"Fusion, traditional, rock, pop, electro, Celtic..." the music of Elephant Sessions seemed destined to make the new stage "Le Kleub" dance, dedicated to the current music of the interceltic festival of Lorient on Friday evening.

The four guys from Inverness (Scotland) were making their third appearance at the FIL, after two singles released in 2022 to announce a fourth album scheduled for September, and seeing the disarticulated arms waving in the Kleub pit, they were expected.

Alasdair Taylor, mandolin player and inveterate headbanger, was also looking forward to this "With the Covid we haven't seen each other for almost a year, and the public for two years, but we have always had an incredible welcome in Brittany".

"The first time we came to Lorient in 2017 we didn't know France, we played twice each day of the festival in front of 2,000 people, it was hard core but a fantastic gateway" continues Euan seated at his listed, a few hours before their only concert of this 2022 edition.

Euan's piercing blue eyes light up his little air of genius when this new scene of "Kleub" is approached: "I think it's a good idea, there are so many groups that can flourish in a place like this -the".

"the intergenerational"

Asked by AFP a few days before the FIL, its new director Jean-Philippe Mauras assured that he wanted to put "intergenerational" back at the center of the project.

Hence the idea of ​​this new place without seats, the "Kleub", halfway between a concert hall and a nightclub, a space for expression specific to emerging artists, "who have digested the 30 or 40 last years of Celtic music and to produce something very modern".

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A vision shared by Alasdair, who ensures that "it's happening everywhere now, there are a lot of young groups who mix all these influences as we have tried to do for ten years and come out with something extraordinary".

White-hot by the techno fanfare Tekemat, a trio DJ, drums, sousaphone in the first part of the evening, the public was already sweating more than reason in the humidity of Lorient still in the grip of a scorching situation when the Scottish elephants climbed on the ring.

Their scenography is not spectacular from the outset, but thoughtful and assumed: all dressed in black with the exception of Euan and all on the same line at the front of the stage, breaking with the concept of "accompaniment " dear to folk music.

Nobody accompanies anyone among their Highland children, it's "all on the same level".

A distance with traditional music, not really desired, but just natural.

"When you look closely, only our melodies come from traditional music, if we remove the fiddle (violin) and the mandolin, it becomes fusion, or electro" according to Euan, for whom the new album goes from the "heavy dance to smooth pop", "super sensations" instilled by their new producer Duncan Lyall.

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The Covid was a difficult period, but she gave birth to something new, according to Alasdair: "before one of us came with a melody, and the others came to surround him, after the Covid we wanted to go from time in the studio, and we started creating together".

"It changed a lot of things, sometimes you feel like you're wasting a day, but it also means that the music can go in any direction, it's very exciting" enthuses Euan.

A rapprochement between musicians and between generations, as evidenced by the large age gap between the dancers at the foot of the stage, which is perhaps more recent.

"We are now invited to festivals that have no traditional or folk roots, world music, pop, mainstream events, and the spectators say to themselves + shit but what is that? +" continues Euan, before putting on their performances in perspective: "We are going to play the same set this evening in this improvised night club, as last night in Pontivy in front of older people and seated, it is very surprising that these people so different appreciate our music".

Friday evening in Lorient, the intergenerational bet of the interceltic festival seemed successful.

© 2022 AFP