Dan Ar Braz, born Daniel Le Bras (15 January 1949, Quimper, Brittany

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

), is a French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 (Breton

Breton people

The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The...

) guitarist and the founder of Héritage des Celtes.

The apprenticeship years

At the age of 13 Daniel Le Bras owned his first guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

. He modelled himself on The Shadows

The Shadows

The Shadows are a British pop group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'...

, then Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

 then Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

. Daniel's father insisted that he study catering

Catering

Catering is the business of providing foodservice at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, public house , or other location.-Mobile catering:A mobile caterer serves food directly from a vehicle or cart that is designed for the purpose...

 instead of music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

. In 1967, while on a catering course in Benodet

Bénodet

Bénodet is a commune in the Finistère département in Brittany in northwestern France.The name Benoded means in Breton, "mouth of the Odet". It is about 16 kilometres south of Quimper....

 he met Alan Stivell

Alan Stivell

Alan Stivell is a Breton musician and singer, recording artist and master of the celtic harp who from the early 1970s revived global interest in the Celtic harp and Celtic music as part of world music.- Background: learning Breton music and culture :Alan was born in the Auvergnat town of Riom...

 who invited him to join his group. Alan Stivell and his musicians embraced Breton

Music of Brittany

Since the early 1970s, Brittany has experienced a tremendous revival of its folk music. Along with flourishing traditional forms such as the bombard-binou pair and fest-noz ensembles incorporating other additional instruments, it has also branched out into numerous sub-genres...

, Scottish

Music of Scotland

Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which has remained vibrant throughout the 20th century, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music...

, Irish

Music of Ireland

Irish Music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalizing cultural forces...

 music, and included Gabriel Yacoub

Gabriel Yacoub

Gabriel Yacoub was born in Paris, of a Lebanese father and a French mother. He was a guitarist and singer with the Alan Stivell group that toured France in 1971. Before he founded Malicorne, Gabriel and Marie Yacoub recorded Pierre de Grenoble . Indeed this was originally intended to be the name of...

 who later formed Malicorne

Malicorne (band)

- The traditional years :Gabriel Yacoub and Marie Yacoub formed Malicorne in 1974, naming it after the French town, Malicorne, famous for its porcelain and faience. Since several of their albums are called simply Malicorne it had become the custom to refer to them by number, even though no number...

. After a successful tour in France in 1972 they travelled around Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Alan's father had made a reconstruction of the ancient Breton harp

Harp

The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...

 in 1953 and Alan learned to play the harp, bagpipes

Bagpipes

Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...

 and Irish flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

. Daniel Le Bras changed his name to Dan Ar Bras to show that he belonged to Breton

Breton people

The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The...

 culture rather than French. The sound of his electric guitar made an exciting mix with Alan's celtic instruments and voice.

Ar Braz as a soloist

In 1972 he formed his own group called Mor. Compared to Stivell's group, this was middle-of-the-road (MOR) and broke up shortly after recording one album. A solo album of Irish jigs and reels followed, but was not commercially successful. In 1976 he relocated to England and joined Fairport Convention

Fairport Convention

Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...

. He changed his name again, this time to Dan Ar Braz. For about a year he played in concerts with Fairport but did not record any studio albums with them. The experience renewed his confidence. He returned to Brittany to record three solo albums in three years, each one using Celtic music. He sang in French and English. By this time he was making sales in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

The eighties

For several years Dan Ar Braz seemed to turn his back on Celtic music

Celtic music

Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...

. In 1981 he toured Europe with his "Acoustic" album, a subdued collection of instrumentals, written by himself. He then joined a blues-rock

Blues-rock

Blues rock is a hybrid musical genre combining bluesy improvisations over the 12-bar blues and extended boogie jams with rock and roll styles. The core of the blues rock sound is created by the electric guitar, piano, bass guitar and drum kit, with the electric guitar usually amplified through a...

 trio. Between 1984 and 1987 he toured the United States over a dozen times. By the time he recorded "Musiques pour les silences à venir" in 1985, he was being described as "New Age". After another instrumental album, he surprised everyone by recording a collection of songs in English - "Songs" (1990). Most were written by him plus one each by Richard Thompson and Donovan

Donovan

Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...

. He teamed up with John Kirkpatrick to record a film score in 1992.

L'Héritage des Celtes

Dan Ar Braz's greatest moment occurred in 1992 when the organiser of the Festival de Cornouaille in Quimper asked him to create a live show uniting traditional music with modern styles. Dan had many contacts in Britain, France and America and delivered beyond all expectations. Donal Lunny

Dónal Lunny

Dónal Lunny is an Irish folk musician. Lunny has been at the forefront of the evolution of traditional Irish music for more than thirty-five years and has participated within the renaissance of traditional Irish music in that time period...

 came from Ireland, Karen Matheson

Karen Matheson

Karen Matheson OBE is a Scottish folk singer, who frequently sings in Scottish Gaelic. She is lead singer of the group Capercaillie and was a member of Dan Ar Braz's group L'Heritage des Celtes, with whom she often sang lead vocals, either alone or jointly with Elaine Morgan...

 from Scotland, Elaine Morgan

Elaine Morgan (singer)

thumb|Elaine Morgan in concert with [[Dan Ar Braz]], 2008Elaine Morgan is a Welsh folk singer born in Cardiff in 1960. She was a member of Dan Ar Braz's group L'Heritage des Celtes, and often sang lead vocals, either alone or jointly with Karen Matheson...

 from Wales and Bagad Kemper (bagpipers) and also Alan Stivell

Alan Stivell

Alan Stivell is a Breton musician and singer, recording artist and master of the celtic harp who from the early 1970s revived global interest in the Celtic harp and Celtic music as part of world music.- Background: learning Breton music and culture :Alan was born in the Auvergnat town of Riom...

 from Brittany. Altogether 75 musicians were involved. The group, called "L'Héritage des Celtes" performed at the Quimper festival in July 1993 then went on to Rennes

Rennes

Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...

 in 1994. A hugely successful studio recording

Héritage des Celtes (album)

Héritage des Celtes is a folk-rock album by Dan Ar Braz, released in 1994 by Columbia France, catalogue number COL 477763 2.The album was produced by ex-Bothy Band and Moving Hearts leader Dónal Lunny...

 recreated the show. It sold 100,000 copies in over ten countries. A live album followed. Their fame within France was so great that in 1996 they represented France in the 41st Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 1996

The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the 41st Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 18 May 1996 in Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway. The presenters were Ingvild Bryn and Morten Harket. Harket, lead singer of a-ha, opened the show with a performance of his single "Heaven's Not For Saints". Eimear...

.

Finisterres

In 1997 they recorded "Finisterres" and again sold 100,000 copies. The music awards ceremony "Victoires de la Musique" awarded them "Best Traditional Music Album" in 1998. They went on tour in France and played at Le Zenith in Paris on St Patrick's Day to 3,000 fans. In August 2000 the group played at the "Festival Interceltique" in Lorient where Dan announced that it would be the final concert.

Return to solo work

Much to the disappointment of many fans, Dan Ar Braz returned to solo work. "La mémoire des volets blancs" (2001) is a tribute to deceased friends from his childhood. It is an instrumental nostalgic piece. Clearly Dan has two very different sides - the personal and the public. He performed in another huge show at the Stade de France on St Patrick's Day 2002.

Discography

• - Stations (1974)
• - Irish Reels, Jigs, Airs & Hornpipes (1975)
• - Douar Nevez
  Douar Nevez
  Douar Nevez is a folk rock album by Dan Ar Bras. It was originally released as an LP in 1977 by Hexagone , catalogue number 883 009. The album was produced by Hugues De Courson....
  
   (1977)
• - Allez dire à la ville (1978)
• - The Earth's Lament (1979)
• - Acoustic (1981)
• - Music For the Silences To Come (1985)
• - Septembre Bleu (1988)
• - Songs (1990)
• - Frontiers de sel/Borders Of Salt (1991)
• - Les Iles de la memoire: Compilation (1992)
• - Rêve de Siam (OST) - (1992)
• - Xavier Grall chante par Dan Ar Bras - (1992)
• - Theme For The Green Lands - (1994)
• - Héritage des Celtes
  Héritage des Celtes (album)
  Héritage des Celtes is a folk-rock album by Dan Ar Braz, released in 1994 by Columbia France, catalogue number COL 477763 2.The album was produced by ex-Bothy Band and Moving Hearts leader Dónal Lunny...
  
  -(1994)
• - Kindred Spirit - (1995)
• - L'Heritages des Celtes - Live (1997)
• - L'Heritages des Celtes - Finisterres (1997)
• - L'Essential en 3 CD (1998)
• - Septembre Bleu (2000)
• - L'Heritages des Celtes - Zenith (2001)
• - La Memoire Des Volets Blancs (2001)
• - Made in Breizh (2002)
• - Celtiques (2003)
• - A Toi Et Ceux (2004)
• - Frontières de sel (2006) DVD&CD