Lorient will celebrate the 80th anniversary of its Liberation during a major commemorative day on May 10, 2025. The event is part of a broader set of events around the Liberation of the Lorient pocket. An 80th anniversary in which the Lorient bagad will participate in conjunction with the Lorient Harmony Orchestra (OHL). “It’s a creation by Didier Ropers lasting around thirty minutes,” explains Matthieu Deloffre, president of Sonerien an Oriant (SAO).
The Lorient team will play songs jointly with the OHL. She will also perform, alone, pieces of the traditional repertoire “played during that period”. For a bagad rather accustomed to creations which highlight his traditional repertoire, this collaboration with the OHL is a first. “It’s the first time we’ve done something like this, that we’ve released traditional music, but it’s not something that scares us.” Quite the contrary.
From the time of the Liberation, we have a few things. That’s when we really started collecting tunes.
Tunes of the time
The project, launched in January 2024, is considered “interesting” by the president of SAO. Because it opens the bagad towards different musical horizons, combining brass (saxophones, trumpets, trombones), woodwinds (flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons) and percussion. But also because it “is directly linked to the history of Lorient”. And that speaks to the bell ringers. We remember that in 2023, he told the story of the ports of Lorient in “Porzhiù”, a creation proposed for their 40th anniversary.
To stick with the Second World War, the bagad of Lorient will have to “draw” from its repertoire. Not so simple. “We have a few things from the time of the Liberation. That’s where we really started to collect the tunes,” says Matthieu Deloffre. For the beginning of the 1940s, the matter is more difficult. “There are some but it’s more difficult to date.”
Training, in-depth work
This commemorative show is already shaping up to be a great moment of the year 2025. The bagad of Lorient does not forget the fundamentals (the competitions), even if “our music does not live only through the competition,” recognizes Matthieu Deloffre. Tenth in 2024 (8th in Brest, 9th in Lorient), the Lorient team remains well established in the world of first category bagadouest. “We will work to maintain this place.” First element of response on February 9, 2025 in Brest around the Nantes region.
The short-term objective is to approach the best. “How can we do better, without disruption, knowing that the level increases every year? “. To resolve this equation, Sonerien an Orient (150 members) intends to continue to rely on training. In-depth work carried out with Christophe Le Govic which is bearing fruit. The bagadig will be in Pontivy in March 2025 to defend its place in third category. The formations (skolaj, plijadur) which, beyond the instrument, approach history are full. Bodes well for the future.
