Alan Stivell

If there is a single savior of Celtic music, Alan Stivell is probably it. Since the end of the 1960s, he has done more to revive interest in the Celtic (specifically Breton) harp than anyone in the world and, in the process, almost singlehandedly made the world aware of native Breton Celtic music. Since 1971, he has been recording albums of extraordinary beauty and diversity, ranging from ancient Breton and Irish material to modern folk-rock, new age, and progressive rock. He was born Alan Cochevelou, the son of a harp-maker. His father had rediscovered the Breton harp, but young Alan started his musical life on a somewhat more conventional instrument, taking up the piano at age five.

A master and champion of the instrument (as well as one for his native Celtic and Breton hinterlands), Alan Stivell pioneered a new wave of fondness for the Celtic harp, and Celtic rock as a whole subsequently. His second album Renaissance de la Harpe Celtique, described as "one of the most beautiful and haunting records ever made" by music journalist Bruce Elder, was Stivell's first and strongest statement on the power of the Celtic harp. The album also began the Breton musician's development of traditional Celtic and contemporary rock styles, a combination which earned the 1971 LP praise from both French and English critics, as well as awarding Stivell the Prix de l’Académie Charles-Cros.

Alan Stivell's third album, originally released in 1973, built upon the critical adoration that predecessor Renaissance de la Harpe Celtique generated, garnered commercial love when it quickly became a Gold record, and also grew the Breton musician's artistic ambition. Chemins de Terre, retitled from Celtic Rock in Germany, features Stivell on Celtic harp, Scottish bagpipes and more, musicians like Marie Yacoub on spoons and vocals, and Breton pipe band Bagad Bleimor.

Following the critical and commercial success of his third album Chemins De Terre, Brittany musician Alan Stivell reconnected with his paternal roots by moving to the scenic French commune of Langonnet, where he produced 1974's E Langonned. The album sees a return to an acoustic foundation, due to Stivell's desire to revisit the traditional Breton music forms he championed so emphatically, and then integrate this beloved tradition back into modernism.

Reflets is the debut album from Brittany musician Alan Stivell, a staunch champion of the Celtic harp, and the Celtic and Breton cultures. This cross-cultural endeavour is well flexed here on the multi-instrumentalist's 1970 debut, beginning his reputation as a progenitor of world music, with banjo, electric organ, a choir, a fiddle and more detailing the broad spectrum of Stivell's arrangements, and how they blended his Celtic roots and later foray into rock styles.

Few musical artists are as closely associated with their instruments as Alan Stivell is to the Breton-Celtic harp. For more than three decades, he has been at the forefront of a cultural and musical revival that honors the centuries-old Celtic traditions of the French province of Brittany, called Breizh by its native inhabitants, while mesmerizing audiences around the globe with his spirited virtuosity and vast repertoire in which the recognizable meets the unexpected.

If there is a single savior of Celtic music, Alan Stivell is probably it. Since the end of the 1960s, he has done more to revive interest in the Celtic (specifically Breton) harp than anyone in the world and, in the process, almost singlehandedly made the world aware of native Breton Celtic music. Since 1971, he has been recording albums of extraordinary beauty and diversity, ranging from ancient Breton and Irish material to modern folk-rock and progressive rock.

Harmonia Mundi et World Village publient le 24e album d’Alan Stivell qui marque les 50 ans de carrière de ce maitre de la musique celtique. Ce fervent défenseur de la culture bretonne a l’habitude de surprendre à travers sa musique, présentant au fil de ses disques des explorations sonores parfois déstabilisantes mais toujours emplies de charme et de poésie. Pour Amzer, il sort une nouvelle fois des sentiers battus et signe une véritable ode au temps inspirée par le rythme des saisons et portée par des voix, des cordes, des flûtes et des percussions qui créent ensemble cet univers enchanteur dans lequel Alan Stivell vient puiser ses notes envoutantes. Une véritable bouffée d’oxygène.

Essential: A masterpiece of Progressive-Rock music
Hands down, this record which is actually buried in oblivion, features about 30 minutes of pure magic – electric folk of its finest kind and not a bit less majestic and unique as the critically acclaimed work of Steeleye Span and others.