La Brigantine

La Brigantine, perform at festivals of sailors’ songs, fairs, village festivals various associations etc. in France.

It’s never too late! – Eric Lebourg, the leader and founder of the group learned to play the guitar and the accordion in retirement.

“I joined the choir of the Marins du Cotentin. That’s when I realised that I had to be able to play the guitar,” explains Eric Lebourg to justify his late vocation. After a long military career within the Foreign Legion and having roamed on all continents, man does not really have geographical roots. “I was born in Bayeux and spent part of my youth in Australia before joining the army,” he says. In 2002, he chose to permanently settle on the Côte-des-Isles.

“I first worked for the Red Cross and the SNSM. Then in 2006, I registered with the AEM (Association d’éveil à la musique). That’s where I learned to play the guitar and the accordion. In 2011, with Michelle Postel, also from the AEM, Michel Caniot and Séverine Ruet, we created the group La Brigantine”.

In 2014, they released a first CD, entitled Prendre la mer. And most recently, in the premises of the old Carteret school, specially developed by the town hall to allow the population to indulge in music, they recorded this second CD, called l’île au trésor “It includes sixteen titles. Most are about the sea. There are some contemporary songs, by Brassens and Michel Tonnerre in particular. We now have more experience, so this CD is more structured than the first,” he says. Brigantine performs mainly in La Manche and Calvados.

Since 2010, Éric Lebourg has been singing and playing on a voluntary basis, every Wednesday afternoon, for the benefit of the 76 residents of the Barneville-Carteret retirement home. “I started alone. Michelle Postel has been with me for two years. It’s a real joy. We talk a lot with the old folk. They teach us songs from their youth. It’s rewarding and so pleasant to see them smile. I feel a real pleasure. This moment of exchange is as special for them as it is for us.”

An altruist, he organises every year, as treasurer of the Veterans, a collection with his friends to offer food to the Restos du Coeur in Portbail. He also chairs the Union des parachutistes de la Manche and steps in to help former paratroopers in difficulty.

Note: At time of writing it has not been possible to identify a location where the two albums produced by the group, “Prendre la mer” and “l’île au trésor” may be purchased.