A delegation from the Isle of Man have travelled to Brittany this week for the Festival Interceltique de Lorient (FIL).

The festival is the biggest Celtic festival in the world, and attracts an average of 850,000 visitors and spectators over its seven day runtime (Monday, August 12 to Sunday, August 18).

For over 40 years, the Isle of Man has been involved in the festival and showcases Manx music, dance and culture to the rest of Europe. For its 53rd edition, the Interceltic Festival 2024 puts Celtic youth in the spotlight.

The Isle of Man has a number of performers attending the festival this year including Mec Lir, Ruth Keggin, Scran, Manx dance group Ny Fennee, Aalish Kilgallon and Manx DJ Çheumooie.

Molly Kathryn will be representing the island as the visual artist at the Euroceltic Art Exhibition, while Helen Winter will be delivering a number of textiles workshops throughout the week.

As part of the focus on the youth of the Celtic countries, the Festival Interceltique de Lorient has invited 16 young artists from the eight nations of Asturias, Brittany, Cornwall, Scotland, Galicia, Isle of Man, Ireland and Wales for a residency that will result in two ‘super-groups’ performing new music each day of the festival.

The Isle of Man is set to be represented by Mera Royle (harp and fiddle) and Owen Williams (accordion).

Although this year’s festival has been delayed and rearranged due to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, this year’s FIL will still hold all of the same events and activities as previous years’.

The festival media team said: ‘This year’s festival aims to celebrate the potential of new talents, boost the profile of emerging groups and promote cultural initiatives aimed at young people.’

The Manx delegates this year are Grainney Sheard and Ealee Sheard. 

Grainney said: ‘We are very excited that the focus for this year’s festival will be the Interceltic Youth. It will give young musicians and dancers a fantastic opportunity to meet and collaborate with the other Celtic nations as well as showcase and celebrate Manx culture on an international stage.’

When talking about how the musicians representing the island have come together in the lead up to the festival, accordion player Owen Williams said: ‘Even though we didn’t know each other as a band prior to the project, we all became good pals very quickly. We have lots in common but also interesting differences in our music which has been a very fun challenge.

‘The most enjoyable part for me has been to learn and hear tunes, styles and songs from other parts of the Celtic world, and working them together into a combined sound wasn’t a challenge at all because of how well we all get along.’

If you wish to find out more about the festival, you can visit https://www.festival-interceltique.bzh

Alternatively, you can follow along with the Isle of Man Delegation by following @mannin_fil on Instagram and Facebook.