a musical journey through the ages...

Kemener, Yann-Fañch

Yann-Fañch Kemener

About the composer

Yann-Fañch Kemener was a singer and an ethno musicological researcher. He was born in 1957, in the heart of Fañch/Plinn country on the borders of Vannes, France. His family on his mother’s side and father’s side, had a reputation for being good singers and dancers. Breton was his mother tongue. He had a beautiful voice, and by the age of fifteen he was performing on stage. Kemener founded the legendary Breton music group Barzaz, which played with various elements, including the purity of the voice, silences, sound effects, and Hopi Hopkins’ bells. This gave the impression that the wind or the rain were integral parts of our music. He became one of the key figures in the transmission of the Breton musical heritage.  In 1982, the Académie Charles-Cros awarded him the Grand Prix du Patrimoine for the three Chants Profonds de Bretagne albums.
In 2015, he received the knighthood of the Order of Arts and Literature. In 2019, while bravely facing his battle with cancer, he released his final album. He sadly passed away that same year at the age of 61. More details: on http://yfkemener.com/

About the Stabat Mater

Date: 2010
Performers:

male solo voice

Length: 2.54 minutes
Particulars:

Yann-Fañch Kemener sings four stanzas of the Stabat Mater (in Breton language) as a gwerz, an epic narrative lament, traditionally sung unaccompanied. In 2019, while bravely facing his battle with cancer, he released his final album. He sadly passed away that same year at the age of 61.
The recording of his Stabat Mater must have been a moving and impressive moment. Denis Raisin Dade, conductor, in his memorial tribute to Kemener’s passing in 2019: he was alone in Fontevraud Abbey, at two o’clock in the morning. The impact of his unaccompanied singing, which carried the memory of an entire people, was overwhelming.

Textual variations:

The first four stanza’s are sung in Breton language. For another translation in Breton, see:

Colour bar:

Information about the recording

CD: Requiem d’Anne de Bretagne / Funeral for Anne de Bretagne – Zig-Zag Territoires, ZZT 0501
More info:

CD, recorded 2010 at Fontevraud Abbey (France) and released in 2011. Most of the compositions on the CD are by Antoine de Févin (1470 – 1512), written for funeral ceremonies. The compilation aims to recreate the funeral of Anna of Brittany in 1514. Anna was a highly intelligent and sensitive woman who had a deep love for music. Following her passing, she was honored with an exceptionally lavish funeral, reflected in the Requiem compositions with their intricate polyphony. However, the grief of the common people at Anna’s death is also palpable, resonating in the lamentations, including the Stabat Mater, beautifully sung by Kemener.

Kemener recorded his version of the Stabat Mater again in 2015 with accompaniment on the CD ‘Les Chants de la Passion/Songs of Passion,’ released by the label Buda Musique/Musique de Bretagne, catalog No. 4716928.

Soloists:

Yann-Fañch Kemener

Other works:

Compositions for funeral ceremonies, by Pierre Moulu, Josquin Desprez, Constanzo Festa, Pierre de la Rue and Antoine de Févin. Performed by Doulce Memoire, conductor: Denis Raisin Dade.

Code:

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