Erik Marchand

Singer and ex-clarinetist, Erik Marchand is one of the artisans of contemporary Breton music whose evolution and rich musical diversity are thought out in a philosophical way.

With many artistic meetings that have given birth to multiple artistic projects, Erik Marchand is at the origin of the Gwerz group. He collaborates with many French and international artists on the repertoire of popular music from Brittany in connection with music from Eastern Europe.

In 1988, he met Thierry Robin with whom he began a work of musical analysis and research in Center-Brittany (which turns out to be very close to oriental music). His passion for traditional music invites him to quickly take an interest in the case of Romania and its Tarafs. He learned Romanian and undertook the trip to the Banat region.

During the International Clarinet Festival in Glomel (22), he invited Le Taraf de Caransebes, with whom he made a record, "Sag An Tan Ell", mixing Breton sounds and Romanian sounds, with Serbian influences. Finally, in late 1997, he met as a trio with Jacques Pellen and Pablo Fresu for an album with particularly Celtic sounds. In 2004, he became friends with guitarist-singer Rodolphe Burger with whom he mounted Before Bach in collaboration with Mehdi Haddab and with the support of the national scene Le Quartz in Brest. In 2012, he worked on the bridges between baroque music and Breton music with Ukronia project. His musical journey shows how much he remains a Breton artist open to other sounds.

Founder of Drom association, Erik launched himself at the beginning of the 2000s in the construction of a transmission school dedicated to modal music called Kreiz Breizh Akademi. Created in 2005, this original academy will have trained nearly 100 professional musicians and is empowered to issue a professional certificate as "musician of modal music of learned and popular tradition" since 2015.

His recent scenic news includes a duo or trio formula with jazz pianist Bojan Z and Romanian clarinetist Costica Olan, but also with Titi Robin and Keyvan Chemirani. The project around the creation Before Bach has been underway again since 2019.

Analysis by Erik Marchand

Gwerz Skolvan

Gwerz Sulian

 

Photos courtesy of Eric Legret