Breton

French

Song Lyrics

These are some of the songs we sing regularly at our evening sessions. Most are traditional and have been learned from tapes, records or from friends. You can listen to most of them by clicking on 'listen' next to the song title. The recordings were made by Yannick Minvielle Debat of Les Panards Dansants and also feature guest appearance by her kids and neighbouring animals in the background.

These are intended as an aid for those who already know the format and it won't always be obvious how the dance fits the tune. Many of the tunes are also played instrumentally and for descriptions of many of the dances see our section on Traditional French Dance

For more tunes see Sheffield university's ceilidh society tune pages. You can add to their list by clicking 'Submit New'.

Breton

These songs are all from the Fench speaking Eastern part of Brittany or Haute Bretagne. The Western 'Basse Bretagne' is also rich in traditional song, generally in the Breton language and known as Kan ha Diskan. Have a look at Son ha Ton for French and Breton lyrics with sheet music but no audio. Scroll down to their Kan ha Diskan section for dance songs.

These songs are sung in a call and response with the leader or kaner singing a phrase, which is then repeated by the follower (diskaner) and / or the dancers.

French

I believe all these songs to be traditional but If you own copyright on any of the above material please contact me. If you'd like to help add to our online song collection with lyrics and/or recordings then please get in touch.