Music
Press
Imagine a red haired Celt from Brittany, with a voice that hovers somewhere between Kate Bush (she can sure reach those higher registers), the purity of Sinead O Connor and the mysticism of Enya and you’ll have a good idea what this remarkable young harpist, arranger of traditional songs and original songwriter sounds like.
Corbel belong to this new generation of European folkies, put her in the same bag as Kate Rusby, Eliza Carthy and Jim Moray - In the sense that she is happy to take crusty old folk standards and reinvent them for the 21st-century audience.
The most interesting tracks on the album are the old made new, wich include her rich mix of funky rythm and strings on “she moved through the fair”, the very Enya-ish “the burnt of Auchindoun”, and a tantalizing intermingling of ancient and modern in her version of Robert Burns’ “A red red rose”.
This is the work of a major new talent."
The result is accessible, cutting-edge-folk. BE
Sydney Morning Herald – February the 18th - 2007
"Cécile draws her inspiration from traditionnal melodies she renews with hints of « pop » and folk music (...) She sings with an exquisite grace"
World MD
"Cécile Corbel sings like a nightingale"
Libération – 18 nov. 2006
"She imposes an enchanting universe with a clever mix of traditionnal Irish songs and Breton tunes".
20 minutes 2 nov. 2006
"C.C. mirrors her singing, limpid, fragile, but confident. She draws her inspiration from the Breton tradition, from Breton laments and magic tales".
Libération – 14 dec. 2006
"Cecile is a citizen of the world, and her voice flows as she tells about exile, rough seas, lovers parted by life, migrations".....
CHORUS
"A wide-reaching and soothing energy"
WORLD MD
"..An irresistible voice...."
LE TELEGRAMME
"You immediately think about Loreena McKENNITT"
Ethnotempos
- various
Cecile Corbel, Songbook (RSCD 279-Keltia Musique)
Sometimes an artist comes along with such a terrific style that they not only bring new life to a tradition and a new way of hearing or looking but leave an indelible mark that is deeper than the superficially skilled.
So it is with Cecile Corbel in Songbook. And she does this not only with the music of her native Brittany, but also with time honored standards of Scottish and Irish Celtic music. Sometimes it is an "outsider" who brings a new vitality to the stage (but who says she is an "outsider," she's a Celt is she not?).
Throughout this CD there is an innovation with respect for the tradition that both rivals and surpasses many others.
The outstanding case in point here is what Cecile does with "Red Rose" that classic of Rabbie Burns. This is poetry on top of poetry.
For superb expositions, instrumentally and in song, of the range of the eerie to the horrible (the Bretons probably do eerie and horrible the best of all the Celts) you have first "She Moved Through The Fair" which skillfully creeps you out,as do "Three Ravens" that gory song of the Scots Borders. Both are performed in an ironic upbeat approach that will get you. And for the just plain sanguine there is "Dellum Down." In the right context listening to any of these you won't want to go into the woods, or into an old deserted house.
In addition to the above I also found her "Stor mo chroi" wonderful, injecting a new modern energy into an Irish classic. From the Breton repertoire there is a beautiful "C'hoant dimein" and "Bemnoz."
The one strictly instrumental piece here is "Valse des ondines" and it makes for a perfect ending to the whole proceedings.
With her ethereal voice, at turns gentle, winsome, also subtly frightening, and superb harp, Cecile Corbel has advanced even further in the realm of an innovation in the tradition than when we last saw her several years ago in Virginia. AK
December 2007 – celtic beat review
- celtic beat
Discography
Cécile Corbel “Harpe celtique et chants du monde” Keltia Musique RSCD270 A 6-track album and Cécile’s first recording released in 2005
Cécile Corbel “Songbook 1” Keltia Musique RSCD279 Cécile’s first full 12-track studio recording. Available from October 2006
Photos
Bio
Cécile Corbel
"A redhead fairy, just out of a Broceliande tale, (…) eternal vibrations, powerful culture, charismatic personnality" La terrasse Octobre 2006
Singer and composer Cécile Corbel was born in Brittany, the Celtic region in the north-west of France.
As a child, she travels all over Brittany with her parents, who were puppeteers.
In her teens, after learning the guitar, she discovered the Celtic harp.
Aged 18, she then moves to Paris.
After a few years performing in Parisian streets, pubs and cafés, she self-produces her first album, soon distributed by the most important French Celtic label Keltia Musique (Sinead O’Connor, Loreena Mc Kennit).
3 years after this first work, she now releases her second, full-scale album, “SongBook 1”, inviting the musicians who followed her during these years.
Her unique harp technique and her appealing young voice sometimes compared to Kate Bush’s, reveal a world encompassing ancient poems, original compositions, Celtic tunes and Mediterranean melodies.
She takes you for a trip out of a time.
Following the path of prestigious musicians such as Alan Stivell, the young Breton composer and singer now performs her Celtic and world music with her musicians in France and all over the world. She recently appeared for 3 concerts as supporting artist for Laurent Voulzy in May 2007 at the “Olympia” in Paris.
She also was supporting artist for many great world music musicians including Lunasa, Helen Flaherty, Ousmane Toure, Alan Stivell... She has perfomed at various Festivals and concert halls: La Maroquinerie, Solidays 2005, International Harp Festival at Dinan (France)...
....And warmly greeted abroad: Estonia, Australia and Tasmania (Australian tour 2006 - French festival of Adelaide with Yann Tiersen and Matmatah), Poland, The Czech Republic, England, Belgium, United States (Louisiana, Texas)
In 2005 she was awarded the ..Prix Paris jeunes talents musique.. (Talented young musician award of Paris)
In 2008, she will perform all over France ( especially in the main Celtic rendezvous of the summer in her native Brittany) and in Belgium, Estonia, England, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Burma and Germany...
She ‘ll be on stage with Altan, Carlos Nunez or Soldat Louis…(…)
An Australian tour and a US tour are also set up for 2008.
Press Review
"Imagine a red haired Celt from Brittany, with a voice that hovers somewhere between Kate Bush (she can sure reach those higher registers), the purity of Sinead O Connor and the mysticism of Enya and you’ll have a good idea what this remarkable young harpist, arranger of traditional songs and original songwriter sounds like.
Corbel belong to this new generation of European folkies, put her in the same bag as Kate Rusby, Eliza Carthy and Jim Moray - In the sense that she is happy to take crusty old folk standards and reinvent them for the 21st-century audience.
The most interesting tracks on the album are the old made new, wich include her rich mix of funky rythm and strings on “she moved through the fair”, the very Enya-ish “the burnt of Auchindoun”, and a tantalizing intermingling of ancient and modern in her version of Robert Burns’ “A red red rose”.
This is the work of a major new talent."
The result is accessible, cutting-edge-folk. BE
Sydney Morning Herald – February the 18th - 2007
"Cécile draws her inspiration from traditionnal melodies she renews with hints of « pop » and folk music (...) She sings with an exquisite grace"
World MD
"Cécile Corbel sings like a nightingale"
Libération – 18 nov. 2006
"She imposes an enchanting universe with a clever mix of traditionnal Irish songs and Breton tunes".
20 minutes 2 nov. 2006
"C.C. mirrors her singing, limpid, fragile, but confident. She draws her inspiration from the Breton tradition, from Breton laments and magic tales".
Libération – 14 dec. 2006
"Cecile is a citizen of the world, and her voice flows as she tells about exile, rough seas, lovers parted by life, migrations".....
CHORUS
"A wide-reaching and soothing energy"
WORLD MD
"..An irresistible voice...."
LE TELEGRAMME
"You immediately think about Loreena McKENNITT"
Ethnotempos
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