NozBreizh.fr is an incredible, unsung treasure of resources for information and examples of Breton music and dance. Some anonymous person has created, and constantly updates with fanatical zeal, a compendium of Breton recordings new and old, placing them into a database that can be accessed according to tune type, region, and any combination thereof. Other sections of the site provide troves of photos and videos from music and dance scenes, news articles, announcements, scans of news articles about Breton music and dance - you name it. Noz is, obviously, Breton for ‘night’ and is taken from Fest Noz, while Breizh (pronounced much like the English word ‘braise’, by the way) is the indigenous name for Brittany. 

So who is this person?  All it says is, (in French): Welcome to my website. I am a fan of Breton dances and Breton music (mainly dance music). I hope you will enjoy my site and the music articles (published, marketed or broadcast) & Breton dances that can be found here...

On the front page you will find a rotating slideshow of new releases. Perhaps it moves along a touch too briskly… Nonetheless, you can click on any of the covers and a new tab will open with a JWPlayer list of all the tracks from the album, with the tunes neatly categorized according to dance type, even if they are not categorized on the recording itself! JWPlayer presents 30 second extracts of each track - more than enough to get a sense of the recording as a whole. I cannot count how many times this has saved me from buying a complete dud, or conversely, helped me to uncover an obscure treasure.

Besides presenting the latest and greatest recordings for your listening pleasure, the musical database can be used for research purposes. For example, if you are a musician and composer, and looking to create a Rond De Landéda suite, you could click on ‘Danses’ from the top menu bar and then select ‘Danses (de A à Z)’ from the dropdown menu. Then, select R and scroll down to Rond de Landéda. Click on it, and voila !  A new window will open, with JWPlayer presenting a list of 30-second extracts of countless recorded Rond de Landédas. 

There you have it; an astonishingly thorough list of assiduously collected material. Not all of it will be good. In fact, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll hurl - yes, there are countless examples of really bad Breton recordings as well. But if you want to get a specific sense of the rhythm, feel, and repertoire of a dance tune type, this is an invaluable resource.

~ Fañch