (see our previous video on the topic bellow) and then also by Francois Marie Luzel, about 20 versions with variations have been since been found, some being more Christianised than others.
It could be dating back to before the settlement of Armorica by Celtic Brittons in the 6th century. How many generations? About 60 maybe?
DIGREDUS! CRAZY !
I can’t even wrap my head around that!
I’ve sung this GWERZ with several musicians, but we would usually work on general arrangements, and I never wanted to really ”practice” it fully. Because it was so heavy! I don’t know if it’s the meaning of the gwerz, or the hunting tune, but I always feel like not being ”alone” when I sing it, and it’s a lot to carry on my own, I feel. I hear several voices of people that have sung it, with different voices, accents, etc… But even more than that.
I feel that when it’s in front of an audience, that weight is shared, it gives a purpose to bring back to life those memories?
So what’s that PURPOSE ?
Perak e vint kannet gwerzioù teñval ha glac’harus?
Why do songs so dark and bitter get sung?
I’ve always wondered why I was myself attracted by them.
Because they create beauty and connection ?
To create connection – EVIT KROUIN LIAMMOU.
To create beauty – EVIT AOZAN TRAOU KAER.
Because they’ve been passed along to us, they don’t belong to us, we’re just a small link in the long chain of humans that have contributed to the existence of those songs.
They were funny people, they sounded at peace, and joyful despite the harsh living conditions of their time.
Kannaounnoù don zo memor ha spered ur Bobl
Profound songs are the memory and spirit of a nation
This is the deep root of the WHY, it’s easy for anyone to join in a dance, engage in a funny rhythmic song, sing an easy happy melody, but have the strength and the courage to fully embrace the dark side of a culture, this is where you start to belong.
Two quick announcements before we wrap up, and while we do, you’re right in time to hit the LIKE button!
So, n°1, you know we love video projects that include you, the next chance for you to create something beautiful and magical with us is around the corner, it will be for DIOUGAN GWENCHLAN extended version (watch it here if you haven’t), and we’ll ask you to film beautiful sky time-lapses for the video. All details will be posted here very soon, SUBSCRIBE (http://www.youtube.com/astrakanproject?sub_confirmation=1) and hit the notification BELL if you don’t want to miss it ! (or join the newsletter in English here http://eepurl.com/vhBnn )
Last, we’ll be travelling very soon to Germany and Sweden, to perform and also to work on new songs and videos, you’ll see the result popping here also!
Trugarez, Devezh mat deoc’h, Kenavo, ken ta tro!
Your friends might thank you for letting them know about our music !
Gwenc’hlan is a mythical Breton bard from the VIc, and was jailed by a Christian prince, and got his eyes gouged out for refusing to convert to Christianity. In the song, he talks about not being afraid to die, the lyrics (very long lyrics, only a small part is found here) then morph into a prophecy of the revenge that will fall upon the Prince. (Please, subscribe, it’s a fascinating theme, we might edit a full video about Barzaz Breizh + Gwenc’hlan 😉 )
💎 The Lyrics are a composition from Simone. During the collection of the song in the XIXc, a melody was written. It’s the one you’ll find on Alan Stivell or Yann-Fanch Kemener versions. We always found it sounded quite like a religious hymn, which was personally a bit disturbing considering Gwenc’hlan’s fate. It was composed in the winter 2023, at Sun set, when tide was rising, at Roc’h-allaz, a roc that has the same name as the place Gwenc’hlan was said to be living, a beautiful roc overlooking the sea in Tregor.
💎 Sequences filmed in Western Brittany at various times of the year
💰 You can use this link to donate, and support our creative projects being brought into the world. http://www.paypal.me/astrakan (you don’t actually need a PayPal account, you simply may enter the amount you feel is right for you and your banking details)
🌞 🌙 ⭐️ 🌟 💫 ✨ 🌜 Music : Traditional, Simone Alves & Yann Gourvil 💫 Lyrics : Traditional (Barzaz Breizh, La Villemarqué, Brittany) ✨ Video : Simone Alves
Your friends might thank you for letting them know about our music !
💎 The song is Diougan Gwenc’hlan, the lyrics are found in Barzaz Breizh, a fantastic collection of Breton lyrics collected by Hersart de la Villemarqué and published for the first time in 1838. Gwenc’hlan is a mythical Breton bard from the 6c, he was jailed by a Christian prince, and got his eyes gouged out for refusing to convert to Christianity. In the song, he talks about not being afraid to die, the lyrics (very long lyrics, only a small part is found here) then morph into a prophecy of the revenge that will fall upon the Prince. (Please, subscribe, it’s a fascinating theme, we might edit a full video about Barzaz Breizh + Gwenc’hlan 😉 )
💎 The Lyrics are a composition from Simone. During the collection of the song in the 19c, a melody was written. It’s the one you’ll find on Alan Stivell or Yann-Fanch Kemener versions. We always found it sounded quite like a religious hymn, which was personally a bit disturbing considering Gwenc’hlan’s fate. It was composed in the winter 2023, at Sun set, when tide was rising (see the beginning of the lyrics!🌊), at Roc’h-allaz, a roc that has the same name as the place Gwenc’hlan was said to be living, a beautiful roc overlooking the sea in Tregor. 🌟🌊
💎 The sequences were filmed in Western Brittany at various times of the year
💰 You can use this link to donate, and support our creative projects being brought into the world. http://www.paypal.me/astrakan (you don’t actually need a PayPal account, you simply may enter the amount you feel is right for you and your banking details) 🌞 🌙 ⭐️ 🌟 💫 ✨ 🌜
Music : Simone Alves & Yann Gourvil 💫
Lyrics : Traditional (Barzaz Breizh, La Villemarqué, Brittany)
✨ Video : Simone Alves
Your friends might thank you for letting them know about our music !
Happy new year, bloavezh mat deoc’h, we’re happy to start out 2023 with a video with a very long and ghosty history, and yes, it’s quite dark and moody, but, hey! that’s also very Breton!
We hope you’ll enjoy, the sound has been remastered in that version, but the original version is to be found in B album here:
Many of you already saw it and gave us super nice feedback, for the rest of you, we had been working on this song for a while now, it’s a traditional lullaby from Georgia that we released right before Samhain. Our son was super kind to take part into the video itself – look for the description under the video, there’s plenty about the origine etc…
(please if you have a YouTube user account, like/subscribe/comment, sounds cheesy, but it makes a huge difference on the way our channel and music gets promoted to people that don’t know us yet.)
Simone did an extra video about Samhain/Art/Honouring our ancestors and the meaning of the song to her.
Your friends might thank you for letting them know about our music !
. astrakan project . 