“Here the planets have aligned.” With Alan Stivell as godfather, a “City of Breton music” in a former abbey

Alan Stivell started the project. In Begard in Côtes-d’Armor, a “City of Breton Music” will be created by 2030. This tool for conservation, promotion, and transmission of culture will take up residence in a magical place, a former Cistercian abbey.

For a “City of Breton Music”, we needed a place steeped in history. And it is therefore in Bgard in Côtes-d’Armor that the project will see the light of day.

Here, near Guingamp, the town is home to the oldest Cistercian abbey in Brittany, founded in the 12th century.^e century, and which notably housed an orphanage, an asylum for insane women, and a psychiatric hospital.

Since the departure of the Sisters around fifteen years ago, the former convent had been in disrepair and it was therefore bought in June by the Agglomeration of Guingamp and the commune of Bgard, via the Foncier de Bretagne public establishment.

These 10,000 m² of buildings will be rehabilitated, with several ambitions ultimately stated: the reception of the town hall, public services, housing, but also a “City of Breton Music”.

Ultimately, the “Cité de la musique bretonne” project will see the light of day on an area of ​​nearly 3,000 m².

“In Brittany, this story is an old sea serpent in Brittany”, explains Julien Cornic, President of the Cité de la musique bretonne association.

“There were projects, but they did not come to fruition. Notably because the Bretons from the 1960s preferred to put their energy into a living culture, more than into a museum, with its fixed dimension.”

“We therefore created the Bagadou, the major festivals, the Celtic circles, the major federations, etc. It is therefore individuals, associations who have preserved the heritage, but we needed a place in Brittany which would be dedicated to this, which popularizes this music which for decades has radiated throughout the world, by explaining what its fundamentals are, its specificities, in short, a tool for conservation, promotion, and transmission.

And in Begard, the planets have aligned, continues Vincent Le Meaux, President of Guingamp-Paimpol-Agglomération. “We had been asked, and as we now have a wonderful site to offer, it is a great opportunity to be able to make all these resources available in such a magical place. It is important that public policies can offer such a dimension to our culture, and here at home.”

For such a project, an emblematic sponsor was obviously needed and it was Alan Stivell who was chosen, happy that Breton music will finally benefit from such a showcase tomorrow.

“In popular music, there are aspects that may seem simplistic, but which are in reality extremely sophisticated. When an entire people succeeds in refining, polishing a music, from generation to generation, from family to family, from cousins ​​to cousins, he manages to do the equivalent of what a genius like Mozart achieved.”

With its museum space, its resource center, its auditorium, its broadcasting room, its teaching center since the “City” will also host the city’s music school, the project should see the light of day in 2030.

The site will be accessible until then during one-off operations, such as this Saturday, October 5, with public tours during the day, and the concert of another legend of Breton music, Dan Ar Braz, in the evening.