The Lorient Interceltic Festival returns to normality and recovers all the good customs and classics of the appointment in An Oriant. This Saturday, as tradition dictates, it was the turn of the MacCrimmon bagpipe trophy, where the best bagpipers from Asturies and Galicia are put to the test to win the award that is, for many, the mark of the best bagpiper of the southern Celtic nations.
Representing Asturies were Daniel Meré Fernández, who opened the stage, Jaime Álvarez Fernández, Diego Lobo and Fernando Vázquez Cárcaba, veterans of the festival. Representing Galicia, those chosen were Diego Prieto, a well-known promoter of the Galician bagpipe and language, Xesús Rodríguez Callejón, Manuel Seoane and Jorge Castello.
All the contestants must prepare an Asturian, a Galician and a Breton piece to defend in the inter-Celtic capital, where the jury made up of experts from these three nations assesses the clarity of execution, the fidelity and the color of these interpretations. Daniel Meré, a 2022 bagpipe graduate from the Uviéu Superior Conservatory and in charge of starting the session, decided to warm up with the Asturian piece and then continue with a Galician air and finish with the Breton composition.
The second of the Asturians, Jaime Álvarez Fernández, was the winner of the MacCrimmon Trophy in the 2017 edition, with nothing more than 16 years. It is already the fourth time that he participates in the trophy. Diego Lobo was the third Asturian contestant. The musician from Ayer, from the band El Gumial, began with a very difficult Asturian floréu jota, continued with Galician art and ended with Breton.
Fernando Vázquez, the last representative and recently released as a luthier, first played the Asturian part made up of floréu, xiringüelu and jota, followed by the Breton part, and finished off with Galician pieces. It was finally the musician from Siero who took home the first prize in an edition dedicated to our country. The classification was as follows:
8th Jorge Castello
7th Diego Lobo
6th Daniel Meré
5th Xesús Rodríguez
4th Diego Prieto
3rd Manuel Seoane
2nd Jaime Álvarez
1st Fernando Vázquez Cárcaba
