Alan Stivell

Alan Stivell, born Alain Cochevelou on 6 January 1944 in Riom (Puy-de-Dôme), is a French singer-songwriter and musician of Breton origin.

A multi-instrumentalist, he plays mainly the Celtic harp, but also the piano, synthesiser, Irish flute, bombarde, Scottish bagpipes and percussion. He is also a singer and writer (in several languages).

He campaigns for the recognition of the Breton language and culture.

From the 1950s onwards, Alan Stivell took part in the revival of the Breton Celtic harp thanks to the work of his father, Georges Cochevelou, who built the instrument. From 1966, Alan Stivell was the first professional Breton singer to sing mainly in the Breton language (brezhoneg). Heir to the first Breton musical revival (which had seen the creation of the bagadoù), and inspired by Anglo-Saxon rock and folk-song, he contributed to the French and Celtic folk and folk-rock movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

Alan Stivell revolutionised Breton music by incorporating mainly Gaelic and Anglo-Saxon influences, but also those of classical music both past and present and of other continents. He also brought to it the technical innovations of the late 20th century. At the time, other Breton performers were already active, but with the exception of Glenmor, they did not turn fully professional and their modernism did not venture beyond the classical guitar (with one exception). He was the first to truly electrify Celtic music. On the technological, musical and formal levels alike, he showed a certain eclecticism: in addition to the genres already mentioned, he added electro touches to Breton music (from 1979) or hip-hop (in 1993), and opened himself to Japanese culture by performing (in 2015) haiku from the 17th to the 19th century. He designs, sketches and has his own electro-acoustic and electric Celtic harp projects built.

He has popularised Brittany and its music through his artistic work and international tours, through communication but also through the snowball effect created by those who followed in his footsteps. At the origin of the surge experienced by the Breton language and the pride of the Breton people, he opened the way for various artists.

His musical work is tied to a struggle for the recognition of Breton and Celtic cultures. He does not conceive of it without the transmission, beyond borders, of messages steeped in humanism and fraternity. This spirit of openness has been expressed from his earliest days through cultural blending and musical fusions, making him one of the precursors of world music, a concept he already clearly defined on his debut album Reflets, released in 1970. It is at once a quest for a "global music" in space and time and the affirmation of a pan-Celticism together with an egalitarian vision of the human person (Human~Kelt).