Cécile Corbel: Celtic Songs from Brittany

Cécile Corbel is a French harpist, born in the Brittany region in 1980. Her style is reminiscent of Loreena McKennitt, but a little darker.

Cécile Corbel was originally a student of Archeology, who left Pont-Croix dans le Finistère for Paris to study, and ended up playing the harp and singing in pubs and as a busker. In 2008, she played in Rangoon, Burma and donated a portion of her pay to Info Birmanie, a local French institution that fights for human rights. Besides her shows and workshops, Cecile has a part in the musical Anne de Bretagne, where she performs the main character.

She has released 3 albums to date, and is scheduled to release a new one next year. Cécile Corbel’s first album had a mixture of several different musical influences such as jazz, folk and pop.

Then the second album was more introspective, and Cécile commented about it that “Song Book (released Nov 2008) is more personal: I composed most of the songs and wrote most of the lyrics. It reflects who I really am, and my influences: Celtic music of course but also medieval, baroque, rock and pop/folk music. I loved the songwriting and the possibility to tell stories with my songs.” [1]

She told that her music “keeps an acoustic spirit, rooted in the imagination and legends of the Celts, but with a sound and arrangements, which I hope are modern.” [2]

Below are two videos. Visit Cécile Corbel’s site for more.

Cécile Corbel official site: http://www.cecile-corbel.com/