Les Bordées de Cancale

An annual traditional and maritime singing festival based in Cancale in Brittany. No sound system, no big stage, only conviviality, sharing and emotion. Join in and sing or just listen, as you like!

Every year, the Bordées Team invites you to join them in three days of festivals built around traditional and maritime songs. They include a rich and original program that enhances the genre, conferences on maritime heritage, intimate and warm concert venues, singers who express themselves without amplification in the middle of their audience – this is the spirit of a festival with a human dimension where the public can freely express themselves as an artist as well!

For their 25th edition of the Festival, from the 26th to the 28th September 2025, the Bordées have chosen regional languages in traditional singing as their theme! This is their opportunity to offer you beautiful discoveries around songs in Gaelic, Breton, Welsh, Occitan, Basque, Vendée, Setoise, Berber, Kurdish or Guernsey languages without forgetting the specific dialects of Northern Italy, Mexico and Cancalais!

So, let’s let ourselves embark to celebrate, all generations together, this 25th edition full of sun and sprays from the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the North Sea.

The festival is organised by the Phare Ouest association. Created in 1995 by enthusiasts of traditional singing and maritime culture, Phare Ouest has become in a few years a real engine of cultural animation in Cancale.

Initially focussed on the teaching of sailors’ songs to children, thus giving birth to the group “Les Pirates”, Phare Ouest created in 2000 the festival “Les Bordées de Cancale” which enhances the traditional maritime repertoires resulting from the collection.

It offers a monthly traditional maritime singing workshop where one can discover the life and gestures of former sailing sailors and participate in concerts and sung vigils.

In tribute to Patrick Denain

Our friend Patrick left last Sunday to join the sailors’ paradise. A regular at the festival since its inception, he has been to almost every Bordées, most often in duets with Miguel Biard or Gromor, his singing companions.

He left his mark with his unique voice, his strength of expression and his commitment at each of the Bordées’ concerts in the Bistrots de la Houle, which always gave him a special welcome as if he were part of the family.

Patrick perfectly embodied the spirit of the Bordées through his generosity, his humility, his smile, and his love of sharing sea songs in bistros and refreshment stands. We remember him as a voice that touched the depths of the soul and immersed us in the world of sailing sailors.