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Cécile Corbel

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Cécile Corbel is a French and Breton singer, harpist and composer, born in 1980 in Pont-Croix. As a child she travelled all over Brittany with her parents, who ran a travelling puppet theatre. She learned the guitar first and, as a teenager, discovered the Celtic harp at a concert by the Greek harpist Elisa Vellia, who later became her teacher. At eighteen she went to study in Paris, where she earned a master's degree in archaeology at the École du Louvre. She began performing in cafés and on the street and gave her first official concert in 2002.

Music and breakthrough

In 2005 the EP Harpe celtique et chants du monde appeared, and in 2006 her first album, Songbook Vol. 1, with Breton, Welsh and Irish songs. She performed in many countries and shared the stage with, among others, Altan, Lúnasa and Alan Stivell. In 2009 she played Anne of Brittany in the rock opera Anne de Bretagne. Albums followed such as Songbook Vol. 2, Roses, La Fiancée, Vagabonde, Enfant du vent and Graal.

Influence

In 2010 she made the song for the Studio Ghibli film Arrietty. She had sent a CD of Songbook Vol. 2 to the studio, because she had been a fan for years. The producer Toshio Suzuki was looking for music with a Celtic colour, fell for her voice and the sound of the harp, and asked her to write the title song. Corbel sings in several languages, including French, Italian, Breton and English, and in this way brings the Celtic folk tradition to a large international audience.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Arrietty's Song. Notice how the Celtic harp carries the song and how her voice floats above it, very light and soft.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

Categories: ArtistsStudio Ghibli