Wegferend

The history of Wegferend begins in earnest in 2017 when they open for the Icelandic band Sólstafir in Toulouse. With roots located between the river Tarn and the city of Toulouse in the South-West of France, the band expresses itself by means of a shape-shifting folk music that oscillates between contemplation and raw energy.

Founded in 2016 by Alexia Cazaméa (lead vocals, recorders) and Manon Cazaméa (guitars, mandola, vocals) who were joined a year later by Thomas Boissier (percussions, mandola, whistles, vocals), Wegferend started out with Irish-inspired Folk and Chanson. However, they quickly moved on to compositions that drew their inspiration as much from the Celtic world sounds of Loreena MacKennit and the pagan folk of Faun's early days as from metal, with its resolutely more mystical atmospheres. Their lyrics took the same path. They tell the tragic true story of the execution of Celia, an enslaved woman; Padmasambahva's quest for initiation and the despair of mankind in the face of the inescapable destruction in L'Ost est en Marche.

Autremonde

After a concert at the Échos et Merveilles festival in April 2019 and at Café Plum' in May, during which they shot their first live video, Wegferend entered the Imprimerie studio in Toulouse, where they recorded their first four-track EP. For the first time, they opened the doors to the Autremonde, an inner, ancestral world as tormented as it is poetic.

Barely able to defend this first EP, released at the dawn of 2020, the trio returned to the studio at the end of 2021 to record the Second Chapter of the 'En Autremonde' diptych. More complex and tortuous than the previous part, the album unfolds over 7 tracks that explore subjects as universal as freedom, transcendence and hope. Sung in 3 languages: French, English and Occitan, it features long tracks such as Gedim, The Wayfarer and Jos l'Uelh de la Breissa, whose melodies and lyrics seek to speak to listeners' deep emotions.

Performances

Wegferend opened for Saor in March 2022, then for Garmarna and Trobar de Morte on their French dates in September of the same year. On invitation from the latter, they also played their first date outside their home country at Barcelona's Medieval Fest in 2023, before going on to headline a French tour during which several shows were sold out.

The cycle of l'Autremonde now comes to life in concert. The musical contours of the sequel have yet to be explored, but promise to be somewhere between rupture and continuity.