Les Rencontres Trans Musicales (generally referred as Les Transmusicales de Rennes) is a three-day music festival held annually in December in Rennes, Brittany, France. Since its first years, the festival has been renowned for revealing the "next big thing." It has become one of the most significant musical events in Europe, attended by more than 30,000 people each year and appreciated by media and music industry professionals from all continents.
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Started in 1979 by Jean-Louis Brossard and Béatrice Macé, The Trans has been the place to discover new music and unknown sounds, a musical trip where people discover an artistic melting pot from all around the world. Right from the first editions, before the word ‘festival’ was attached to the event, the artistic bias of the line up was towards originality and the emergence of new artistic forms. Since 1979, Trans has shown the will to capture the musical zeitgeist and to maintain with it a relation of curiosity and direct impregnation.
The philosophy behind the festival is to help people discover new music styles, artists that are little-known or even totally unknown, but that will be the future of musical expressions thanks to their original and innovative nature.
Here is an anthology of some artists whose names are certainly familiar to you without necessarily knowing that Trans did ‘bring them to light’:
The Trans Musicales made it clear from the first edition, in June 1979 and their philosophy never change : - Remain as close as possible to the reality of musical life - Be on the wavelength of emergence points - Detect and promote artistic originality - Help fulfil all the necessary conditions for experimentation
The international work has been going on since the end of the 1980s. Turned towards research and exploration of musical movements and where they originate, the programming puts us in touch with artists,labels, editors and agents on all continents. On the other hand, the Trans collaboration with foreign media and professionals is strong and continuous. Since the 2001 edition, the International Trans project consolidates and extends their work overseas, in partnership with Cultures France,governmental operator on all international actions. The principle of the project is: Conceived as a means to extend the collaboration with the artists beyond the time span of one edition the line-up included bands which have performed or are about to performed the Trans in Rennes, they are joined by local artists.
The Trans Musicales team program two evenings at the Cargo, in Neuchâtel, for the Expo 2002.
In March 2003 two evenings and two residencies opposing Dj Morpheus vs. El Diabolo (Réunion) and Dj Buddha vs. Tamm Ha Tamm (Réunion).
During the festival By-Larm, one evening in honour of Rennes and one improvised concert at the top of a glacier.
18 and 19 June 2005 at Chaoyang Park. A huge stage, 16 artists in front of 16 000 spectators for the first open air festival in the Chinese capital
Co-produced by the association Trans Musicales, the Trans on Tour offers for the ninth year in a row, the opportunity to local bands to perform in the venues of the Great West. Kick starting the festival, the main aim of this tour is to escort artists towards more professionalism. The high point of this tour is a performance at the Trans Musicales for each participating band. It is all about confronting the soon to be artists with a different relation with time, using a stream of events requiring total immersion in a professional framework. Being on tour means many concert dates, and in this case, ending with a performance at a festival visited by professionals: this project is a life size rehearsal. The Trans on Tour, conceived first as an artistic aide to the local scene, offers a wide range of tools to the bands: interviews at the beginning and the end of the tour, working time on the stage of the Ubu (local stage in Rennes), a regular follow-up by a specialised team, a promotional video and a dedicated stand at the festival's Village. During this tour with its twenty some bands - out of which eight on an accompaniment programme – each concert is completed by the performance of an artist recommended by the hosting venue.