- published: 17 Jul 2015
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Finistère (French pronunciation: [fi.nis.tɛʁ]; Breton: Penn-ar-Bed) is a département of France, in the extreme west of Brittany.
The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, meaning end of the earth, and may be compared with Land's End on the opposite side of the English Channel. The Breton name for Finistère Penn ar Bedd translates as Head/End of the World and is cognate with the Cornish equivalent for Land's End Pen-an-Wlas (Head/End of the country). Finistère is not to be confused with Finisterre in Spain.
The present department consists of the historical region of Léon and parts of Cornouaille and Trégor.
The largest population center in Finistère is Brest. Other large towns in the department include Quimper (the capital), Morlaix, Carhaix, and Douarnenez. Finistère includes the island of Ushant (Eusa in Breton, Ouessant in French).
Finistère is the westernmost region of France (excluding the overseas departments). By several criteria, Finistère can also claim to be the most coastal department in Metropolitan France. Of its 283 communes, 118 are located on the coast. Its total coastline of approximately 1,250 km (776.71 mi) accounts for almost a quarter of the entire French coast-line.
Jeanne Cherhal (born 28 February 1978 in Nantes) is a French singer-songwriter.
After spending her younger years in Erbray near Châteaubriant, Cherhal studied philosophy before moving to Paris. She started her singing career playing piano – solo, or accompanied by her guitarist Éric Löhrer in small concert venues. At the time she sported long, plaîtted hair. After a six-title CD (edited by Madame Suzie), she released an album entitled "Jeanne Cherhal" with the independent label Tôt ou tard.
Little by little, her renown increased. At the beginning she sang Georges Moustaki, Jacques Higelin, Thomas Fersen and Emir Kusturica; she was invited on by the group les Têtes Raides, sang as a double act with Vincent Delerm and sometimes as a trio with d'Albin de La Simone. She also performed in a series of concerts with Matthieu Bouchet, which culminated in the production of the CD-booklet [en même temps...] (produced in a limited edition of 1500 copies).
Cherhal's second album Douze fois par an (Twelve times a year), released in 2004; was a huge success. Along with this she received not only recognition from the music world, but also from a large and ever-increasing fan base.