“O Breizh, my Bro, me’gar my Bro. Tra ma vo mor’vel mur’n he zro. Ra vezo digabestr my Bro! On Sunday, the words in Breton of “Bro gozh ma zadoù” (Old country of my fathers) will resonate in the Moustoir stadium in Lorient (Morbihan) in front of 16,000 spectators. For the occasion, this old song, inseparable from the Breton cultural heritage, played for the first time in 1898, will benefit from a makeover. New key, stronger rhythm, new arrangements… Everything has been thought out to make it easier to sing in unison.
The objective is to make it the official anthem of Brittany, a way of musically expressing the pride of being Bretons. “The Bro gozh is a monument of our Brittany, but it is clear that we have never had a stabilized version”, remarks the president of the region Loïg Chesnais-Girard who wishes to popularize it. “While attending the first rehearsals with the Orchester National de Bretagne, I was quite upset,” explains the famous singer Gilles Servat, who lent his voice to the project with Aziliz Manrow.
This song, whose melody is the same as that of the anthems of Wales and British Cornwall, has been sung more and more often in recent years at major cultural and sporting events in Brittany. Singer Nolwenn Leroy had sung it in the final of the Coupe de France in 2014.
The new version of the anthem will be distributed in the form of a CD to several thousand Breton players (colleges, high schools, sports and cultural associations, structures organizing events, etc.). “We hope that teachers will take it up,” says Loïg Chesnais-Girard. The piece will also be available on streaming listening platforms. Soon a hit?
