AN ORIANT STARTS STRONG

For those who don’t know it yet, the An Oriant (Lorient in Breton) Interceltic Festival is the largest folk festival and one of the international events with the largest Asturian representation in the world.

Yesterday, the 4th, the Asturian Delegation arrived in the Breton capital, led by its president, Iñaki Sanchez Santianes, with a wide variety of artists, musicians, singers, dance groups, bagpipe bands and, in short, an incredible number of cultural representatives of what It is our culture for this edition of the festival in which we are protagonists.

For those who already know it just wondering why they are not here if it is not the case, and for those who do not know what it is about, prepare yourselves. What is Lorient? Lorient is:

• 10 days of concerts, talks, shows, performances, street art and parties.
• 4,500 artists from the field of music, traditional dance, filmmakers.
• 8 Celtic nations represented: Asturies, Galicia, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Isle of Man, Brittany and diaspora nations: USA, Acadia, Australia.
• A Grand Parade that attracts more than 60,000 people in the streets of Lorient on the first Sunday of the festival.
• 80,000 public as paying spectators.
• 750,000 visitors and the general public.
• 1,100 people accommodated, 20 hotel chains, 7 schools and student residences, 800 beds, 34,000 meals, 40 ferry trips, 40 buses.
• More than 1,700 volunteers.
• 120 live shows, 60% of which are free.
• Tribute to a Celtic nation each year and many activities.
• Promotion of Breton culture with a Breton weekend (bagadoù championship, big parade broadcast on television, Breton dances, Festoù-noz, music workshops, conferences…).
• Continuous concerts on the city’s stages and bars, free master classes on Celtic instruments, daily parades, bagpipes, accordion, Celtic harp, drums, bagpipe bands, a garden of arts and luthiers, a Words and Solidarity space …
• A Quai du Livre, a craft market in keeping with the theme of the festival.
• Sports: regattas (CeltiCup), golf (Golfceltrophy), gouren, Breton athletic games, Celtic sports, etc.
• Exhibitions of works of art from the Celtic countries, traditional Breton costumes and bagpipes from around the world.

If you don’t think it’s enough, come and enjoy it in person and don’t let them tell you about it.