La Jument de Michao ("Michao's mare" in French) or Le Loup, le Renard et la Belette ("The Wolf, the Fox and the Weasel") is a recent (1973) Breton adaptation of two different Western French traditional songs, also found in Brittany, the original one may be a medieval French song of Burgundy origin: J'ai vu le loup, le renard, le lièvre. The integration in the Breton patrimony was made under the shape of a song deduct (ten to one couplet) typical of Upper Brittany (in Gallo language), but in other French regions too. The music dances on the rhythm of the An dro (Gwened), one of the most known Breton round dances.
It is about a parody of liturgical Dies Irae, with origins in the fifteenth century in the country of Beaune and of which there are numerous variants in the French regions.
The lyrics talk about the mare of Michao (Gallo for Michael) who ate all the hay and will not pass winter; they are blended with references to other animals (wolf, fox and weasel).
Lyrics
C'est dans dix ans je m'en irai J'entends le loup, le renard et la belette C'est dans neuf ans je m'en irai La jument de Michao et son petit poulain L'hiver viendra les gars, l'hiver viendra ... |
In ten years, I'll go away I hear the wolf, the fox and the weasel In nine years, I'll go away Michao's mare and its little foal Winter will come, guys, winter will come ... |
Records
- Kouerien (1973)
- Tri Yann (1976, La Découverte ou l'Ignorance)
- Dao Dezi (1994)
- Gérard Jaffrès (2003, Viens dans ma maison)
- Saltatio Mortis (2009, Wer Wind sät)
- Les Ramoneurs de Menhirs (2010, Amzer An Dispac'h)
- Nolwenn Leroy (2010, Bretonne)
- Eluveitie (2012, Luxtos, album Helvetios)
- Laïs (2002, "Le renard et la belette", album "Dorothea")
- Omnia (2016, Wolf An Dro , album Prayer)
- dArtagnan (2024, album Herzblut)
Adaptations
- Manau (1998, Mais qui est la belette ?)
- Gilles Servat (2011, La Manju de Chomi, album Ailes et îles)
- Les Enfoirés (2012, Le Bal des Enfoirés)
- Eluveitie (2012, Luxtos, Helvetios album)
- dArtagnan (2024, König der Korsaren, album Herzblut)
See also
References
- Jean Luc Tamby in Aux marches du palais, Romances et complaintes de la France d'autrefois, Les chants de la terre, CD Alpha 500, Paris, 2001
- Lyrics in French and English
- "Eluveitie - Helvetios - Chronique - La Grosse Radio Metal - Ecouter du Metal - Webzine Metal". www.lagrosseradio.com (in French). 18 February 2012. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
Links
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