This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Curps (talk | contribs) at 16:24, 9 August 2005 (title: the plot thickens (manuchao.net); rewrite to reflect this). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 16:24, 9 August 2005 by Curps (talk | contribs) (title: the plot thickens (manuchao.net); rewrite to reflect this)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Sibérie m'était contéee or Siberie m'etait contéee ("Siberia was told to me") is the first French language-only album by Manu Chao, released in 2004. This album features, along with a CD, an illustrated book by Jacek Wozniak. Hit singles include Petite blonde du boulevard brune ("Little blonde from brunette street").
Spelling of the title
Note that the title incorporates an intentional misspelling (contéee instead of contée). It may or may not incorporate an intentional dropping of acute accents in Sibérie/Siberie and m'était/m'etait.
The grammatically correct title would be "Sibérie m'était contée". The title as written in capital letters on the album cover is SIBERIE M'ETAIT CONTÉEE. To interpret this, it is necessary to understand that the French language usually drops accents (diacritics) on capital letters, but nevertheless very often retains the accent for capital E–with–acute accent when it occurs in a word-final or near word-final position, because in this position it could be mistaken for silent "e" and the word could be mistaken for another word: eg, conté (told ), conte (tale).
Thus, nearly all French language references interpret the title as "Sibérie m'était contéee" (Amazon.fr, album reviews, etc). However the official Manu Chao website manuchao.net gives the title as "Siberie m'etait contéee" (without accents on Sibérie or m'était) even though Sibérie appears elsewhere on the same webpage with the accent. It is not known if this dropping of accents in Sibérie and m'était actually reflects the band's intentions or was merely done by the site's webmaster.
The album cover also includes the words (in capital letters): "…A TOUS LES PECHEURS DU FLEUVE AMOUR…", which is a pun. It can be understood as either "to all those who fish the Amur river" (a river in Siberia), or as "to all the sinners of the river Love". The French words pécheur (sinner) and pêcheur (fisherman/fisher) are spelled the same way when the accent is dropped in capital letters.
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