O'TRIDAL

The fact remains that Breton music is the source of their inspiration and in seven years of existence, these three friends have made a name for themselves in the Breton musical landscape. As we said, their music is Breton, but it is also open to a wide range of influences that have marked the career of these three gifted musicians. All three started out in the Quimper bagadoù scene: Bagad Kemper for flute player Yeltaz Guenneau, and Bagad Penhars for guitarist Tibo Niobé and percussionist and drummer Kentin Juillard.

But you shouldn't think that they stick to this trio. All three of them have been involved in various musical adventures. Kreiz Breizh Akademi #7 for Yeltaz as well as Jahiner, a street show, in the same way as Kentin. And Toutã, Pevarlamm or Bodénès-Hamon Quintet for Tibo. In short, the best in their genre.
After offering us their first album Karrdi Sessions in 2019, they are back with their second opus Triumvirat, announced for 10 March.
On this one they once again unite to offer us a fiery Breton music. They refocus on their original strength, a communicative energy that they know so well how to create and share on stage.
In forty minutes and nine tracks, their instruments give full measure to a devastating energy. The Breton notes they play are tinged with colours, sometimes Celtic, sometimes oriental, sometimes borrowed from other continents.
According to them, they have kept their Breton DNA but have opened up to multiple influences, such as rock, blues, jazz, music from Scotland and Ireland and even from Africa.
All the tracks except one, Azizilé, a traditional song arranged by Jean-Louis Hénaff, were composed by one or the other or all three at the same time. We listen with great interest to tracks such as Confluentia or Anoroc on which Yeltaz's airy and vibrating flute allows itself some jazzystic flights of fancy.
L'ombre d'un zèbre with Kentin's haunting beats and Tibo's electric guitar riffs is another example. N'a pas de rayures reaches new heights in the art of groove. On Don't care Hubert, you will be carried away in a crazy hypnotic cavalcade. Washdé will take you on a journey to the East, while the final track Sarzhad concludes the album with an almost diabolical power.
Although atypical, don't be fooled, O'Tridal's music remains danceable, even if its originality might sometimes leave you stunned. But the aficionados of the festoù-noz will not deny it, so many of them share the trance that this new kind of music can bring.
A triumvirate is an association of three people exercising power and influence. No doubt about it, the title of their album is not usurped.
On this album our three friends try to break the monotony that dance music can generate, one of their challenges. Without a doubt, the result lives up to their expectations.
Although suspicious at the first listening, in the end an album that proves to be enthusiastic. A total success.

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