A Little Bit of Huelgoat Magic

One of Mrs The Millbrooker and my favourite places is Huelgoat (that's An Uhelgoad for the Breton speakers amongst you, the number of whom I'm sure is legion...).

We spend lots of time there and in its surrounding forests and moorland. It's one of those places that likes to consider itself a bit mystical and Arthurian; once you're amongst some of the prehistorically tumbled rock formations near to the town centre, it's quite easy to see why. Not that yours truly holds with any mystical nonsense, faux religiosity or sightings of fairy folk, but the place does have a certain atmosphere.

This atmosphere was hugely enhanced during our last visit to the "High Wood" (that's the translation of An Uhelgoad, language fans) by stumbling upon a pair of musicians amongst the chaos of the Huelgoat rocks:

We stopped and listened for a while in the light drizzle; Trickers in particular was very taken with the light and haunting sound of the harp. Here's Trickers and Mrs The Millbrooker enjoying the sounds.

The harpist was Eve McTelenn and accompanying her on the melodeon* was her husband Laurent Le Dain. Luckily for us they had some CDs to sell.

Eve McTelenn has released two albums "Celtic Harp" and "Harp Pilgrim", a copy of each now resides at Millbrooker Towers. Laurent le Dain has released what we used to call an EP called "Reve d'Argoat", which has also found its way onto our CD shelving. All three recordings are well worth a listen and have received several since our return to these shores.

Thank you for the music, Eve & Laurent, you made a grey and wet day just that little bit magical. Or do I mean just that little bit An Uhelgoad?

***************

Links:

There's an excellent representation of what we enjoyed on Eve and Laurent's MySpace page, which also features a brilliant photo of Eve's beautiful instrument with its carved puffin (macareaux). You can buy the albums mentioned above from that page using PayPal or just a credit card. I recommend that you do!

There is also the full official website with contact details and lots of information (in French).

*A little postscript: I've been corrected by Eve. The instrument played by Laurent is, and I quote, a "...diatonic accordeon, a "celtic accordeon"... ".

You can read Eve's full comment by clicking on comments below.