01
Un nòt kankan
01
Un nòt kankan
References
Kid Ory, Jelly Roll Morton,
Jame Viator
Third verse/Troisième couplet
Benoît LeBlanc
“This one […] was one of the early tunes in New Orleans. It’s from French origin. And I’m telling you, when they start to playing this thing in the dance hall they would really whoop it up. […]
This was around about nineteen-five, nineteen-six. All the bands, the little bands that was around, played it […] it happened to be a favorite so far as the tune goes.
But there seemed to be some vulgar meaning to it that I have never understood. I know what all the rest means, but the can-can – I can’t understand the can-can business. [Laugh].
But I’ll tell you, everybody got hot and they threw their hats when they get to start playing this thing”. (Morton 1938, 107) 82
Jazz à la Créole, Thesis
by Caroline Vézina, p. 91
Ottawa Univerity
References
Kid Ory, Jelly Roll Morton, Jame Viator
Third verse/Troisième couplet
Benoît LeBlanc
“This one […] was one of the early tunes in New Orleans. It’s from French origin. And I’m telling you, when they start to playing this thing in the dance hall they would really whoop it up. […] This was around about nineteen-five, nineteen-six. All the bands – the little bands that was around – played it […] it happened to be a favourite so far as the tune goes.
But there seemed to be some vulgar meaning to it that I have never understood. I know what all the rest means, but the can-can – I can’t understand the can-can business. [Laugh]. But I’ll tell you, everybody got hot and they threw their hats when they get to start playing this thing”. (Morton 1938, 107) 82
Jazz à la Créole, Thesis
Ottawa Univerity, p. 91
Caroline Vézina
Madamm Pédeaux ça t’apé fé
Li ri lagær la komensé
To parl a jen to parl a mò
Madam Pédeaux to plin kankan
Çé t’in nòt kankan – Pédeaux
En lari Claiborne
Yé pa linmé vou – Pédeaux
Oh Madamm Pédeaux to plin kankan
Madamm Pédeaux to pa bon
Madamm Pédeaux to plin kankan
To parl a jen to parl a mò
Madamm Pédeaux to plin kankan
Madamm Pédeaux ça t’apé fé
T’apé jazé jiska solèy koushé
Djab t’enpot lagè lá kontinnué
Ça mo di vou çé lavérité
Çé t’in nòt kankan – Ça mo di vou
En lari Claiborne – Tou moun lá fou
Yé pa linmé vou – Pa di tou
Oh Madamm Pédeaux to plin kankan
Madamm Pédeaux ça t’apé fé
Li ri lagè la komensé
To parl a jen to parl a mò
Madam Pédeaux to plin kankan
Çé t’in nòt kankan – Pédeaux
En lari Claiborne
Yé pa linmé vou – Pédeaux
Oh Madamm Pédeaux
to plin kankan
Madamm Pédeaux to pa bon
Madamm Pédeaux to plin kankan
To parl a jen to parl a mò
Madamm Pédeaux to plin kankan
Madamm Pédeaux ça t’apé fé
T’apé jazé jiska solèy koushé
Djab t’enpot lagè lá kontinnué
Ça mo di vou çé lavérité
Çé t’in nòt kankan, Ça mo di vou
En lari Claiborne –
Tou moun lá fou
Yé pa linmé vou – Pa di tou
Oh Madamm Pédeaux
to plin kankan
♦
02
Mizè
02
Mizè
Misère qui mène le nègre dans bois
( original title / titre )
The song, Misère qui mène le nègre dans bois, was contributed by Uncle Ben, a colored man of Crowley. He says he was one hundred years of age on December 7, 1934. and states that he was sold as a slave three times, twice for a thousand dollars and once for a sum which he does not remember.
🇫🇷 Cette chanson – titre original : Misère qui mène le nègre dans bois – a été contribuée par Oncle Ben, un homme de couleur de Crowley. Il dit qu’il avait cent ans le 7 décembre 1934. et déclare qu’il a été vendu comme esclave trois fois, deux fois pour mille dollars et une fois pour une somme dont il ne se souvient pas.
Louisiana French Folk Songs,
Irène Thérèse Whitfied,
Louisiana State University Press,
1939 P. 142
Misère qui mène le nègre dans bois
( original title / titre )
The song, Misère qui mène le nègre dans bois, was contributed by Uncle Ben, a colored man of Crowley. He says he was one hundred years of age on December 7, 1934. and states that he was sold as a slave three times, twice for a thousand dollars and once for a sum which he does not remember.
🇫🇷 Cette chanson – titre original : Misère qui mène le nègre dans bois – a été contribuée par Oncle Ben, un homme de couleur de Crowley. Il dit qu’il avait cent ans le 7 décembre 1934. et déclare qu’il a été vendu comme esclave trois fois, deux fois pour mille dollars et une fois pour une somme dont il ne se souvient pas.
Louisiana French Folk Songs,
Irène Thérèse Whitfied,
Louisiana State University Press,
1939 P. 142
Mizè ki mèn le nèg dan bwa
Di mô mèt ke mò mouri dan bwa
Mizè ki mèn le nèg dan bwa
Di mô mèt ke sé in kriminèl
•
🇬🇧
Misery that leads the Negro into the woods
Tell my master that I have died in the woods
Misery that leads the Negro into the woods
Tell my master that he is a criminal
Mizè ki mèn le nèg dan bwa
Di mô mèt ke mò mouri dan bwa
Mizè ki mèn le nèg dan bwa
Di mô mèt ke sé in kriminèl
•
🇬🇧
Misery that leads the Negro
into the woods
Tell my master that I have died
in the woods
Misery that leads the Negro
into the woods
Tell my master that he is a
criminal
♦
03
Lé zoñon
03
Lé zoñon
Source
Baby Dodds Trio,
Jazz À La Creole (1947)
Calas: Creole rice cake originated by African-American women who worked as food peddlers in old New Orleans.
Creole Journal
Sybil Klein , Lotus Press,
1996, p. 81
🇫🇷 À La Nouvelle-Orléans, les vieilles négresses se promenaient dans la ville, un panier sur la tête, en clamant ”Callas, toutes chaudes” ; c’étaient des gâteaux de riz en forme de coquille.
Mémoires de la Vieille
Plantation familiale
Laura Locoul Gore, ,
The Zoë Company, inc.,
2007, p. 76
Source
Baby Dodds Trio
Jazz À La Creole (1947)
Calas: Creole rice cake originated by African-American women who worked as food peddlers in old New Orleans.
Creole Journal
Sybil Klein , Lotus Press,
1996, p. 81
🇫🇷 À La Nouvelle-Orléans, les vieilles négresses se promenaient dans la ville, un panier sur la tête, en clamant ”Callas, toutes chaudes” ; c’étaient des gâteaux de riz en forme de coquille.
Mémoires de la Vieille Plantation familiale
Laura Locoul Gore, , The Zoë Company, inc.,
2007, p. 76
Lé zoñyon, lé zoñyon
Lé zoñyon toujou bon marshé
Çé lé çi, çé lé ça
Ma granmær tourné le do
Lé zoñyon, lé zoñyon
Lé zoñyon toujou bon marshé
Çé lé çi, çé lé ça
Ma granmær tourné le do
Vou koushé ? – Wi madamm
Vou pa menti ? – Non madamm
Bèl kala tou shó
Bèl kala tou shó
Bèl kala tou bèl kala tou
Bèl kala tou shó
•
🇬🇧
Onions, onions
Always cheap
(It’s this, it’s that)
Ma grandma turns her back
You want to go to bed – Yes, Mrs.
You are not lying – No, Mrs.
Nice hot calas
Nice hot calas
Nice hot calas
Nice hot calas
Lé zoñyon, lé zoñyon
Lé zoñyon toujou bon marshé
Çé lé çi, çé lé ça
Ma granmær tourné le do
Lé zoñyon, lé zoñyon
Lé zoñyon toujou bon marshé
Çé lé çi, çé lé ça
Ma granmær tourné le do
Vou koushé ? – Wi madamm
Vou pa menti ? – Non madamm
Bèl kala tou shó
Bèl kala tou shó
Bèl kala tou bèl kala tou
Bèl kala tou shó
•
🇬🇧
Onions, onions
Always cheap
(It’s this, it’s that)
Ma grandma turns her back
You want to go to bed
– Yes, Mrs.
You are not lying
– No, Mrs.
Nice hot calas
Nice hot calas
Nice hot calas
Nice hot calas
♦
04
Bondjé
04
Bon D’jé
Source
G.W. Cable
Creole Slave Songs,
Century Magazine, 1886
Henri Werhmann
Creole Songs of the Deep South
1946
G.W. Cable
Creole Slave Songs
Century Magazine, 1886
Henri Werhmann
Creole Songs of the Deep South
1946
Dan tem mo té zènn
Mo zamé zonglé Bondjé
Astè m’apé vini vyé
M’apé zonglé Bondjé
M’apé zonglé bon tem ki pasé
M’apé zonglé bon tem ki pasé
M’apé zonglé bon tem ki pasé
Dan tem mo té nésklav
Mo sèrvi mô mèt, Bondjé
Astè mo bezwin repo
Mo sèr tou moun, Bondjé
M’apé zonglé bon tem ki pasé
M’apé zonglé bon tem ki pasé
M’apé zonglé bon tem ki pasé
Dan tem mo té piti
Mo zamé zonglé mariyé
Astè m’apé vini gran
M’apé zonglé mariyé
•
🇬🇧
When I was young
I never thought about God
Now that I’m getting old
I’m thinking about God
I’m thinking about good times that are gone
When I was a slave
I served my master, God
Now I need rest
I’m serving everybody, God
I’m thinking about good times that are gone
When I was a child
I never thought about marriage
Now that I’m getting older
I’m thinking about marriage
Dan tem mo té zènn
Mo zamé zonglé bon Bondjé
Astè m’apé vini vyé
M’apé zonglé Bondjé
M’apé zonglé bon tem ki pasé
M’apé zonglé bon tem ki pasé
M’apé zonglé bon tem ki pasé
Dan tem mo té nésklav
Mo sèrvi mô mèt, Bondjé
Astè mo bezwin repo
Mo sèr tou moun, Bondjé
M’apé zonglé bon tem ki pasé
M’apé zonglé bon tem ki pasé
M’apé zonglé bon tem ki pasé
Dan tem mo té piti
Mo zamé zonglé mariyé
Astè m’apé vini gran
M’apé zonglé mariyé
•
🇬🇧
When I was young
I never thought about God
Now that I’m getting old
I’m thinking about God
I’m thinking about good times
that are gone
When I was a slave
I served my master, God
Now I need rest
I’m serving everybody, God
I’m thinking about good times
that are gone
When I was a child
I never thought about
marriage
Now that I’m getting older
I’m thinking about marriage
♦
05
Éy laba
The Original Tuxedo ”Jass” Band
Kid Ory, Paul Barbarin, Joe Thomas, Wooden Joe Nicholas, Jim Viator
Fourth verse/Quatrième couplet
Benoît LeBlanc
05
Éy laba
The Original Tuxedo ”Jass” Band
Kid Ory, Paul Barbarin, Joe Thomas, Wooden Joe Nicholas, Jim Viator
Fourth verse/Quatrième couplet
Benoît LeBlanc
The song “Eh La Bas” stands out as the Creole song that has been recorded the most often by many jazz musicians.
According to Sybil Kein, “Eh La Bas” is a call and response tune “which is based on ‘Vous Conné Tit la Maison Denis’” and was “sung by Creole men dressed as women and playing small guitars on Mardi Gras as late as the 1940s” ( Klein 2000, 124 ).
This information is important because while discussing Carnival, where people would sing all kinds of Creole songs, both Wilson and Barbarin told the story of men dancing with men dressed as women, even if they could hardly recall any songs
( Barbarin 1959, reel 1 28m00 ).
This is also interesting because several other scholars have collected a song they usually called “Mon cher cousin” or sometimes “Maison Denise” that contains the same first verse as “Eh La Bas,” followed by different lyrics. 86 In Gumbo Yaya, Lyle Saxon wrote that ‘Mo Ché [sic] Cousin, Mo Ché Cousin’ was one of the most popular of all the Creole songs.
It is said that more than one hundred verses were written to the same tune, all dealing with cooking and mulattoes striving to pass for Whites” (1945, 432).
Jazz à la Créole, Thesis
Caroline Vézina
Ottawa Univerity
The song “Eh La Bas” stands out as the Creole song that has been recorded the most often by many jazz musicians.
According to Sybil Kein, “Eh La Bas” is a call and response tune “which is based on ‘Vous Conné Tit la Maison Denis’” and was “sung by Creole men dressed as women and playing small guitars on Mardi Gras as late as the 1940s” ( Klein 2000, 124 ).
This information is important because while discussing Carnival, where people would sing all kinds of Creole songs, both Wilson and Barbarin told the story of men dancing with men dressed as women, even if they could hardly recall any songs ( Barbarin 1959, reel 1 28m00 ).
This is also interesting because several other scholars have collected a song they usually called “Mon cher cousin” or sometimes “Maison Denise” that contains the same first verse as “Eh La Bas,” followed by different lyrics. 86 In Gumbo Yaya, Lyle Saxon wrote that ‘Mo Ché [sic] Cousin, Mo Ché Cousin’ was one of the most popular of all the Creole songs.
It is said that more than one hundred verses were written to the same tune, all dealing with cooking and mulattoes striving to pass for Whites” ( 1945, 432 ).
Jazz à la Créole, Thesis
Caroline Vézina
Ottawa Univerity
Éy laba
Éy laba
Oh éy laba shè
Komen ça va
Mô shè kouzin, mô shè kouzinn
Mò linmé lakizinn
Mò manjé plin, mo bwa divin
Tou ça pa kouté ariyin
Yé choué koshon, yé choué
lapin
É mò mò manjé biyin
Yé fé gombo mò manjé plin
É ça fé mò malad
Mò ‘shté mô fenm in rob
É ashté li soulyé
É tou kichoj ashté madamm
Kout pa ça si çèr
Éy laba
Éy laba
Oh éy lab shè
Kommen ça va
Kom çi kom ça
Ou lala
Oh éy lab shè
Komen ça va
Mò gañé rendévou
Avèk Madamm Kaba
Li linmé ça bokou
Bokou dansé Kalinda
♦
06
Pa kapab
06
Pa kapab
Nègre pas capable
( Original title/titre )
Source
G W Cable
Creole Slave Songs
Century Magazine, 1886
Nègre pas capable
( Original title/titre )
Source
G W Cable
Creole Slave Songs
Century Magazine, 1886
Nèg pa kapab marshé san maï dan pòsh,
çé pou volé poul
Milat pa kapab marshé san lakòd dan pòsh,
çé pou volé shval
Blan pa kapab marshé san larzen dan pòsh,
çé pou volé fiy
•
🇬🇧
Negro cannot walk without corn in his pocket,
it’s to steal chickens
Mulatto cannot walk without a string in his pocket,
it’s to steal horses
White cannot walk without money in his pocket,
it’s to steal girls
Nèg pa kapab marshé san maï
dan pòsh,
çé pou volé poul
Milat pa kapab marshé san
lakòd dan pòsh,
çé pou volé shval
Blan pa kapab marshé san
larzen dan pòsh,
çé pou volé fiy
•
🇬🇧
Negro cannot walk without
corn in his pocket,
it’s to steal chickens
Mulatto cannot walk without
a string in his pocket,
it’s to steal horses
White cannot walk without
money in his pocket,
it’s to steal girls
♦
07
Kan mo té piti
07
Kan mo té piti
Quand Motait Piti, Mon Chère Amie
Original title/titre
Paul Barbarin
recorded/enregistré autour 1950
Quand Motait Piti, Mon Chère Amie
Original title/titre
Paul Barbarin
recorded/enregistré autour 1950
Kan moté piti
Ma manman di mwin
Koubiyon pwason
Çé kichòj ki bon
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé dé bon riban
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé dé bon jipon
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé dé bon korsé
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé dé bon soulyé
Kan moté piti – mô shær ami
Ma manman di mwin
Koubiyon pwason
Çé kichòj ki bon
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé bèl malékos*
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé bèl grishinband
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé dé bèl déba
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé dé bèl moushwa
Kan moté piti
Ma manman di mwin
Koubiyon pwason
Çé kichòj ki bon
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé dé bon riban
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé dé bon jipon
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé dé bon korsé
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé dé bon soulyé
Kan moté piti – mô shær ami
Ma manman di mwin
Koubiyon pwason
Çé kichòj ki bon
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé bèl malékos*
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé bèl grishinband
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé dé bèl déba
Ah ya yay
Mo té linmé dé bèl moushwa
*
Malekos : Un tissu écossais à carreaux que les femmes créoles aimaient porter comme tignon, écharpe, ceinture et tablier. Seuls les vieux Créoles du
Bayou Lacombe, de l’autre côté du
lac Pontchartrain, connaissent encorece mot
( Jim Viator ).
♦
08(A)
Moluron hé !
08(A)
Moluron hé !
Louisiana French Folk Songs
Irène Thérèse Whitfield
Moluron was a Louisiana Afro-Creole folk hero, a nègre marron (fugitive slave) who feared nothing. He ran away many times, though he was always caught and brought back to his master.
”Moluron” was frequently sung openly toward the end of the Civil War, when the slaves were sure of their freedom. Among Creole speakers to this day someone who runs off is called a parti marron.
Africans in Colonal Louisiana
Gwendolyn Midlo Hall
Louisiana State University Press,
1992, p. 142
🇫🇷 Moluron était un héros populaire afro-créole de Louisiane, un nègre marron (esclave fugitif) qui ne craignait rien. Il s’est enfui à plusieurs reprises, mais il a toujours été rattrapé et ramené à son maître.
« Moluron » était fréquemment chanté ouvertement vers la fin de la guerre civile, lorsque les esclaves étaient sûrs de leur liberté. Aujourd’hui encore, parmi les locuteurs du créole, celui qui s’enfuit est appelé un parti marron.
Louisiana French Folk Songs
Irène Thérèse Whitfield
Moluron was a Louisiana Afro-Creole folk hero, a nègre marron (fugitive slave) who feared nothing. He ran away many times, though he was always caught and brought back to his master.
”Moluron” was frequently sung openly toward the end of the Civil War, when the slaves were sure of their freedom. Among Creole speakers to this day someone who runs off is called a parti marron.
Africans in Colonal Louisiana
Gwendolyn Midlo Hall
Louisiana State University Press, 1992, p. 142
🇫🇷 Moluron était un héros populaire afro-créole de Louisiane, un nègre marron (esclave fugitif) qui ne craignait rien. Il s’est enfui à plusieurs reprises, mais il a toujours été rattrapé et ramené à son maître.
« Moluron » était fréquemment chanté ouvertement vers la fin de la guerre civile, lorsque les esclaves étaient sûrs de leur liberté. Aujourd’hui encore, parmi les locuteurs du créole, celui qui s’enfuit est appelé un parti marron.
Moluron hé !
Moluron hé !
Çé pa jordi mò dan moun
Si yé fé bin avèk mwin mò resté
Si yé fé mò mal mò ‘shapé
•
🇬🇧
Moluron hey!
I wasn’t born today
If they treat me well, I will stay
If they treat me bad, I will run away
Moluron hé !
Moluron hé !
Çé pa jordi mò dan moun
Si yé fé bin avèk mwin mò resté
Si yé fé mò mal mò ‘shapé
•
🇬🇧
Moluron hey!
I wasn’t born today
If they treat me well,
I will stay
If they treat me bad,
I will run away
♦
08(B)
Ouarrâ Sin Malo
08(B)
Ouarrâ Sin Malo
Source
G.W. Cable
Creole Slave Songs
Century Magazine, 1886
The maroons of the Bas du Fleuve were led by St. Maló, a charismatic leader from the German coast. He was known as Juan Maló when he was a d’Arensbourg slave.
He and his followers controlled the swamps below New Orleans between the Mississippi River and Lake Borgne, moving freely along the bayous connecting the lake with higher ground to the south.
St. Maló had established several permanent settlements. One was named Ville Gaillarde, another, Chef Menteur. Runaway slaves were attached to St. Maló’s settlements from the various maroon pasajes behind the plantations.
A spy sent to infiltrate these maroons reported that as St. Maló returned to Gaillardeland at he beginning of April, 1784, he buried his ax into the first tree he encountered saying, ”Malheur au blanc qui passera ces bornes’ (Woe to the white who would pass this boundary’), to which his companions gave a shout of approbation.”
Africans in Colonial Louisiana
Gwendolyn Midlo Hall
Louisiana State University Press
1992, pp. 212, 213
Jazz à la Créole, Thesis
Caroline Vézina
Ottawa University, p. 91
Source
G.W. Cable
Creole Slave Songs
Century Magazine, 1886
The maroons of the Bas du Fleuve were led by St. Maló, a charismatic leader from the German coast. He was known as Juan Maló when he was a d’Arensbourg slave. He and his followers controlled the swamps below New Orleans between the Mississippi River and Lake Borgne, moving freely along the bayous connecting the lake with higher ground to the south.
St. Maló had established several permanent settlements. One was named Ville Gaillarde, another, Chef Menteur. Runaway slaves were attached to St. Maló’s settlements from the various maroon pasajes behind the plantations.
A spy sent to infiltrate these maroons reported that as St. Maló returned to Gaillardeland at he beginning of April, 1784, he buried his ax into the first tree he encountered saying, ”Malheur au blanc qui passera ces bornes’ (Woe to the white who would pass this boundary’), to which his companions gave a shout of approbation.”
Africans in Colonial Louisiana
Gwendolyn Midlo Hall
Louisiana State University Press
1992, pp. 212, 213
Jazz à la Créole, Thesis
Caroline Vézina
Ottawa University, p. 91
“Que se passa-t-il durant cette nuit ? Quels sont les détails de la lutte surhumaine qu’eut à soutenir le nègre ? On l’ignore. Mais le lendemain toute la ville était en rumeur.
On racontait que Jim, au milieu de la nuit, avait brisé ses fers dont il s’était servi comme comme d’une arme pour assommer ses deux infirmiers ; qu’il avait enfoncé deux portes, et que tout nu, après avoir terrassé le policeman et deux watchmen accourus aux cris de ce dernier, il était parvenu à s’échapper.
Partout où il était passé, il avait laissé des traces sanglantes. On avait pu suivre ces traces jusqu’au canal Carondelet.”
Bras-Coupé (1856)
Louis-Armand Garreau
réédité dans Les Cahiers du Tintamarre
2007, p. 71