Brittany Ferries changes its tune

IT’S been the tune which heralds the start of a holiday in France for longer than many can remember – but Brittany Ferries is replacing its familiar wake-up music with a new refrain.

Love it or hate it, the music of Breton-group Dremmwel holds a place in many people’s hearts. Tunes by the French band, including the most familiar Lans, have been piped into cabins to alert sleepy passengers that they have arrived in France for the past 20 years.

But Brittany Ferries has decided it’s time for a change as it marks its 50th anniversary and invited acclaimed Celtic musician Carlos Núñez to collaborate with them on a new album.

It will now be a track entitled Mare brittanicum which will be the first thing passengers from the South West hear when arriving on the overnight ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff.

The news has had a mixed reception from Brittany Ferries’ most loyal passengers, with some declaring it terrible and others excited to hear the new music.

Commenting on Facebook, Austen Osborne said: “This is a dreadful idea. I’m sure Carlos is great, but our holidays start when we wake up to Dremmwel.”

Rebecca Jarre added: “Hell No! I don’t want to be waking up and find my feet dancing away to Celtic Sea! I love the old wake up call, it was like having tiny fairies playing in your ears gently as you woke up.”

But another said she was delighted with the change. Lizzie Thomas wrote: “Hurrah. The previous tune will always be associated with one of the worst nights ever, as a family with young kids in one cabin together with illness thrown in and the rest. And then, when we finally were all getting a bit of sleep, that plinky-twang music woke us all up unnecessarily early – no we didn’t want to go for breakfast, or could’ve even if we wanted to. Listening to it on Spotify just now honestly caused a PTS reaction in me.”

Brittany Ferries said it was excited about the new musical partnership with Carlos Núñez saying: “The collaboration marks the start of a wonderful adventure fuelled by a shared passion for the sea, travel and uniting the brotherhood of the Celtic peoples.”

The previous wake-up music Lans was used to wake up passengers on the Armorique, Barfleur, Bretagne and Normandie.

Brittany Ferries had used Dremmwel for nearly 20 years. A spokesman said: “Over that time, the hypnotic tones are estimated to have woken over 24 million holidaymakers from their slumber.”