BRIGANTHYA
Samháin
Philippe Cousin
Celtic music is very popular all over Europe. Today we are interested in the Basque Country, a region where the band Briganthya was born in 2000, when eight young people from the music school of Beasain in Guipuzcoa met around the traditional Irish, Scottish, Galician, Asturian and Basque music.
But in 2014, after three albums, the band decided to take a break. In 2017, David Fernández (accordion and vocals), Dani Conde (gaïta, tambourine and vocals), Eneko de la Fuente (bodhrán, percussion, accordion and vocals), joined by Edu Andérez (guitars), decided to embark on a new musical journey as a quartet. Two years later, in 2019, they finally offer us a fourth album, Samhaín. Nine tracks here, including eight compositions by members of the band. Samhaín, an important celebration of the Celtic calendar, represents the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new stage, that of the reconstituted group.
- Fernández, founder of the band, has deposited his name on seven tracks, among which Spiral, who opens the album, Seguran in tribute to the small Basque village of Segura, a village with eight centuries of tradition. It is also Samhaín who gives its title to the album or The Happy Family dedicated to his wife and two children.
Among all the titles, we should mention the little pearl A Roda Da Vida, the only song on the album due to the talent of E. de la Fuente, who allows us to appreciate the beautiful Basque voices. All this is energetically supported by D. Conde's gaïta. And the band called upon the crème de la crème of Celtic music: Eric Rigler, a Californian piper, Mohsen Amini from Scotland on concertina, Harry Price an English fiddler, the Galicians Xosé Liz and Fernando Barroso, the Basques Kike Mora, Ander Hurtado and Pablo Gregor. Briganthya's music is playful, full of energy and exudes a joie de vivre that is a pleasure to hear. A band that it is urgent to discover elsewhere than in the Basque Country and Spain.
Mirmidón - Artimaña AR-126 - www.briganthya.com