Red Cardell

Red Cardell is a French independent rock band from Quimper, Brittany.

It is composed of Jean-Pierre Riou, Pierre Sangra, Hibu Corbel, and Fred Lucas. Hailed by music critics as one of the best Breton bands of its time, Red Cardell stands as a pillar of Celtic rock, both rooted and innovative, much like Alan Stivell and Dan Ar Braz, having successfully reconciled contemporary and traditional music with a personal style.

Unclassifiable, the Finistère-based combo, which claims to have originated from alternative rock while asserting its Breton culture, engages in songwriting with poetic lyrics mainly in French, sometimes in English, and occasionally in Breton. Since its inception, Red Cardell has blended its numerous influences and defines itself as a popular music group, open to the world. The band was formed in July 1992 by Jean-Pierre Riou (vocals, guitars) and Jean-Michel Moal (accordion), both members of Penfleps, with Ian Proërer (drums), a member of Link. Christophe Poignant (bass) then completed the lineup before being replaced by Patrick Goyat at the end of the year.

Following Goyat's departure at the end of 1994, Red Cardell reverted to its original trio until Manu Masko joined as the new drummer in 2001. From 2006, with the album Naître and then Le Banquet de cristal in 2008, musicians who had become close through various encounters were regularly invited, transforming the trio into a collective. In 2011, Mathieu Péquériau (harmonica, washboard) joined the lineup a few months before Jean-Michel Moal stepped back from the group for a few years. From 2012, they were joined on stage by two additional musicians: Ronan Le Bars (bagpipes, flutes) and Pierre Stéphan (violin), and also performed in a joint show called Fest-Rock with the Bagad Kemper. In parallel, the five members of the team participated in The Celtic Social Club during the same period.

In December 2015, Jean-Pierre Riou and Jean-Michel Moal, co-founders of the group in 1992, reunited after four years apart. For this new quartet, they were accompanied by drummer Hibu Corbel and multi-instrumentalist Pierre Sangra, who produced the album Un monde tout à l'envers. At the end of 2016, the band surrounded itself with five artists from five continents for the album and show Bienvenue. In April 2018, as their twentieth album Courir was released, Jean-Michel Moal bid farewell after twenty-two years with Red Cardell. Bassist and keyboardist Fred Lucas then joined the lineup, which continued its collaboration with the Bagad Kemper with the show Nerzh in 2019 and recorded the acoustic album Climatik in 2021 and the album Bordel in 2024.

With a career marked by twenty-three albums, five of which were recorded live, the Finistère-based group is primarily a live performance act in the spirit of jam bands, having played over two thousand concerts since its beginnings, mainly in France and in about ten European countries, including several tours in Ukraine and Germany, as well as concerts in the United States, Canada, the West Indies, and Australia. However, Red Cardell's commercial success is not comparable to that of artists under contract with one of the major music industry labels.