Program 783: British Pubs; Why I Love Brittany; Custodians of Wonder

Find out why a stop at the pub is a great way to visit with your friends and neighbors in Britain, and usually a good bet for dinner.

Get to know the Celtic corner of France, as guides from Brittany recommend their favorite cities, festivals, and local treats to enjoy.

And travel writer Eliot Stein tells us about the people he's met, who are the last of their kind to keep ancient cultural curiosities alive where they live.

Learn about time-honored traditions, and enjoy the scene from Britain to Brittany, on the next Travel with Rick Steves.

• British tour guides Liz Boardman and Deborah Heyburn
• French tour guides Patrick Vidal and Richard Vidal
• Journalist Eliot Stein, author of "Custodians of Wonder" (St. Martin's Press)

• Tour guide Elizabeth Boardman offers cultural immersion tours in England from her home base in Bath.
• Deborah Heyburn specializes in custom tours of southwest England from her home base in London and can be e-mailed at [email protected].
• Rick recommends several pub crawl stops in London.
• The Brittany Tourism website has photos and trip planning advice.
• The Inter-Celtic Festival is held at L'Orient in August.
• Patrick Vidal leads a variety of tours across France.
• Eliot Stein describes the people he has met who are preserving fading global traditions, in his columns for BBC Travel, and in his book "Custodians of Wonder."

• CHALK_CHALK_0024_01001_Waking_Up_APM
• Sidney Torch and His Orchestra, "My Native Heath, Suite IV: Barwick Green (Arthur Wood)," British Composers Guide to Britain, disc 2 (collection) / EMI Classics
• CEZ_UBM_2336__02201_Happy_to_Ride_APM
• Medeski Martin and Wood, "Olde Wine," NPR Studio Sessions, vol. 1 (collection) / NPR
• OMI_BD_0020_01701_Mersey_Beat_APM
• Florrie Forde, "Down at the Old Bull and Bush (1905 recording)," Music Hall, disc 1 (collection) / Big 3
• Au P'tit Bonheur, "Soleil de minuit," Le mal de vivre / Polydor (France)
• * Mago de Oz, "Irish Pub," Belfast / Locomotive Records
• Symphony Nova Scotia, Howard Cable, cond.,"Scherzo for Stephen for orchestra," Opportunity Knocks / CBC Records
• Moving Hearts, "An Irishman in Brittany," Storm / Tara Records (Ireland)
• KPM_KPM_0356_01901_Ancient_Ritual_A_APM
• Joe Houlihan, Jon Campbell, Phil Edmonds, "Off to Sea Once More," The Wind In the Rigging / North Star Records
• Carlos Nuñez and Lenine, "Nau Bretoa," Discover Carlos Nuñez, disc 1 / Sony Music (France)
• Au P'tit Bonheur, "J'Veux Du Soleil," Le mal de vivre / Polydor (France)
• Orchestre Capitole du Toulouse, Michel Plasson, cond., "En habit de cheval (Satie)," Satie: Orchestral Works / EMI Classics
• Soldat Louis, "Y'a pire," Aupres de ma Bande / Les Disques Leïla-Distribution Select
• CEZ_CEZ_4429_01701_Breizh_APM
• * Soldat Louis, "Bow Lane," Aupres de ma Bande / Les Disques Leïla-Distribution Select
• JCM_JMOD_0028_01301_Four_Top_a_APM
• Sergio and Odair Assad, "Suite Troileana: Whisky," Saga Dos Migrantes / Nonesuch
• Abdoulaye Diabate & Super Manden, "Fakoli," Mali Lolo! Stars of Mali (collection) / Smithsonian Folkways
• Balafon Marimba Ensemble, "I Already Have A Husband," The Best of World Music, vol. 2: Instrumental (collection) / Putumayo
• Viento de los Andes, "Chimbaloma," Lo Mejor de la Musica Folklorica / Sounds of the World
• Bliss, "Kalimantan (feat. Lotus)," Blue / (self-released)
• SON_SAS_0246_01601_Salaam_-_Mujra_C_APM
• Boubacar Traore, "Kar Kar Madison," Mali to Memphis: An African-American Odyssey (collection) / Putumayo

* Indicates filler music used during internal breaks on the broadcast

• The premise of Eliot Stein's segment C interview, that the last custodians of certain age-old traditions are dying out, is introduced in the segment A open.
• At 14:00, Rick and guests note that it's getting harder to find a one-off pub in Britain, since many are now chain-owned.
• Richard mentions the annual Inter-Celtic Festival at L'Orient, starting at 33:47. It's held in August.
• The societal and economic factors impacting the traditions Eliot reported on are discussed throughout the segment C interview.
• At 46:42, Eliot reports how every male of the Kouyaté family for the past 27 generations has memorized their family and Malian national epic history, and also plays the balafon. Eliot adds that the original instrument is guarded in the primitive village of Niagassola, near the Guinean border in Mali.
• At 51:20, Eliot describes how every year for three days in June, a thousand people gather to reweave a traditional Incan grass bridge in a town in the southern Peru highlands of the Andes.
• At 53:08, Eliot explains the premise of the Aranmula kannadi, the "perfect mirror" that only 19 people know how to produce, in a town on India's Malabar Coast. He adds at 56:21 that he would be "shocked" if any of these traditions still exists 100 years from now, in an increasingly homogenized world.

Pgm #783 Haiku awards

Crepes and hard cider,
Ancient stones and wild coasts,
Charming Brittany
— Jessica Graber, Hamilton, Ontario

On Omaha Beach,
families play volleyball.
Sacrifice brought peace.
— Jennifer Peers, Boulder, Colorado

Ignoring advice
I took the road less traveled
And became quite lost
— Ben Bagby, Springfield, Illinois