‍Eben: Emancipated!

‍We adore the wonderful magazine Musique bretonne, and so of course we have it shipped to our door from Brittany by the Dastum organization that puts it out… Although our French and Breton language skills are certainly not great, they are good enough to parse out the many interesting articles. Issue #284 brings an excellent interview with Marine Lavigne, one of the singers and the main songwriter from the group Eben, whose groundbreaking recording Dinaskañ made such an impression. Below we present our translation of the interview, along with scans of the article that you can click on to see in a larger format. The interviewer for Dastum is Loïc Turmel. 

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‍For our review of their second album, Dinaskañ, click HERE.

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‍Introduction

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‍The Eben group was born from the joining of a trio of young singers – Marine Lavigne, Sterenn Diridollou, and Sterenn Le Guillou – with three accomplished instrumentalists from the Breton music scene: Jonathan Dour, Julien Stévenin, and Antoine Lahay. (Ed. note: This is actually not accurate - the original group featured vocalist Enora Jegou, who dropped out to pursue other interests after the group’s first recording and was then replaced by  Sterenn Diridollou) Powerful, poetic, and socially conscious lyrics, carried by voices enhanced by the string instruments: this is how their new album, Dinaskañ, can be summarized. We spoke with Marine Lavigne, singer and author of the majority of the songs.

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‍Q: How did the meeting between the singers and the instrumentalists take place?

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‍Marine: Eben was originally created by the Festival Interceltique de Lorient as part of a program called New Leurenn, an Anglo-Breton neologism that can be translated as "New Stage."

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‍The aim of this program was to connect emerging artists from the Fest-Noz scene with established artists, most of whom were professionals. In 2018, the patron of the third edition was (violinist) Jonathan Dour, and he chose our trio of singers, An Teir, to develop this project. The trio's repertoire served as the foundation for Eben's music.

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‍We were immediately pleased with the result, and the festival's reception was positive. We then decided to make the project permanent and develop it into a full-fledged band. This prolific career should not be seen as a vain - or worse - commercial pursuit, but rather as the product of a broad vision, a spirit of synthesis that clearly understood the commonalities between all traditional cultures and could also analyze the details that characterize each of them.

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‍Q: What is the origin of the group's name?

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‍Marine: Eben is a Breton word meaning "the other" in the feminine form. This form exists in Spanish (and Breton) but not in French or English. The idea was to connect "us" and "others," the individual and the collective, from a female perspective.

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‍Q: How did you get into Breton singing?

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‍Marine: I started very early, in childhood. My parents appreciated all styles of music, and my mother listened to kan-ha-diskan singing, mainly the Freres Morvan  and the Goadec sisters, but also various other Breton music groups. She frequently attended festoù-noz (traditional Breton dance festivals). The family was therefore very immersed in Breton singing.

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‍In primary school, I had a teacher, Gwénolé Larvol, who had been crowned "champion" of the gavotte dance. He practiced kan-ha-diskan and wanted to introduce it to us. That was it, I was definitely hooked! Furthermore, Louise Ebrel, daughter of Eugénie Goadec and a great singer who has now passed away, came to my middle school once a week. It was a great opportunity for us, she taught us a lot. 

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‍Q: Do the other two singers, Sterenn Diridollou and Sterenn Le Guillou, have the same background?

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‍Marine: Yes, they were immersed in this environment from a very young age as well. Sterenn Diridollou started even younger; she was practically born at a fest-noz! She made her first stage appearance at the age of six with her father! For Sterenn Le Guillou, it's quite similar...

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‍Q: This second album by Eben is titled Dinaskañ, which is also the title of one of the songs. Why was it chosen as the album title, and what does it mean?

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‍Marine: Dinaskañ is a Breton word meaning to unbind, to break free. This title is the album's guiding thread, linking the texts together with the idea of transgressing established norms in which we no longer recognize ourselves. "Dinaskañ" is a title I wrote that includes quotes from Añjela Duval's poem "An al c'h we zaour" (The Golden Key). It's one of her best-known poems, an allegory about Brittany and the Breton languages. A tower, whose key has been lost, is inaccessible. Fortunately, some people have dived in and retrieved the key to reopen the tower. The tower represents Breton culture, and the key represents its languages. They provide access to the heart of Breton culture. My lyrics use the "golden key" at the end as a symbol of the Breton language and minority languages in general, but I draw inspiration from the myth of Babel, not to enter the tower, but to leave it in order to open oneself to the world.

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‍Q: Could this title be seen as a tribute to Añjela Duval?

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‍Marine: Yes. We are very grateful to those who have worked in the past. That's why there are poems by female poets that we love very much and who have worked for the Breton language, such as Añjela Duval and Philomène Cadoret, one of whose poems we sing on the album.

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‍Q: What other topics do you cover?

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‍Marine: The song "Dañs ar Bleiz" (The Wolf's Dance) speaks of anti-fascism using the metaphor of the wolf. This animal has often been appropriated by the far right for its subversive and violent nature. The songs also address women,

‍among others in "Tremen," a text I wrote. The word means both "past" and "deceased." It is a song of mourning but also a song of struggle. It is inspired by a true story, the shipwreck, in Douarnenez at the end of the 19th century, of factory workers who drowned one November evening while returning home. This story was later used during the sardine factory workers' strikes to obtain better working conditions, better wages, and more rights. The final refrain of "Tremen" goes:

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‍Let us never forget our righteous anger,

‍The waves of our revolt are roaring,

‍We are the spray of the New World.

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‍The theme of women's emancipation is also present in "Eostig Kuz," a traditional two-part song whose lyrics we have absolutely not altered, we swear! It tells the story of a young girl who leaves the convent and absolutely does not want to get married. She prefers to live her life as she pleases, to go dancing... Freedom!

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‍Q: How does the arrangement process work with the three instrumentalists?

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‍Marine: Jonathan Dour plays the viola, Antoine Lahay the guitar, and Julien Stévenin the double bass. Antoine was in charge of the artistic direction, but the arrangements were created collectively. We, the singers, bring the lyrics, which we don't necessarily keep in their original form, and together with the musicians, we organize the structure of the songs. They create arrangements and compose new parts. Sometimes, we adapt the lyrics and write new words.

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‍Q: Do the singers suggest any ideas for arrangements?

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‍Marine: On this album I experimented a bit with vocal arrangements, and Antoine followed suit. For all three singers, who don't have a formal musical background, Eben is a gateway into the professional music world, and the experience allows us to invest more in the arrangements. The Occitan group Barrut, who use polyphony, also inspired us. We even sang together in Rennes in 2024, in February at the Noktambül and in October at the Le Grand Soufflet festival.

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‍Q: How does Eben fit into the dance scene?

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‍Marine: Some tracks are danceable, others are not. We wanted to present this album with both up-tempo and down-tempo tracks, like in contemporary music. Fest-noz specialists will recognize the dances involved. There's also a gwerz (traditional Breton lament) and other melodies; it's more diverse than the first album, which only contained dance music.

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‍Q: Could this perhaps correspond to a desire to move further towards the concert (towards listening and away from dance music)?

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‍Marine: Yes, as early as 2021, after Covid, we started working on a concert format. In early 2023, we did a residency at Amzer Nevez with this in mind. We played at the Théâtre de Cornouaille in Quimper, and also at a few festivals. We still love playing at fest-noz events, but this concert format appeals to us and allows us to take our music to new places, reach new audiences, and explore other musical genres.

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‍Q: In this regard, listening to the album reveals that the sound palette has become richer.

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‍Marine: That's right! The group has moved towards a slightly more pop style, with jazz and folk influences... It's very diverse, also incorporating orchestral music in some arrangements. However, we always keep in mind the importance of respecting the original material, the traditional foundation of Breton music, while enriching it with other influences.

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‍Q: There's even some rap music in this album.

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‍Marine: Yes, a little, a mix of rap and slam on one track, and in another language, Galician. I lived in Galicia for a year and noticed many similarities between our two cultures. I'm the one performing this part in the song titled "Douar Nevez," the dance of the new threshing floor. It was a tradition in the past, once a house was built or a new space was created in the village, to gather and dance in order to compact the soil, the earth. These rural festivities were also common in Galicia. There's also the equivalent of the fest-noz, the most common name being foliada. I wanted to build this bridge between Galician and Breton cultures.

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‍Q: There's also a very little bit of French.

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‍Marine: Yes, just a single sentence that appears at the end of a song in the form of an interlude; it's "Fulennig". This is the text we performed at Eurovision in 2022 with the singers from Eben. It was simply to grab the listeners' attention so they would understand the reference to that title.

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‍Q: You just mentioned Eurovision; what memories do you have of that experience?

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‍Marine: It was a very turbulent but enriching experience in many ways. We still feel a sense of pride at having brought the Breton language to the forefront and in front of 164 million viewers. We didn't get a very good score, but we are happy to have been able to sing in Breton in front of so many people and to have put Brittany on the map of Europe.

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‍Q: Dan ar Braz (a famous Breton guitarist from the 1970s) received roughly the same score in 1996.

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‍Marine: Yes, it seems the Breton language didn't win over everyone at Eurovision! The goal wasn't to win, but rather to show that Breton exists and, by extension, that minority languages exist. We can say it now, the message was political. We received supportive feedback though, particularly from people in the Turin region who are involved in preserving their regional language.

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‍Q: The same problem is found in numerous countries in Europe, even if some are better off than others.

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‍Marine: Yes, that's true, and France is not a very good example on this subject.

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‍Q: The record is featured in the Arfolk catalogue, how was it to work with this new label?

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‍Marine: We already knew Romain Sponnagel, formerly of Coop Breizh. He knew we were preparing a second album, he liked the project, and he expressed interest in producing it. We benefited from excellent support; we were very lucky. This collaboration was enriching because we learned a great deal from professionals who are dedicated to production and artist development. It's valuable to have outside perspectives and ears. The Arfolk team isn't composed solely of people who are only immersed in traditional Breton music; they have an openness to other musical styles, which allowed us to build bridges between different genres.

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‍Q: The disc was with you on stage for the summer of 2025, a year of beautiful gigs.

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‍Marine: Yes, we played a number of festivals: the Festival Cornouaille in Quimper, the Festival Interceltique in Lorient, the Rencontres musicales de Bernex in Switzerland, and the Festival Fisel in Rostrenen.

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‍Q: Are there any other dates coming soon?

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‍Marine: Yes, we'll be playing at Womex in Tampere, Finland on October 25th, and then on November 25th at Le Petit Bain in Paris for our album release party, with Marsa Trio as the opening act. Back in Brittany, we'll be playing at traditional Breton dance events (fest-noz) on November 29th in Paimpont, January 24th in Plouguerneau, and January 31st in Quimperlé. More dates to follow!