Deltu

Deltu (Dynamism) is Breton world music, taking its influences from Brittany to Ireland, from Scotland to Galicia, from ceilidh to polka. It's all fertile territory for Breton piper Konogan An Habask, whose trio with fiddler Gabriel Faure and guitarist Thibault Niobé makes up the core of Pevarlamm, bolstered by the voice of Elsa Corre – a Breton singer immersed in Irish and Galician tradition. ‘Ar Minorig Yaouank’ (The Song of a Young Soldier) demonstrates their uniqueness in Breton tradition: rapid violin and guitar runs, Corre's characterful vocal, and the dramatic contrast between Erwan Volant's bass guitar and the exhilarating shriek of An Habask's biniou koz (a high-pitched pipe that hovers like a marauding hawk). ‘Hor Bro’ (Our Land) could be the group's manifesto, asking what can be saved from a vanishing language and culture. ‘Da Heul Iwan’ blends fiddle, uilleann pipes and bouzouki (lute) with pounding bass and Jérôme Kerihuel's percussion, while ‘Hunvre’ (dream) awakens a Scottish dance with a heavy guitar intro. For the Galician ‘Canto de Anxeriz’, the edge to Corre's vocal is a fine match for the bombarde, An Habask's strident Breton double-reed shawm, while ‘El Amudar de Trabao’ is a love song from Spain featuring a fiddle flavoured with Moorish modes. The last number urges wedding guests to dance to new arrangements – and I suspect you will.