Festival des Chants de Marins de l’Ile d’Oléron (Festival d’IO)

The Festival des Chants de Marins de l’Ile d’Oléron at Port de la Cotinière, (also known as the Festival d’IO) calls itself, “the best rendezvous for lovers of folklore and traditions” and includes singers, musicians and festive entertainers and boasts an ever-growing audience.

With the ports of La Cotinière and Bourcefranc as anchor points, the Festival is perfectly positioned with a relevance to the remarkable maritime identity and tradition of the Pays Marennes Oléron.

A twinning of the festival with that of the Chants Marins de St-Jean Port Joli in Quebec will ensure an international dimension to the event, and will designate the festival as an ambassador of the Francophone world.

To date the festival has taken place from 2010 to 2016, plus 2017 and 2023.

Note: The l’Ile d’Oléron is an island, (now linked by a bridge) 3km off the Atlantic coast of France (due west of Rochefort) and is the second largest island of Metropolitan France. The village of La Cotiniere is the base for a hundred trawlers who sell their fresh fish twice every day, and near the celebrated maritime Fort Boyard.

[Please note that the website that they show on their Facebook page is inoperative as of 1/3/2025.]