Denez Prigent

For the first time, French lyrics appear on one of Prigent's albums. They are told by Bertrand Cantat on Daouzek huñvre, whose structure is reminiscent of the twelve series of Ar rannoù. The other voice that can be heard on this album is that of Lisa Gerrard, the singer of Dead Can Dance, on Gortoz a ran (I await). This song, the first one in the album, is part of the soundtrack of Black Hawk Down, a film directed by Ridley Scott. Gortoz a ran has garnered recent attention (2016) after being featured in the American adult animated sitcom South Park during the second episode of season 20: 'Skank Hunt.'

In November 2015, beatmaker James Digger remixed 4 tracks for an EP. It appealed to rapper Masta Ace, emblematic figure of Hip Hop, one of the references of Eminem. In exchange, Denez participated in May 2016 to his album "The Falling Season", under "Story of Me". His song "Gortoz a Ran" is used for two minutes in the episode "Skank Hunt" of the series South Park first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on 21 September 2016.

In November 2016, the live album "A-unvan gant ar stered - In unison with the stars" released, recorded during the tour 2015-2016. On 19 November, after 20 years of absence on fest noz stages, the singer animated the Yaouank Festival in Rennes.

In 2012, he presented a new show, Beajet 'm eus (" I travelled "). On 7 April 2015, Denez published a new studio album, "An enchanting garden - Ul liorzh vurzhudus". This album, comprising 12 original songs written by the singer, including one in English, is the result of several years of writing (a hundred gwerzioù of 80 verses), trips and experiments on stage. The Breton and Celtic themes, unstructured, are interwoven with Slavonic and Armenian ("An tri seblant"), Greek ("Krediñ 'raen"), Andalusian ("Ar binioù skornet"), Bossa nova ("An tri amourouz"), Gypsy or Yiddish ("Beajet'm eus"), African ("An trucher hag an Ankoù") for an entirely acoustic music. In songs in Breton, the artist invites to discover the corners of his inner garden and the plurality of his influences. Denez's vocal, "enigmatic and inspiring" (accompanied by the hang on "Before dawn"), is like a link between the real and the invisible, supported by the writing of timeless stories, sometimes tragic, satirical or burlesque, such as "Peñse Nedeleg", a Fisel dance describing the shipwreck of a freighter that makes the happiness of the inhabitants for Christmas or "An tri amourouz" whose black humor recalls that of Tim Burton. "An Old Story", in English, couples with "Gwechall gozh", in breton, two complaints sharing the same story: an innocent woman burnt like witch for having too many companions.

To select electronic samples, Prigent contacted Arnaud Rebotini, who granted him access to his collection of discs. Prigent mostly chose jungle sounds, finding that their rhythm, at around 160–170 bpm, was well adapted to Breton singing. In most cases, Prigent's voice was recorded first and electronic sounds were added afterwards. This combination of ancient singing and modern music is illustrated by Ar rannoù, one of the oldest known Breton texts, for which Prigent recomposed the traditional tune using electronic sounds. He compared this treatment of singing and music to that of Alan Stivell:

In summer 2010, he announced to write for a next album. A Best-of album is published in 2011 (Barclay Records). In July, 2011, the Het Lindeboom festival gives to him a blank in front of an audience of 25,000: it has the occasion for him to invite the Hungarian singer Szilvia Bognar, one of the great voices of the Eastern countries, as well as the famous Welsh choir Flint Male Voice Choir.

The next album, Sarac'h (rustle), was released in 2003. Lisa Gerrard is again invited, as is Yanka Rupkina, the soloist of the Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir, Karen Matheson of Capercaillie, and the Sami singer Mari Boine. Also appearing are the Dónal Lunny on the bouzouki, Nabil Khalidi on the oud, and Farhad Bouallagi on the violin. Although this album uses electronic sounds, the music is mostly performed on traditional instruments.

This album was nominated for the Victoires de la Musique in 2001.

After a series of concerts, Prigent recorded a live album, Live Holl a-gevret !, during the Festival interceltique de Lorient in August 2001, guest-starring the bagad Roñsed-Mor of Locoal-Mendon.

In 2000, Denez Prigent released his third album, Irvi. This title is the plural of the word erv, i.e. a foam path, meaning a path, only usable at low tide, that links a tidal island to the continent or to another island. The song Hent-eon (foam path) describes the wish of a man from Lesconil to be buried in such a path so that he will be watched over by nature. This idea of a link between two worlds, between life and death, also appears in Daouzek huñvre, where seven lost spirits clothed in flesh walk in line on a foam path.

In 1998, he took part in Alan Simon's Excalibur, la légende des Celtes, with Roger Hodgson (the singer of Supertramp), Angelo Branduardi and Didier Lockwood.

Prigent released his second album, Me 'zalc'h ennon ur fulenn aour (I keep in myself a golden spark), in 1997. He wrote all the lyrics except for the traditional song Ar rannoù that appears in the Barzaz Breiz, and most of the musics, using both traditional instruments and electronic sounds. The subjects of the lyrics are the classical topics of gwerz : injustice, disease, death. E trouz ar gêr, about the artificial aspects of living in a city, and An hentoù adkavet, about the revival of the Tro Breizh, are his first songs devoted to Brittany, its culture and its relation to nature.

When Prigent failed to receive compensation from Auvidis/Silex for sales of the album, he sued the label and signed with Barclay Records for his subsequent releases. Further sales of Ar gouriz koar were blocked but Auvidis kept the original records, and in 1996 Prigent released a new recording of Ar gouriz koar with Barclay. For this and all subsequent recordings, Prigent uses the Peurunvan unified Breton orthography.

In 1995, Prigent appeared in Dao Dezi. The goal of this project of Éric Mouquet, a member of Deep Forest, and Guilain Joncheray is to treat Breton music in the same way that Deep Forest treated African music, with traditional lyrics and electronic accompaniments. Michel Sanchez, the other member of Deep Forest, also worked on the album, recorded and mixed by Erwin Autrique. Breton singers Arnaud Maisonneuve and Manu Lann Huel also appear on the album, as well as Tri Yann. It is Prigent's first experience combining Breton lyrics and electronic music.

In 1993, Prigent released his first album Ar gouriz koar (translated The Wax Belt) on Auvidis/Silex. Although the album was, at first, intended for promoting Prigent's songs to festival organizers rather than for being sold to the general audience, its sales approached 50,000 copies. Most of the songs are traditional Breton folk songs sung a cappella. However, former Storlok members Denez Abernot and Bernez Tangi wrote "Plac'h Landelo" and "Gwerz ar vezhinerien", respectively, while Prigent himself wrote "Gwerz an aksidan". Like all of his subsequent recordings, Ar gouriz koar is sung in the kan ha diskan and gwerz styles.

At his wife's request, Prigent attended the first rave party held in Rennes, in 1993, in spite of his negative prejudice. There, he discovered a music that, like Breton music, is primarily meant to support dancing. Noticing that electronic music and Breton music are based on similar rhythms and notes closed to one another, he contemplated using it to accompany his songs.

In 1992, Prigent sang a cappella during the Transmusicales, in front of an audience unused to this style. He subsequently left the band Daouarn with which he had sung in festoù-noz. He performed in the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Francofolies, the Midem, the Printemps de Bourges, the Coup de Cœur francophone in Quebec, the Mitte Europa festival, the Celtic Connection festival in Scotland, Expo '98 in Lisbonne, and the Eisteddfod festival in Wales.

In 1988, driven by his passion for the Breton language, he became a Breton teacher in Carhaix, during which he was regularly invited in traditional music festivals such as the Tombées de la nuit (Nightfalls) and the Festival Interceltique de Lorient. In 1991, the city of Rennes invited him to participate in the "Voice of Asia" festival due to take place in its newly twinned city of Alma Ata, Kazakhstan. Surprised by this invitation, Prigent wrote a satirical song, "Son Alma Ata" (later included on Sarac'h) about the incongruity for a Breton singer to be sent to perform in Kazakhstan. This first concert abroad gave him an opportunity to discover the Kazakh people, then integrated into the Soviet Union, and compare its situation to that of the Breton people, integrated into France. In 1991, Prigent resigned from his teaching position in order to pursue his artistic career. While collecting the lyrics of traditional songs, he met Eugénie Ebrel born Goadec, one of the three Goadec Sisters who revived Breton a cappella singing in the 1960s. She provided him with the lyrics of "Ti Eliz Iza", and her daughter, Annie Ebrel, decided to join him on stage.

At age 14, Prigent was taught kan ha diskan by Alain Leclère, himself a former student of Manuel Kerjean, whose other students include Erik Marchand. Two years later, in 1982, he sang with Alain Leclère in festoù-noz. In the Kan ar Bobl, he won the first prize in kan ha diskan in 1987, the first prize in new singing in 1988 and the first prize in traditional singing in 1990.

Denez Prigent (Breton pronunciation: [ˈdẽːnes ˈpriːʒẽn(t)] ; born 17 February 1966 in Santec, Finistère) is a Breton folk singer-songwriter of the gwerz and kan ha diskan styles of Breton music. From his debut at the age of 16, he was known for singing traditional songs a cappella, and has moved on to singing his own songs with techno music accompaniments. He has performed in France as well as internationally and has recorded seven studio and two live albums.

In the tradition of gwerz, Denez Prigent writes about dramatic events about which he hears during a travel, a conversation, or through medias. The subject of An droug-red is the Ebola epidemic in Zaire. The main character, seeing everyone dying around him, kills an old woman, allegory of the disease. Copsa Mica is about the Sometra factory, representing the metallurgic industry in Copşa Mică, Romania. Producing large amounts of pollutants, this factory was one of the few employers of the city. As a result, young people had, for a living, to operate the blast furnace that killed them slowly. Gwerz Kiev relates the Holodomor, the famine that struck Kiev in the 1930s, with casualties estimated to four million.