ITAL EXPRESS Mekanik Ho Tansou

Giustino Soldano & Muriel Le Ny

Format: CD Label: Klam Records Release date: May 22, 2026 International distribution: L’Autre Distribution Distribution for Benelux: Xango Music Genre: Breton dance music

Ital Express is a Fest-Noz quartet composed of Elouan Le Sauze on vocals, Alan Paranthoën on violin, Meriadeg Lorho-Pasco on clarinet, and Faustine Audebert on Fender Rhodes (amplified electromechanical piano). These four musicians come together around a resolutely contemporary dance music in which their musical identities intertwine.

Ital Express is part of the Collectif Klam, which is committed to promoting popular music from everywhere, contemporary music, and folklore—including that of the future.

Mekanik Ho Tansou (the mechanics of your dances) is the Collective's nineteenth production. It is an album consisting of eleven tracks to listen to, but above all, to dance to. The repertoire focuses mainly on dance tunes from the Vannes region and neighboring areas, in line with a traditional constructive logic, taking into account the structure of the dances and the melodic scales usually used. Exceptions are Plumus, composed by Thimothée Le Net, and Mari Chan, composed by Alan Paranthoën.

The arrangements are always at the service of dance and trance. As for the lyrics, some are versions from the oral tradition sharing the same name; others, such as Plumus, Toserion An Oriant, and Ar Yarig, are texts written by Elouan Le Sauze, which nevertheless follow the codes of traditional Breton songs. On this album, singing takes center stage, while the instruments swap roles; at times the violin predominates while the clarinet and keyboards provide counterpoint; at other times, it is the keyboard that excels in accompanying the vocals. The sonic balance and the role of each instrumentalist are approached here much like a string quartet. The accordion, initially present among the instruments, was replaced by a Fender Rhodes, which implodes the quartet's balance, transforming its timbre.

The dances performed on the album belong to a repertoire well-known in Brittany, but also by local enthusiasts: laridé, plinn, rond. The rhythms, except obviously in the valse and the hanter-dro, are fast, sometimes frenetic, but always danceable. Even for the less experienced, listening to this album will make it impossible to stay still; your feet will start to move, and those attending a fest-noz for the first time will begin to move and follow the others, captivated by these rhythms almost as if in the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Artists featured on the album

• Elouan Le Sauze: vocals

• Alan Paranthoën: violin, quinton

• Mériadeg Lorho-Pasco: clarinet

• Faustine Audebert: Fender Rhodes

Tracklist

(Total runtime approx. 51 min)

01 Ar Gevier Laridé 8 tempi 4:48

02 Ar Yarig Polka 4:50

03 Toserion An Oriant Laridé 6 tempi 5:12

04 Un Deiz Oen e Pourmen Kejaj 4:05

05 Sonenn An Akordeon Laridé-gavotte 4:16

06 Plumus Valse 4:27

07 Jan Bihan Poulhesken Plinn 4:24

08 Mari Chan Hanter-dro 5:26

09 Derière De Chez Mon Père Baleau 2:47

10 L’âne Et Le Loup Rond de Loudeac 5:05

11 Re ‘m Eus Evet Pourlet 5:33

Ital Express will be performing at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient on the evening of Sunday, August 2nd, at the Quai de la Bretagne (admission with badge).