| They performed in the Nuits Magique and the Nuit Interceltique for six nights of the week, each performance starting at 10.30pm and finishing at around 1.15 the following morning. In these spectaculars, they were joined by the Pipe and Drum Bands of Scotland and Ireland, the Bagads of Brittany, Galiciia and Asturias, and the dancers of Scotland and Ireland. |
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The highlights in each perfomance for the audience of around 18000, judging by the applause, were the singing of ‘Highland Cathedral’ and ‘Amazing Grace’, accompanied first by lone Scottish Piper Andy Gibbs, and then by the massed pipe bands, a sound once heard, never to be forgotten. During the finale, all 500 performers entered the huge arena, and the performance ended with a spectacular fireworks display which lit up the whole stadium. |
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The highlight of the Festival for the performers – all 66 groups of them, about 3600 in all – was the Grande Parade on the first Sunday, during which all the groups paraded through the streets of Lorient, for about 2½ hours. The streets were lined with cheering people, up to ten deep, as well as people at upstairs windows and on balconies. Every time the Choir started singing, the cheering increased. |  |
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In addition to the Nuits Magique, the Choir performed their own concert in Eglise St Louis, as well as afternoon Cabarets and took part in the Festival Mass on the final Sunday morning before making for the ferry at Roscoff. |
The final accolade for the Choir, from the Welsh Representative of the Festival, David Petersen, was that Dowlais was the best choir to have taken part in the Festival. Taking into account that this is the 35th Festival, that was praise indeed. Dowlais Male Choir is proud to have represented Wales, Merthyr Tydfil and Dowlais so well in such a prestigious event, and would welcome the chance to do so again, especially in Wales' Year, in 2008.
