Wales prepares for strongest Festival Interceltique yet

Stephen Price

Wales is set to have one of its strongest showings yet at this year’s Festival Interceltique de Lorient – the largest annual celebration of Celtic culture of its kind.

Last year’s Festival Interceltique de Lorient (FIL) attracted around 900,000 people over 10 days for the ‘Year of Ireland’.

The festival is a celebration of the cultural traditions of the Celtic nations, highlighting music, dance and visual arts as well as sports and gastronomy.

A year of firsts

Wales will have a large presence at the festival again this year, with a contingent attending from Yr Urdd for the first time.

Mali Thomas, the Urdd’s Director of Communications and International Projects said: “Offering our young people a range of opportunities through the medium of Welsh is our priority. Being offered the chance to perform at the Interceltique Lorient festival is a perfect example of the unique opportunities that can arise from being a member of the Urdd.

“The theme of Interceltique Lorient festival this year is ‘youth’, and Urdd members have been invited to perform at the festival for the very first time, which has been made possible thanks to support by TAITH.

“The Urdd as an organisation has ambitious plans to raise Wales’s profile and to celebrate our country’s culture on a global stage, whilst sharing best practices with international partners as we increase the use, confidence, and enjoyment of a minority language.”

The festival programme for 2024 includes performances by high-octane techno-folk band NoGood Boyo, the youth folk band AVANC (established by Trac Cymru as the National Youth Ensemble), Aelwyd yr Ynys youth choir from Ynys Môn (organised by Yr Urdd) as well as Prosiect Plethu, a folk and contemporary dance project with young people from Conwy and Cardiff, and Twmpdaith, a youth folk dance project led by Menter Maldwyn. 

At the end of the week, on Saturday 17 August , Lleuwen Steffan will be performing a special concert, a collaboration with Welsh and Breton musicians, entitled Tafod Arian (Silver Tongue) supported by the National Eisteddfod.

The project aims to reintroduce lost hymns, that have lain dormant for decades in the sound archives of St Fagans museum. 

Watching Lleuwen perform is a unique experience. Originally from Wales but living in Brittany, her songs are written in the Celtic languages of her homelands – Welsh and Breton.

Lleuwen told us: “For Tafod Arian, one of the things we did was go to the sound archive at St Fagans’s Museum to listen to Welsh folk tunes.

“But it wasn’t the recordings of folk tunes that caught my attention but it was these recordings of hymns that I had not seen in the hymn books. After further research I learned that some of these hymns were not in the old editions of the hymn books either.

“No one knows who wrote them but we know they were loved enough to be passed on from generation to generation.”

“This was the beginning of my search for Welsh traditional folk hymns. I would go to St Fagans archive at every opportunity after that. I got to know the staff and they have been so helpful and thankful to me for doing this.

“The voices from the archive bring out the message. And I’m here for the ride, singing along and accompanying these voices with guitar or synth.”

Ancestry

“I have met the descendants of most of these people who’s voices are used within the music.

“The families have been so welcoming and have unintentionally steered the music to other unexpected directions. I was introduced to (and became rather obsessed with)  recordings of the “Hwyl Gymreig” which are the half sung half spoken sermons of Wales that were popular during the nineteenth century.”

“These sermons are unlike anything I have ever heard before. Mindblowing.

“I have also been introduced to recorded memories of the 1904/05 revival. If these memories were documented in written form, one could only read the words. But with audio, the emotional recall within voices is captured. ”

“I am taking this music to the Eisteddfod Festival and Lorient Interceltique Festival with a wonderful band of Breton and Welsh musicians.Watch this space!

“I will be there as a soloist with various intruments and pedals. It will be a shared experience hopefully, I don’t think there should be a fourth wall. Some chapels have to provide tickets because there of limited spacing but it’s still free entry for all.

“It will be my pleasure provide explanations and translations to audience members who do not understand Welsh. This work belongs to all of us and I’m here to share.”

Connections

This year will also see an exhibition of paintings by Meinir Mathias as part of the EuroCeltic Art exhibition, at the Palais des Congrès in the centre of Lorient. 

Meinir told Nation.Cymru: “For the exhibition in Lorient, I have also been exploring themes that connect us with Brittany.

”It’s been fascinating to learn about some of the 5th century Welsh saints that settled in Brittany.

“Having visited friends there last year, I explored our cultural and linguistic connections, and it is amazing to find that our languages are still so similar.

“There has been seafaring and travel between the Celtic nations for centuries.

“Having been brought up on the rural and rugged coast of west Wales, it is something that resonates deeply; the connection to land, sea, nature and it has definitely seeped into this latest work.”

“Many of the other Celtic nations also share our struggle, as a minority group in a much larger country, trying to defend their rights to speak their ancient language and to preserve their unique customs.

“That stubbornness and the refusal to ‘give in’ is something I think they share with the Welsh!”

Parade

The large youth contingent from Wales will be taking part in the Grande Parade des Nations Celtes on Thursday 15^th August. The parade involes 3000 artists, traditional costumes, dancers, musicians and massed pipe bands from all Celtic countries, parading through the streets of Lorient. 

For the first time at the festival, there will be an ‘Interceltic music camp’ with two young people from each Celtic nation spending a week in Lorient before the festival, to create two new Interceltic bands, to perform during the festival.

The two young musicians from Wales are Osian Griffiths and Angharad Butler. Osian plays fiddle with AVANC and NoGood Boyo, and Angharad is a harpist, who also performs with AVANC and as a solo artist. 

Antwn Owen-Hicks, Delegation Leader for Wales said: “We’re presenting a very strong programme of artists this year that reflects the ongoing confidence and development in our music and culture, and with a strong focus on young people and collaborations with our Celtic cousins.” 

Orchard Media and Events will be present at the festival again this year, filming for S4C Digidol. 

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We are looking forward to supporting the Festival Interceltique de Lorient once again this year, continuing our long-held commitment to the festival.

“The event presents a significant opportunity to enhance Wales’s visibility on the international stage at a major celebration of Celtic culture.

“Throughout the event, we’ll be taking a Team Cymru approach and working with partners to ensure the best of Wales – from arts to business – form a key part of the festivities.

“The Welsh Government has provided funding for a range of projects, including youth and artistic initiatives, to enhance Wales’s presence.”

Find out more about the Festival Interceltique de Lorient here.