The Breton artist, musician and composer Émilie Quinquis chose to settle in 2016 with her partner Yann Tiersen on the island of Ouessant. A choice that owes nothing to chance. Inspired in these compositions by this land “at the end of the world” swept by storms, Émilie also makes sure to participate fully in island life. Meeting in Littoral magazine in Ouessant.
The essentials of the day: our exclusive selection
Every day, our editorial team reserves the best regional news for you. A selection just for you, to stay in touch with your regions.
France Télévisions uses your email address to send you the newsletter “Today’s essentials: our exclusive selection”. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link at the bottom of this newsletter. Our privacy policy
The voice of Emilie Quinquis merges with electro atmospheres, melancholy atmospheres which are reminiscent of the spaces crossed by storms and the splendor of the landscapes on the island of Ouessant. Welcome to the artist's work space, a small studio next to the house she occupies a few kilometers from the town of Lampaul.
Émilie loves this place. By severe weather warning, she means the rain or the wind banging on the skylights:
On the next record, there's a lot of those storm sounds. Sometimes I even opened the windows to capture them in my recordings.”
Watch the entire show Littoral: In the footsteps of Émilie Quinquis on the france.tv platform
The artist has lived in Ouessant since 2016 with his partner Yann Tiersen. But the links with the island go back much further for Émilie who remembers photos of her parents in love on the island. “They were even married by the priest of Ouessant…One day, I met Yann. He already had a foot here and little by little, it became our anchor point. And one thing led to another, it was us who married Ouessant. ”
Since their arrival, the couple has firstly put the old nightclub on the Island back on its feet. l'EskaL. Today, the place has become a concert hall, a meeting room, a recording studio but also a place for rehearsals and classes for the islanders.
Living on an island also encouraged Émilie to sail more often. In the summer of 2023, the couple went on a musical tour between Ireland, Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Wales and Brittany, all while traveling on a sailboat.
For several years, Émilie has chosen to sing mainly in the Breton language. She learned the language “late in life” marked by Alzheimer's disease from her grandmother to whom she was very close and who at the end of her life only spoke in the Breton language.
Few people speak Breton on the island of Ouessant. Émilie talks about it daily with her son.
And then in parallel with her creative work, she also decided to get involved in island life by joining the municipal council and why not by becoming a volunteer firefighter one day:
“I'm completely crazy about the people of Ouessant. That's what made me want to get involved on the island. When I was little, I wouldn't have imagined one day living this village life “like a kind of community.”
Emilie Quinquis is not finished with Ouessant. The island should undoubtedly continue to nourish it in its creations, but also in its numerous commitments on the island.
Note that the release of his next album, of which we were able to get a taste during the last Transmusicale, is planned for spring 2025.
To see: “Ouessant, in the footsteps of Emilie Quinquis” and all Littoral magazines on the France.tv platform
