Denez Prigent

While collecting the lyrics of traditional songs, he met Eugénie Ebrel born Goadec, one of the three Goadec Sisters who revived Breton a cappella singing in the 1960s.

She provided him with the lyrics of "Ti Eliz Iza", and her daughter, Annie Ebrel, decided to join him on stage.

Denez Prigent (born 17 February 1966 in Santec, Finistère) is a Breton folk singer-songwriter of the gwerz and kan ha diskan styles of Breton music.

From his debut at the age of 16, he was known for singing traditional songs a cappella, and has moved on to singing his own songs with techno music accompaniments.

He has performed in France as well as internationally and has recorded seven studio and two live albums.

During his childhood, Prigent lived with his father in Le Relecq-Kerhuon and spent his weekends at his grandmother's, in Santec.

His father, a primary teacher, raised him speaking French, although he spoke Breton fluently, because he did not see the point in teaching Breton to his son.

Denez thus discovered the Breton language at his grandmother's, along with its natural harmony and the tendency of Breton speakers of that time to sing written or improvised songs.

While in secondary in Brest he preferred listening to Breton songs on his portable audio player than concentrating on his studies.

At age 14, Prigent was taught kan ha diskan by Alain Leclère, himself a former student of Manuel Kerjean, whose other students include Erik Marchand.

Two years later, in 1982, he sang with Alain Leclère in festoù-noz.

In the Kan ar Bobl, he won the first prize in kan ha diskan in 1987, the first prize in new singing in 1988 and the first prize in traditional singing in 1990.

In 1988, driven by his passion for the Breton language, he became a Breton teacher in Carhaix, during which he was regularly invited in traditional music festivals such as the Tombées de la nuit (Nightfalls) and the Festival Interceltique de Lorient.

In 1991, the city of Rennes invited him to participate in the "Voice of Asia" festival due to take place in its newly twinned city of Alma Ata, Kazakhstan.

Surprised by this invitation, Prigent wrote a satirical song, "Son Alma Ata" (later included on Sarac'h) about the incongruity for a Breton singer to be sent to perform in Kazakhstan.

This first concert abroad gave him an opportunity to discover the Kazakh people, then integrated into the Soviet Union, and compare its situation to that of the Breton people, integrated into France.

In 1991, Prigent resigned from his teaching position in order to pursue his artistic career.

In 1992, Prigent sang a cappella during the Transmusicales, in front of an audience unused to this style.

He subsequently left the band Daouarn with which he had sung in festoù-noz.

He performed in the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Francofolies, the Midem, the Printemps de Bourges, the Coup de Cœur francophone in Quebec, the Mitte Europa festival, the Celtic Connection festival in Scotland, Expo '98 in Lisbonne, and the Eisteddfod festival in Wales.

In 1993, Prigent released his first album Ar gouriz koar (translated The Wax Belt) on Auvidis/Silex.

Although the album was, at first, intended for promoting Prigent's songs to festival organizers rather than for being sold to the general audience, its sales approached 50,000 copies.

Most of the songs are traditional Breton folk songs sung a cappella.

However, former Storlok members Denez Abernot and Bernez Tangi wrote "Plac'h Landelo" and "Gwerz ar vezhinerien", respectively, while Prigent himself wrote "Gwerz an aksidan".

Like all of his subsequent recordings, Ar gouriz koar is sung in the kan ha diskan and gwerz styles.

When Prigent failed to receive compensation from Auvidis/Silex for sales of the album, he sued the label and signed with Barclay Records for his subsequent releases.

At his wife's request, Prigent attended the first rave party held in Rennes, in 1993, in spite of his negative prejudice.

There, he discovered a music that, like Breton music, is primarily meant to support dancing.

Noticing that electronic music and Breton music are based on similar rhythms and notes closed to one another, he contemplated using it to accompany his songs.

In 1995, Prigent appeared in Dao Dezi.

The goal of this project of Éric Mouquet, a member of Deep Forest, and Guilain Joncheray is to treat Breton music in the same way that Deep Forest treated African music, with traditional lyrics and electronic accompaniments.

Michel Sanchez, the other member of Deep Forest, also worked on the album, recorded and mixed by Erwin Autrique.

Breton singers Arnaud Maisonneuve and Manu Lann Huel also appear on the album, as well as Tri Yann.

It is Prigent's first experience combining Breton lyrics and electronic music.

Further sales of Ar gouriz koar were blocked but Auvidis kept the original records, and in 1996 Prigent released a new recording of Ar gouriz koar with Barclay.

For this and all subsequent recordings, Prigent uses the Peurunvan unified Breton orthography.

Prigent released his second album, Me 'zalc'h ennon ur fulenn aour (I keep in myself a golden spark), in 1997.

He wrote all the lyrics except for the traditional song Ar rannoù that appears in the Barzaz Breiz, and most of the musics, using both traditional instruments and electronic sounds.

The subjects of the lyrics are the classical topics of gwerz : injustice, disease, death.

E trouz ar gêr, about the artificial aspects of living in a city, and An hentoù adkavet, about the revival of the Tro Breizh, are his first songs devoted to Brittany, its culture and its relation to nature.