[Direct vidéo] Yaouank night: experience the biggest fest-noz in the world as if you were there!

This is a good opportunity to, perhaps, learn your first word in Breton: yaouank, which translates to “young”. There you are, you are now ready to shine in (Breton) society.

The festival, born in 1999, takes its name from the desire of the city of Rennes to make Breton cultures better known to Rennes middle and high school students. It is Glenn Jegouthe creator of the festival, and the association Picture of Rennes (The image of the country of Rennes – Federation of Breton cultural associations of the country of Rennes) who take the reins of this project.
At the time, although the student festù-noz were numerous, they remained small and the Breton capital did not yet have a major dedicated event, like the Kleg de Cléguérec, which refers to the end of the 90s.

“a day to discover, a night to celebrate“this was the slogan of the Yaouank festival for its first edition. It is then divided between a day of discovery forum and a night with the first big fest-noz.
The latter took place at the Rennes sports hall, a room which would later become Le Liberté.
Immediately, success was achieved, and the fest-noz brought together well beyond young people with already 5,000 dancers.
In terms of programming, this premiere forges the DNA of the festival: it features the big names in Breton music and emerging gems.

During subsequent editions, an intergenerational and growing audience responded. The meeting gains its reputation from year to year. A single evening at its birth, the festival pushed the walls in 2003 and expanded to two days, then three in 2004. Today, three weeks of festivities are organized in sixteen places in Ille-et-Vilaine, with as a highlight, the big fest-noz.

In 2005, the festival left the city center of Rennes, driven by the work on the future Salle du Liberté. It joins the Rennes Aéroport – St Jacques exhibition center. This trip to the outskirts of Rennes, a source of concern for the organizers, does not slow down the development of the meeting. On the contrary, the large parking lot and the installation of a huge ballroom floor attract spectators. They come from the five departments of historic Brittany, and sometimes even from much further afield. Some travel from Belgium, Germany or Italy for this meeting. In 2019, Yaouank recorded its attendance record with 10,000 spectators.

Sometimes nicknamed “the Trans Musicales of Breton music”, in 25 years, the festival has welcomed all the legends of the Breton and international scene: Denez Prigent, And Ar Braz, Gilles Servat, Plantec, The Chimney Sweeps of Menhir, Jean-Charles Guichen and The Young, Carlos Nuñez, and Bagad Kemper and the Bagad Cap Caval etc.
Without forgetting the artist who restored the pride of the Bretons with his Olympia 72, Alan Stivell.

2024, a return to basics

For its 25th anniversary, the festival returns to downtown Rennes with the big fest-noz on Saturday at Liberté de Rennes which is already sold out.

From 3:30 p.m. to 5 a.m., the show will be both on stage and in the room:

On the stage side, thirteen musical groups will take turns to make the 5,200 spectators of all generations dance.
In total, this represents almost fifteen hours of music. A program that you can find on the site du festival Yaouank.

If the common point between all these proposals is of course Breton dance music, you will also find crossovers with rock, acoustic, jazz or electro so that everyone can enjoy it.

In the dining room, it is not uncommon to come across three generations of the same family who have come to share this moment of dancing.
Even as a spectator, seeing the crowd in a big collective dance or hearing the sound of synchronized footsteps on the floor remains an impressive experience.

Besides, it's never too late to revise your classics with this little lesson offered by the Celtic Circle Les Perrières of Cesson-Sévigné :

An event to experience wherever you are!

You too can experience the biggest fest-noz in the world, wherever you are in Brittany or in the world:

ICIpar France 3 Brittany et the France Bleu de Bretagnein partnership with theWHEN., offers you an exceptional evening of eight hours live, music, archives and exceptional guests!