Festival de Cornouaille

The tradition & historical record

The Festival de Cornouaille (French pronunciation: [fɛstival də kɔʁnwaj]) is an annual festival taking place in Quimper in the Cornouaille region of Brittany, France. The festival begins on the third Sunday of July and lasts for one week. It has been held since 1923 and is one of the biggest cultural events in Brittany. The festival puts forward the Breton culture in its diversity and its richness. About 180 shows, concerts and animations take place in the day and in the evening in the urban heart of the city of Quimper: "a festival in the heart of a city and a culture". ¹

The festival was founded in 1923 as a sort of beauty contest. The idea was to choose the most beautiful girl in the region and crown her queen of the festival (hence the name Fête des Reines). The Breton bards Taldir-Jaffrenou and Botrel were present, as were the folk dancers of Plozévet. After the pageant, there was a dinner for 300 guests, accompanied by piano and violin, and the festival ended with a grand ball, where the gavotte was mixed with the Charleston. The festival continued in this form until 1947. ¹

The festival was not held during the Second World War but was revived after the end of Nazi occupation in 1945. In 1947, the Fête des Reines was renamed Les grandes Fêtes de Cornouaille. The first Fêtes was a four-hour folk festival, focusing on the Breton tradition. In 1948, a 16-year-old girl was elected festival queen, provoking criticism from the Roman Catholic Church. As a result, in 1949 the practice of electing a festival queen was abandoned, and the festival changed to emphasize local folklore. In the same year the festival was expanded from one day into one week. Since the 1950s, the festival has developed into a Welsh Eisteddfod-inspired celebration of Breton culture, language, literature, and music. In 1992, the famous guitarist Dan Ar Braz, a native of Quimper, was asked to organize the festival's music. This resulted in the Héritage des Celtes project, which brought together seventy Celtic musicians. This collaboration resulted in a number of albums under the name "Heritage des Celtes". ¹

Tuesday 19: Laurène et Louis, Ronan Le Bars with guests (Dan Ar Braz, Sylvain Barou and Stéphane Eicher), Colline Hill, Lina Bellard, Tymen / Kerveillant Quintet Wednesday 20: Maria Desbordes, Bagad Cap Caval et le Phil'Armorik Orchestra, Dremmwel, Duo Rivière / Lagadic, Aroze Thursday 21: Gabriella, Doolin', Dañs Er Jeko, Tanaw, Jo Van Bouvel Friday 22: Red Cardell, Alan Stivell, Sylvain Giro, Groove Boys, Amieva Saturday 23: Cyber Fest-noz, Kement Tu, Trio EDF, Voix du sud, Ars'Ys, NIJ, Gwenc'hlan Sunday 24: Kemper en Fête, Soldat Louis, Dj Blue ¹

Tuesday 21: Dan Ar Braz, Yann Honoré, Soïg Sibéril Wednesday 22: Angélique Ionatos et Elisa Vellia, Nolwenn Korbell, La Grande Tribu (tribute to Youenn Gwernig) Thursday 23: Miossec, Outside Duo, Safar Friday 24: The Celtic Social Club, India Noz (Ollivier Leroy & Eostiged ar Stangala), Kreiz Breizh Academi 5 Saturday 25: Kement Tu, Les Goristes, Dasson (Dominique Molard), national championship of Breton pipe bands (third category), Cyber fest noz Sunday 26: Kemper en Fête, fest deiz/fest noz ¹

Tuesday 22: Susheela Raman, Annie Ebrel, Joa Trio Armel an Hejer, Roland Conq Quartet, Oktopus Kafe, Dastum evening Wednesday 23: Olli and the Bollywood Orchestra, Merzhin, Brieg Guerveno, Maracu'Jah, Sharluber, Ludo Mesnil Thursday 24: Denez Prigent, Clarisse Lavanant, Bagad Penhars/Kolektif Istanbul, David Krakauer, Pavan Takin, Roland Becker Friday 25: Didier Squiban and The Brittany symphony orchestra, Gwennyn, Krismenn solo, H[E]J, Arneo Saturday 26: Sinéad O'Connor, Vishtèn, Jamie Smith's Mabon, Blackwater, War'l leur Dance championship, national championship of Breton pipe bands (third category), Les Gabiers d’Artimon Sunday 27: Red Cardell, Kemper en Fête, fest deiz/fest noz ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Festival de Cornouaille”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Festival de Cornouaille is cultural Festival in Brittany, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 6 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²