PROG 4  Europe - broadcast 19.30, 10th November 2017 RTE1, Ireland and on the RTE International Player.

 

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Dónal Lunny follows the Celtic Songlines to mainland Europe, to Brittany and Galicia. In Brittany he finds a thriving, confident Celtic culture, home to the Festival Interceltique in Lorient that attracts more than 800,000 visitors every year.

 

Irish harpist Laoise Kelly explains the importance of the harp festival in Dinan in forging links between the various Celtic traditions while Dónal also meets the legendary Alan Stivell, credited by many as inspiring the revival of Celtic music in Europe.

 

He visits the ancient megalithic site on the island of Gavrinis where he is joined by musician Konan Mevel while back in Lorient Dónal takes to the stage at the Festival Interceltique with flautist Sylvain Barou before recording a powerful local tune with Breton chanteuse Kohann.

 

In Galicia he finds a region rediscovering its Celtic past and in Santiago de Compostela meets the famed piper Carlos Núñez who believes that the region is very much part of a Celtic tradition.

 

In the city of A Coruña Dónal visits Susana Seivane, one of Spain's foremost contemporary gaita players and also pays a visit to the tower of Hercules, an ancient lighthouse from where the Celtic king Breogán is said to have glimpsed the green shores of Ireland, more than 900 miles to the north.