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19
Moulin
19
Moulin
Library of Congress
Jeanne Wogan Arguedas, (1937)
Library of Congress
Jeanne Wogan Arguedas, (1937)
Moulin griyé dikann
*Sharké, sharké lé kouto
Moulin griyé dikann
Sharké, sharké lé kouto
Koupé, koupé koupé
Griyé, griyé, griyé
Moulin griyé dikann
Sharké, sharké lé kouto
Oh oh oh, oh oh oh
* Ce mot rare en Louisiane viendrait du Créole Haïtien et voudrait dire ramasser
🇬🇧 This rare word in Louisiana comes from Haitian Creole and means to pick up
•
🇬🇧
Mill roast the canes
Pick up, pick up the knives
Mill roast the canes
Pick up, pick up the knives
Cut, cut, cut, cut
Roast, roast, roast roast
Mill roast the canes
Pick up, pick up the knives
Oh oh oh oh oh
Moulin griyé dikann
*Sharké, sharké lé kouto
Moulin griyé dikann
Sharké, sharké lé kouto
Koupé, koupé koupé
Griyé, griyé, griyé
Moulin griyé dikann
Sharké, sharké lé kouto
Oh oh oh, oh oh oh
* Ce mot rare en Louisiane viendrait du Créole Haïtien et voudrait dire ramasser
🇬🇧 This rare word in Louisiana comes from Haitian Creole and means to pick up
•
🇬🇧
Mill roast the canes
Pick up, pick up the knives
Mill roast the canes
Pick up, pick up the knives
Cut, cut, cut, cut
Roast, roast, roast roast
Mill roast the canes
Pick up, pick up the knives
Oh oh oh oh oh
♦
20(A)
Kalinda
20(A)
Kalinda
Library of Congress
Jeanne Wogan Arguedas
Gumbo Ya-Ya
Saxon, Dreyer, Tallant, Mina Monroe
Louisiana French Folk Songs
Bayou Ballads – Irène Thérèse Whitfield,
Library of Congress
Jeanne Wogan Arguedas
Gumbo Ya-Ya
Saxon, Dreyer, Tallant, Mina Monroe
Louisiana French Folk Songs
Bayou Ballads – Irène Thérèse Whitfield,
The great holiday place for the slaves in those days was Congo Square, then well outside the city limits. People are yet living who remember what a gala day Sunday was to the negroes, and with what keen anticipations they looked forward to it. On a bright afternoon they would gather in their gay, picturesque finery, by hundreds, even thousands, under the shade of the sycamores, to dance the Bamboula or the Calinda; the music of their creole songs tuned by the beating of the tam-tam.
”Dansez Calinda! Badoum! Badoum!” the children, dancing too on the outskirts, adding their screams and romping to the chorus and movement. A bazaar of refreshments filled the sidewalks around; lemonade, ginger beer, pies, and the ginger cakes called ”estomac mulattre,” set out on deal tables, screened with cotton awnings, whose variegated streamers dance also in the breeze.
White people would promenade by to look at the scene, and the young gentlemen from the College of Orleans, on their way to the theatre, always stopped a moment to see the negroes dance ”Congo.” At night the frolic ceased, the dispersed revellers singing out their way home to another week of slavery and albour: ”Bonsoir, dansé, Soleil, couché!”
New Orleans, The Place and The People
The Macmillan Company, 1895, p. 340
Grace King
•
The great holiday place for the slaves in those days was Congo Square, then well outside the city limits. People are yet living who remember what a gala day Sunday was to the negroes, and with what keen anticipations they looked forward to it.
On a bright afternoon they would gather in their gay, picturesque finery, by hundreds, even thousands, under the shade of the sycamores, to dance the Bamboula or the Calinda; the music of their creole songs tuned by the beating of the tam-tam.
”Dansez Calinda! Badoum! Badoum!’‘ the children, dancing too on the outskirts, adding their screams and romping to the chorus and movement. A bazaar of refreshments filled the sidewalks around; lemonade, ginger beer, pies, and the ginger cakes called ”estomac mulattre,” set out on deal tables, screened with cotton awnings, whose variegated streamers dance also in the breeze.
White people would promenade by to look at the scene, and the young gentlemen from the College of Orleans, on their way to the theatre, always stopped a moment to see the negroes dance ”Congo.” At night the frolic ceased, the dispersed revellers singing out their way home to another week of slavery and albour: ”Bonsoir, dansé, Soleil, couché!”
New Orleans, The Place
and The People
The Macmillan Company, 1895, p. 340
Grace King
•
In her memories, entitled Souvenirs d’Amérique et de France par une Créole (1883), Hélène D’Aquin Allain, whose family had fled from the Saint-Domingue revolution in 1791 and who moved from Jamaica to New Orleans in 1833 when she was three years old, recalls the the ”blacks would then still dance on Congo Square” and that
”it was holiday for them every Sunday evening, and whites and blacks, slaves and masters, pressed themselves against the heavy gate that separated the dancers from the crowd,” but admits she herself ”had never seen them”. However, she claims to remember certain phrases relating to these dances, such as ”Dansé calinda, boudoum, boudoum,” and ”Qué bamboula ya pé fé.”
From the Kingdom of Kongo to Congo Square
University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, 2017, pp. 7, 8
Jeroen Dewulf
•
In her memories, entitled Souvenirs d’Amérique et de France par une Créole (1883), Hélène D’Aquin Allain, whose family had fled from the Saint-Domingue revolution in 1791 and who moved from Jamaica to New Orleans in 1833 when she was three years old, recalls the the ”blacks would then still dance on Congo Square” and that ”it was holiday for them every Sunday evening, and whites and blacks, slaves and masters, pressed themselves against the heavy gate that separated the dancers from the crowd,” but admits she herself ”had never seen them”.
However, she claims to remember certain phrases relating to these dances, such as ”Dansé calinda, boudoum, boudoum,” and ”Qué bamboula ya pé fé.”
From the Kingdom of Kongo to Congo Square
University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, 2017, pp. 7, 8
Jeroen Dewulf
•
🇫🇷 Pour achever la fête, les dames voulurent se donner le plaisir de la musique, et demandèrent à Judice s’il ne pouvait pas faire chanter son nègre la chanson Vié Boscugo.
“Rien n’est plus facile, mesdames ; vous connaissez toutes l’aventure du juge : c’est sur ce sujet que Harris va vous improviser des couplets en langue créole. Voyons, mon nègre, avale-moi ce coup detafia, et montre un peu ce que tu sais faire à l’honorable compagnie.”
Après avoir vidé son verre, Harris prit l’attitude d’un homme qui griffe de la guitare, et chanta les couplets suivants sans lacune ni hésitation, comme Eugène de Pradel :
Mouché Préval
Li donné grand bal
Li fè nègue payé
Pou sauté ainpé
Dansé Calinda, etc.
Li donné soupé
Pou nègue régalé
So vié la misique
Té baye la colique
Une partie de pêche au lac Cathahoula, 1857
Réédité dans Les Cahiers du Tintamarre, 2008. p. 74
Charles Jobey
•
🇫🇷 Pour achever la fête, les dames voulurent se donner le plaisir de la musique, et demandèrent à Judice s’il ne pouvait pas faire chanter son nègre la chanson Vié Boscugo.
“Rien n’est plus facile, mesdames ; vous connaissez toutes l’aventure du juge : c’est sur ce sujet que Harris va vous improviser des couplets en langue créole. Voyons, mon nègre, avale-moi ce coup detafia, et montre un peu ce que tu sais faire à l’honorable compagnie.”
Après avoir vidé son verre, Harris prit l’attitude d’un homme qui griffe de la guitare, et chanta les couplets suivants sans lacune ni hésitation, comme Eugène de Pradel :
Mouché Préval
Li donné grand bal
Li fè nègue payé
Pou sauté ainpé
Dansé Calinda, etc.
Li donné soupé
Pou nègue régalé
So vié la misique
Té baye la colique
Une partie de pêche au lac Cathahoula, 1857
Réédité dans Les Cahiers du Tintamarre, 2008.
p. 74 Charles Jobey
•
The Calinda was one of the earliest types of song to become identified with the carnival in Trinidad. Specialists also point out that ”the Calinda songs in Trinidad are the prototype of the calypso ballads” and that ”the antecedents of the calypso songs were the praise songs and songs of derision of West African natives captured as slaves
brought to the west Indies.” Tradition in the Caribbean has retained the African characteristics in the songs of social comment, of political criticism, and in songs of mockery, ridicule, ridicule or rebuke. This tradition has also reached Louisiana and it is interesting to note that the song that accompanies the acrobatic stick-dance is satirical.
The custom of the satirical song performed as an accompaniment to the stick-dance in Louisiana has in all probability come from Trinidad. This speculation is based on the fact that only in Trinidad was this type of song used in conjunction with the stick-dance. In Haiti and Martinique the stick-dance as well as the satirical songs have been
reported, but not as complementing each other. As stated previously, the political and social setup of Trinidad furnished the background for this particular phenomenon, connected with the freedom festivities and – ”canboulay” procession featuring chanting stick men.
The Calinda in Louisiana, Symbiosis of Cultures,
Evolution of Function, Mélanges en l’honneur
de Luc Lacourcière, Leméac, 1978, p. 145
Elizabeth Brandon
The Calinda was one of the earliest types of song to become identified with the carnival in Trinidad. Specialists also point out that ”the Calinda songs in Trinidad are the prototype of the calypso ballads” and that ”the antecedents of the calypso songs were the praise songs and songs of derision of West African natives captured as slaves brought to the west Indies.
”Tradition in the Caribbean has retained the African characteristics in the songs of social comment, of political criticism, and in songs of mockery, ridicule, ridicule or rebuke. This tradition has also reached Louisiana and it is interesting to note that the song that accompanies the acrobatic stick-dance is satirical.
The custom of the satirical song performed as an accompaniment to the stick-dance in Louisiana has in all probability come from Trinidad. This speculation is based on the fact that only in Trinidad was this type of song used in conjunction with the stick-dance. In Haiti and Martinique the stick-dance as well as the satirical songs have been reported, but not as complementing each other.
As stated previously, the political and social setup of Trinidad furnished the background for this particular phenomenon, connected with the freedom festivities and – ”canboulay” procession featuring chanting stick men.
The Calinda in Louisiana, Symbiosis of Cultures, Evolution of Function, Mélanges en l’honneur de Luc Lacourcière, Leméac, 1978,
p. 145 Elizabeth Brandon
♦
20(B)
Kalinda
20(B)
Kalinda
Mister Mazuro
In his office
He looked like a toad
In his bucket of water
Dance the calinda
boodjooom, boodjoom
Mister Carondelet
Had two mules
They went to the parade
On Esplanade Street
Dance the calinda
boodjooom, boodjoom
Mister Delachaise
Stole all my stawberries
For the old mulattress
Who is his mistress
Mister Préval
In his hall gave a ball
Made the negroes pay
To jump and dance a bit
There were negress
Who passed for
beautiful mistress’
For they stole their dresses
(fancy garments)
In the maids closet
How come ”zou zou”
You stole my pants
No, no, no, no my master
I just took your boots
He gave a supper
For us to feast/entertain
His old music
Gave us a stomach ache
Poor Mister Préval
I think he is sick
He will not give balls anymore
On Hospital Street
Mister Mazuro
In his office
He looked like a toad
In his bucket of water
Dance the calinda, boodjooom, boodjoom
Mister Carondelet
Had two mules
They went to the parade
On Esplanade Street
Mister Delachaise
Stole all my stawberries
For the old mulattress
Who is his mistress
Mister Préval
In his hall gave a ball
Made the negroes pay
To jump and dance a bit
There were negress
Who passed for beautiful mistress’
For they stole their dresses (fancy garments)
In the maids closet
How come ”zou zou”
You stole my pants
No, no, no, no my master
I just took your boots
He gave a supper
For us to feast/entertain
His old music
Gave us a stomach ache
Poor Mister Préval
I think he is sick
He will not give balls anymore
On Hospital Street
Mishé Maziro
Dan sô vyé biro
Li semblé krapo
Dan sô bay dolo
Dansé Kalinda, boudjoum boudjoum
Mishé Carondelet
Gañé dé milé
Li kouri dan parade
Si lari Esplanade
Dansé Kalinda, boudjoum boudjoum
Mishé Delachaise
Volé to mé frèz
Pou vyé milatrès
Ki té sô métrès
Mishé Préval
Li donné gran bal
Li fé nèg payé
Pou soté in pé
Yavé dé négrès
Bèl pasé métrès
Ki volé bèlbèl
Dan larmwa manmzèl
Komem don zouzou
To volé mô kilòt
Non non non mô mèt
Mo just prenn vo bòt
Li donné souppé
Pou nou régalé
Sô vyé lamizik
Donné nou kolik
Pòv mishé Préval
Mo kré li malad
Li va pli donné bal
Dan lari Hôpital
Mishé Maziro
Dan sô vyé biro
Li semblé krapo
Dan sô bay dolo
Dansé Kalinda
boudjoum boudjoum
Mishé Carondelet
Gañé dé milé
Li kouri dan parade
Si lari Esplanade
Dansé Kalinda
boudjoum boudjoum
Mishé Delachaise
Volé to mé frèz
Pou vyé milatrès
Ki té sô métrès
Mishé Préval
Li donné gran bal
Li fé nèg payé
Pou soté in pé
Yavé dé négrès
Bèl pasé métrès
Ki volé bèlbèl
Dan larmwa manmzèl
Komem don zouzou
To volé mô kilòt
Non non non mô mèt
Mo just prenn vo bòt
Li donné souppé
Pou nou régalé
Sô vyé lamizik
Donné nou kolik
Pòv mishé Préval
Mo kré li malad
Li va pli donné bal
Dan lari Hôpital
♦
21
Kom ti koshon
21
Kom ti koshon
Mo, l’aimé toi, chère
Original title / titre
Louisiana French Folk Songs
Irène Thérèse Whitfield
Mo, l’aimé toi, chère
Original title / titre
Louisiana French Folk Songs
Irène Thérèse Whitfield
Mo linmé twa, shær
Twa linmé mò, shær
Mo linmé twa,
Twa linmé mò,
Kom koshon linm labou
Si papa ve, shær
É manman ve, shær
Twa linmé mò, shær
Mo linmé twa
Twa tou pou mò, shær
Mo tou pou twa, shær
Twa tou pou mò
Mo tou pou twa
Kom koshon linm labou
Mo linmé twa, shær
Twa linmé mò, shær
Mo linmé twa,
Twa linmé mò,
Kom koshon linm labou
•
🇬🇧
I love you, dear
You love me, dear
I love you
You love me
Like a pig loves mud
If daddy wants, dear
And mommy wants, dear
You’ll love me, dear
I’ll love you
You all for me, dear
Me all for you, dear
You all for me
Me all for you
Like pig loves mud
I love you, dear
You love me, dear
I love you
You love me
Like a pig loves mud
Mo linmé twa, shær
Twa linmé mò, shær
Mo linmé twa,
Twa linmé mò,
Kom koshon linm labou
Si papa ve, shær
É manman ve, shær
Twa linmé mò, shær
Mo linmé twa
Twa tou pou mò, shær
Mo tou pou twa, shær
Twa tou pou mò
Mo tou pou twa
Kom koshon linm labou
Mo linmé twa, shær
Twa linmé mò, shær
Mo linmé twa,
Twa linmé mò,
Kom koshon linm labou
•
🇬🇧
I love you, dear
You love me, dear
I love you
You love me
Like a pig loves mud
If daddy wants, dear
And mommy wants, dear
You’ll love me, dear
I’ll love you
You all for me, dear
Me all for you, dear
You all for me
Me all for you
Like pig loves mud
I love you, dear
You love me, dear
I love you
You love me
Like a pig loves mud
♦
22
Si li lé bat
22
Si li lé bat
Deep River of Song
Joe Massie – John A. Lomax, 1934
Deep River of Song
Joe Massie – John A. Lomax, 1934
Joe Massie’s French Creole songs performed ”for his own amusement while running the dummy engine on the Saint John’s Plantation, for the last nineteen years” in St. Martinville, Louisiana, fall into the category of individual performance. Massie’s improvised satirical lines about the presence of John A. Lomax are examples of the tradition of extemporaneous repartee, long a feature of African-American performance.
Deep River of Song, Catch That Train and Testify!
Kings Langley, Rounder Select, 2004
Joe Massie’s French Creole songs performed ”for his own amusement while running the dummy engine on the Saint John’s Plantation, for the last nineteen years” in St. Martinville, Louisiana, fall into the category of individual performance. Massie’s improvised satirical lines about the presence of John A. Lomax are examples of the tradition of extemporaneous repartee, long a feature of African-American performance.
Deep River of Song, Catch
That Train and Testify!
Kings Langley, Rounder Select, 2004
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
Yes, but I will not leave
my home
Ta ta ta …
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
If he wants to fight
if he wants to fight
Ta ta ta…
If he wants to
if he wants to fight
That man looking at me
Look at him, look at him
You don’t believe him
But what you don’t know
If you don’t know him, I do
Ta ta ta…
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
Ta ta ta…
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
Ta ta ta…
If he wants to fight
in the house
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
Listen well to what I’m saying
I’m singing to you all
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
Listen well to what he’s saying
Listen well to what I’m saying
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
Yes, but I will not leave my home
Ta ta ta …
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
If he wants to fight, if he wants to fight
Ta ta ta…
If he wants to, if he wants to fight
That man looking at me
Look at him, look at him
You don’t believe him
But what you don’t know
If you don’t know him, I do
Ta ta ta…
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
Ta ta ta…
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
Ta ta ta…
If he wants to fight in the house
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
Listen well to what I’m saying
I’m singing to you all
If he wants to fight
We’ll have to fight
Listen well to what he’s saying
Listen well to what I’m saying
Si li lé bat, nou gin pou bat
Si li lé bat, si li lé bat
ta ta ta ta…
Si li lé bat, si li lé bat
Lonm là apé gardé mwin
Gardé li, gardé li
To krò pa li ça to pa koné
So to pa koné li, mo, mo koné
ta ta ta
Si li lé bat nou gin pou bat
ta ta ta
Si li lé bat, si li lé bat
ta ta ta
Si li lé bat lamézon
Si li lé bat nou tou gin pou bat
Kouté ça byin ça m’apé di
M’apé shanté zòt
Si li lé bat
Si li lé bat nou gin pou bat
M’apé vini
Kouté ça byin ça, ça l’apé di
Kouté ça m’apé shanté zòt
Si li lé bat, nou gin pou bat
Si li lé bat, si li lé bat
ta ta ta ta…
Si li lé bat, si li lé bat
Lonm là apé gardé mwin
Gardé li, gardé li
To krò pa li ça to pa koné
So to pa koné li, mo, mo koné
ta ta ta
Si li lé bat nou gin pou bat
ta ta ta
Si li lé bat, si li lé bat
ta ta ta
Si li lé bat lamézon
Si li lé bat nou tou gin pou bat
Kouté ça byin ça m’apé di
M’apé shanté zòt
Si li lé bat
Si li lé bat nou gin pou bat
M’apé vini
Kouté ça byin ça, ça l’apé di
Kouté ça m’apé shanté zòt
♦
23
Mokœr Shantœr
23
Mokœr shantœr
Poème
Adrien Rouquette (1813-1887)
Musique
Érik West Millette
Poème
Adrien Rouquette (1813-1887)
Musique
Érik West Millette
The Mocking Sugar
Hidden away in the
Spanish beard
Who is the singer there?
I know it is not
the nightingale.
Listen to his song!
Who is there?
Ah! He who is singing thus,
To one possessing such
a wondrous voice
That all the world would
gladly listen
Until death from hunger would
overtake them in the woods.
That is a bird that may be
called a sorcerer
Listen! Listen to his music!
Listen to him! Listen to him!
He says to me: Kiliklik!
Kiliklik!
Listen! Listen to that
sweet sorcerer!
Listen well to what
he is telling us.
He says to us: Wawa! Wawa!
He says to us: Hibou! Hibou!
Listen during the
tranquil night,
Listen to all that
he is telling us;
Listen as he says:
Whippoorwill!
He is calling: kolin-forou
(all the birds of the forest)
Listen! How he changes
his voice!
He has sung all
the other birds,
As all which have ever sung
in the woods,
As the trees, as the winds,
as the waters.
He is such a grand master,
such a sorcerer,
That all who hear his voice
Are spell-bound
and forgetful.
They would listen,
listen until death.
Now see him waltzing
in the sky!
He is dazed with his own song!
He knows not what he is doing;
He is wild – reeling with joy!
A mocking bird – a mockin bird!
Ah! an evil spirit now is thine!
Thou are drawing out my soul;
But sing to me.
I listen now again
Hidden away in the Spanish beard
Who is the singer there?
I know it is not the nightingale.
Listen to his song! Who is there?
Ah! He who is singing thus,
To one possessing such a wondrous voice
That all the world would gladly listen
Until death from hunger would overtake
them in the woods.
That is a bird that may be called a sorcerer
Listen! Listen to his music!
Listen to him! Listen to him!
He says to me: Kiliklik! Kiliklik!
Listen! Listen to that sweet sorcerer!
Listen well to what he is telling us.
He says to us: Wawa! Wawa!
He says to us: Hibou! Hibou!
Listen during the tranquil night,
Listen to all that he is telling us;
Listen as he says: Whippoorwill!
He is calling: kolin-forou
(all the birds of the forest)
Listen! How he changes his voice!
He has sung all the other birds,
As all which have ever sung in the woods,
As the trees, as the winds, as the waters.
He is such a grand master, such a sorcerer,
That all who hear his voice
Are spell-bound and forgetful.
They would listen, listen until death.
Now see him waltzing in the sky!
He is dazed with his own song!
He knows not what he is doing;
He is wild – reeling with joy!
A mocking bird – a mockin bird!
Ah! an evil spirit now is thine!
Thou are drawing out my soul; –
But sing to me. I listen now again
•
Life of Abbé Rouquette
Mrs. Susan B. Elder, Graham Press, 1913
Kashé dan la barb español
Ki ça ki apé shanté la ?
Mo koné çé pa rosiñol
Kouté sô lavwa ! Ki çilà ?
Ah ! Çilà ki apé shanté,
Çila ki gañé in lavwa
Ki tou moun sré kapab kouté
Jiska yé mouri fin dan bwa.
Çila, çé zozo, ki sorçyé !
Kouté, kouté sô lamisik
Kouti li – kouti li – l’apé
Di nou : ”Kiliklik ! Kiliklik !”
Kouté ! Kouté ! dou sorçyé la
Kouté biyen ça l’apé di nou.
L’apé di nou : ”Wawa ! Wawa !”
L’apé di nou : ”Ibou ! Ibou !”
Kouté pendan lanwit trankil
Kouté sou ça l’apé – di nou
Kouté, l’apé di : ”Whip-pour-wil !”
L’apé pélé : ”Kolin-forou !”
Kouté li ! Shanjé sô lavwa
L’apé shanté kom tou zozo,
Kom tou ça ki shanté dan bwa,
Kom narb, kom diven, kom dolo.
Li, si gran mèt, li si sorçyé ;
Tou çilà yé ki tendé li
Yé resté la, yé tou bliyé
Yé sré kouté jiska mouri.
Gard, li dan syèl apé valsé
Sô lavwa apé renn li sou,
Li pli koné ça l’apé fé !
Li pli koné aryien – li fou !
Ah ! Mokœr ! Ah ! Mokœr shantœr !
Ah ! Ah ! To gañé djab dan kor.
To gañé tro lèspri, mokœr,
Mé, shanté : m’a kouté enkor.
9 mars 1878
Kashé dan la barb español
Ki ça ki apé shanté la ?
Mo koné çé pa rosiñol
Kouté sô lavwa ! Ki çilà ?
Ah ! Çilà ki apé shanté,
Çila ki gañé in lavwa
Ki tou moun sré kapab kouté
Jiska yé mouri fin dan bwa.
Çila, çé zozo, ki sorçyé !
Kouté, kouté sô lamisik
Kouti li – kouti li – l’apé
Di nou : ”Kiliklik ! Kiliklik !”
Kouté ! Kouté ! dou sorçyé la
Kouté biyen ça l’apé di nou.
L’apé di nou : ”Wawa ! Wawa !”
L’apé di nou : ”Ibou ! Ibou !”
Kouté pendan lanwit trankil
Kouté sou ça l’apé – di nou
Kouté, l’apé di : ”Whip-pour-wil !”
L’apé pélé : ”Kolin-forou !”
Kouté li ! Shanjé sô lavwa
L’apé shanté kom tou zozo,
Kom tou ça ki shanté dan bwa,
Kom narb, kom diven, kom dolo.
Li, si gran mèt, li si sorçyé ;
Tou çilà yé ki tendé li
Yé resté la, yé tou bliyé
Yé sré kouté jiska mouri.
Gard, li dan syèl apé valsé
Sô lavwa apé renn li sou,
Li pli koné ça l’apé fé !
Li pli koné aryien – li fou !
Ah ! Mokœr ! Ah ! Mokœr shantœr !
Ah ! Ah ! To gañé djab dan kor.
To gañé tro lèspri, mokœr,
Mé, shanté : m’a kouté enkor.
9 mars 1878
♦
24
Salangadou
24
Salangadou
Street Cries and Creole Songs
of New Orleans
Adelaide Van Wey (1956)
Creole Songs of the Deep South
Henri Wehrmann
Street Cries and Creole Songs of New Orleans
Adelaide Van Wey (1956)
Creole Songs of the Deep South
Henri Wehrmann
Salangadou
Salangadou
Kouté piti fiy la-yé
•
🇬🇧
Salangadoo
Salangadoo
Listen little girls
Salangadou
Salangadou
Kouté piti fiy la-yé
•
🇬🇧
Salangadoo
Salangadoo
Listen little girls
♦
25
Dansé Marie Laveau
25
Dansé Marie Laveau
Words and music / Paroles et musique
Benoît LeBlanc
Words and music / Paroles et musique
Benoît LeBlanc
This song, partly improvised here and there with fragments borrowed from old folk songs, is sung in a mixture of French, English, Kouri-Vini, Haitian Creole,
Languages from West Africa and scat. Toward the end of the song singer Sara Rénélik sings an excerpt of a poem on Marie Laveau by American poet of Haitian
origin, Patrick Sylvain.
🇫🇷 Cette chanson – en partie improvisée et faite d’emprunts au folklore – propose un mélange de français, d’anglais, de kouri-vini, de créole haïtien, de langues de l’Afrique occidentale et de scat. À la fin Sara Rénélik chante un extrait d’un poème sur Marie Laveau par le poète américain d’origine haïtienne Patrick Sylvain.
•
This song, partly improvised here and there with fragments borrowed from old folk songs, is sung in a mixture of French, English, Kouri-Vini, Haitian Creole, Languages from West Africa and scat. Toward the end of the song singer Sara Rénélik sings an excerpt of a poem on Marie Laveau by American poet of Haitian origin, Patrick Sylvain.
🇫🇷 Cette chanson – en partie improvisée et faite d’emprunts au folklore – propose un mélange de français, d’anglais, de kouri-vini, de créole haïtien, de langues de l’Afrique occidentale et de scat. À la fin Sara Rénélik chante un extrait d’un poème sur Marie Laveau par le poète américain d’origine haïtienne Patrick Sylvain.
•
The Negroes firmly believed in Hoodous, voodoo as they called it. I never believed in it and never understood much of it, although there were a large number of followers in New Orleans. Anna, my old nurse, often spoke to me about it.
One day, as I stood in the doorway of our house on rue Bourbon, I saw Anna make a deep bow to a tall, strong-looking black woman who was passing. She then told me that it was Marie Laveau, the queen of voodoo.
🇫🇷 Les nègres croyaient fermement au vaudou ”Hoodous” comme ils l’appelaient. Je n’y ai jamais cru et n’y ai jamais compris grand-chose, bien qu’il y eut un grand nombre d’adeptes à La Nouvelle-Orléans. Anna, ma vieille nourrice, m’en parlait souvent.
Un jour, alors que je me tenais sur le seuil de notre maison de la rue Bourbon, je vis Anna faire une profonde révérence à une grande noire d’allure forte qui passait. Elle me dit ensuite que c’était Marie Laveau, la reine des vaudous.
Mémoires de la Vieille Plantation familiale
The Zoë Company, inc., 2007, p. 68
Laura Locoul Gore
•
The Negroes firmly believed in Hoodous, voodoo as they called it. I never believed in it and never understood much of it, although there were a large number of followers in New Orleans. Anna, my old nurse, often spoke to me about it.
One day, as I stood in the doorway of our house on rue Bourbon, I saw Anna make a deep bow to a tall, strong-looking black woman who was passing. She then told me that it was Marie Laveau, the queen of voodoo.
🇫🇷 Les nègres croyaient fermement au vaudou ”Hoodous” comme ils l’appelaient. Je n’y ai jamais cru et n’y ai jamais compris grand-chose, bien qu’il y eut un grand nombre d’adeptes à La Nouvelle-Orléans. Anna, ma vieille nourrice, m’en parlait souvent.
Un jour, alors que je me tenais sur le seuil de notre maison de la rue Bourbon, je vis Anna faire une profonde révérence à une grande noire d’allure forte qui passait. Elle me dit ensuite que c’était Marie Laveau, la reine des vaudous.
Mémoires de la Vieille Plantation familiale
The Zoë Company, inc., 2007, p. 68
Laura Locoul Gore
•
Marie Laveau was a mixture of Negro, Indian and white bloods. She is described as a tall, statuesque woman with curling black hair, ”good” features, dark skin that had a distinctly reddish cast, and fierce black eyes. Both she and Jacques Paris (her husband) were free people of color.
🇫🇷 Marie Laveau était un mélange de sangs noirs, indiens et blancs. Elle est décrite comme une grande femme sculpturale avec des cheveux noirs bouclés, de « bons » traits, une peau foncée qui avait une teinte nettement rougeâtre et des yeux noirs féroces. Elle et Jacques Paris (son mari) étaient des gens de couleur libres.
Voodoo in New Orleans (1946)
Pelican Publishing Company, pp. 52, 53
Robert Tallant
•
Marie Laveau was a mixture of Negro, Indian and white bloods. She is described as a tall, statuesque woman with curling black hair, ”good” features, dark skin that had a distinctly reddish cast, and fierce black eyes. Both she and Jacques Paris (her husband) were free people of color.
🇫🇷 Marie Laveau était un mélange de sangs noirs, indiens et blancs. Elle est décrite comme une grande femme sculpturale avec des cheveux noirs bouclés, de « bons » traits, une peau foncée qui avait une teinte nettement rougeâtre et des yeux noirs féroces. Elle et Jacques Paris (son mari) étaient des gens de couleur libres.
Voodoo in New Orleans (1946)
Pelican Publishing Company, pp. 52, 53
Robert Tallant
•
Sanité Dédé was not the only priestess at the time. But she was the most famous. However, towards the end of the 1820s, she was supplanted by the beautiful Marie Laveau, a quadroon born in New Orleans in 1794 who would dominate Vodouism for nearly forty years.
A pious Catholic, holy water flowed in her house almost as much as the tafia (unaged rum). Her gifts as a clairvoyant were very much appreciated and her amulets very famous. She said she got her divinatory power from the snake, an animal which, according to witnesses, “enters her room and talks to her”. She was also a formidable businesswoman and, in a few years, she acquired a very comfortable fortune.
🇫🇷 Sanité Dédé n’était pas la seule prêtresse du moment. Mais elle était la plus célèbre. Toutefois, vers la fin des années 1820, elle fut supplantée par la belle Marie Laveau, une quarteronne née à La Nouvelle-Orléans en 1794 qui allait dominer le voudouisme pendant près de quarante ans.
Pieuse catholique, l’eau bénite coulait chez elle presque autant que le tafia (rhum non vieilli). Ses dons de voyante étaient très appréciés et ses gris-gris très réputés. Elle disait tenir son pouvoir divinatoire du serpent, animal qui, selon des témoins ”entre dans sa chambre et lui parle”. Elle était aussi une femme d’affaires redoutable et, en quelques années, elle acquit une fortune très confortable.
La vie quotidienne en Louisiane 1815-1830
Hachette, 1978
Liliane Crété
Sanité Dédé was not the only priestess at the time. But she was the most famous. However, towards the end of the 1820s, she was supplanted by the beautiful Marie Laveau, a quadroon born in New Orleans in 1794 who would dominate Vodouism for nearly forty years.
A pious Catholic, holy water flowed in her house almost as much as the tafia (unaged rum). Her gifts as a clairvoyant were very much appreciated and her amulets very famous. She said she got her divinatory power from the snake, an animal which, according to witnesses, “enters her room and talks to her”. She was also a formidable businesswoman and, in a few years, she acquired a very comfortable fortune.
🇫🇷 Sanité Dédé n’était pas la seule prêtresse du moment. Mais elle était la plus célèbre. Toutefois, vers la fin des années 1820, elle fut supplantée par la belle Marie Laveau, une quarteronne née à La Nouvelle-Orléans en 1794 qui allait dominer le voudouisme pendant près de quarante ans.
Pieuse catholique, l’eau bénite coulait chez elle presque autant que le tafia (rhum non vieilli). Ses dons de voyante étaient très appréciés et ses gris-gris très réputés. Elle disait tenir son pouvoir divinatoire du serpent, animal qui, selon des témoins ”entre dans sa chambre et lui parle”. Elle était aussi une femme d’affaires redoutable et, en quelques années, elle acquit une fortune très confortable.
La vie quotidienne en Louisiane 1815-1830
Hachette, 1978
Liliane Crété
♦
26
Regrets d’une vieille Mulâtresse
26
Regrets d’une vieille Mulâtresse
Poème
Camille Thierry (1814-1875)
Musique
Sur l’air de Suzon sortant de son
village de Laflèche (XlXe siècle)
•
Poème
Camille Thierry (1814-1875)
Musique
Sur l’air de Suzon sortant de son
village de Laflèche (XlXe siècle)
•
La chanson a été composée selon la structure de
Qu’il va lentement le navire
(véritable titre : Le retour à la patrie)
du poète Pierre-Jean de Béranger
(1780-1857)
🇬🇧 The song was based on the song/poem
Le retour dans la patrie,
by French poet Pierre-Jean de Béranger
(1780-1857)
La chanson a été composée selon la structure de
Qu’il va lentement le navire
(véritable titre : Le retour à la patrie)
du poète Pierre-Jean de Béranger
(1780-1857)
🇬🇧 The song was based on the song/poem
Le retour dans la patrie,
by French poet Pierre-Jean de Béranger
(1780-1857)
An old Mulatress’s Laments; or,
Sanité Fouéron’ Despair
An old Mulatress’s Laments; or, Sanité Fouéron’ Despair
Listen! Way back,
Santo Domingo,
Black girls, them be
like jewels! Just so!
White men, them pester us,
them cling, oh!
Follow us everywhere we go .
Them live live with us,
No fight, no fuss.
Love us like goddesses,
woship, embrace!
Them never cheap,
Them pockets, deep.
Give what men want, them
give us run of place!…
Time change, us poor.
Now, you know what?
Before, them treat us fine,
each one…
Soon, white brat laugh
at us, make fun,
Go call us trash and slut!
Listen! Way back, Santo Domingo,
Black girls, them be like jewels! Just so!
White men, them pester us, them cling, oh!
Follow us everywhere we go .
Them live live with us,
No fight, no fuss.
Love us like goddesses, woship, embrace!
Them never cheap,
Them pockets, deep.
Give what men want, them give us run of place!…
Time change, us poor. Now, you know what?
Before, them treat us fine, each one…
Soon, white brat laugh at us, make fun,
Go call us trash and slut!
•
Translation
Norman R. Shapiro
Miré ! Quand mon té Saint-Domingue
Négresse même té bijoux :
Blancs layo té semblé seringue,
Yo té collé derrière à nous
Dans yon ménage
Jamain tapage,
L’amour yon blanc, c’était l’adoration !
Yo pas té chiches,
Yo té bien riches,
Yon bon bounda, té vaut yon bitation !
Tem-là changé, nous sur la paille
Nous que z’habitants té fêté…
Avant longtemps yon blancs pété
Va hélé nous canaille!!!
Miré ! Kan mo té Sin Doming
Négrès mèmm té bijou
Blan layo té semblé sering
Yo té kolé dèriyè a nou
Dan yon ménaj
Jamé tapaj
Lamou yon blan çé té ladorasyon !
Yo pa té shish
Yo té byin rish
Yon bon bounda, té vo yon bitasyon
Tem-là changé, nou sur la pay
Nou ke zabiten té fèté
Va hélé nou kanay !!!
Miré ! Quand mon té
Saint-Domingue
Négresse même té bijoux :
Blancs layo té
semblé seringue,
Yo té collé derrière à nous
Dans yon ménage
Jamain tapage,
L’amour yon blanc,
c’était l’adoration !
Yo pas té chiches,
Yo té bien riches,
Yon bon bounda, té vaut
yon bitation !
Tem-là changé, nous sur
la paille
Nous que z’habitants
té fêté…
Avant longtemps yon
blancs pété
Va hélé nous canaille!!!
Miré ! Kan mo té Sin Doming
Négrès mèmm té bijou
Blan layo té semblé sering
Yo té kolé dèriyè a nou
Dan yon ménaj
Jamé tapaj
Lamou yon blan çé té
ladorasyon !
Yo pa té shish
Yo té byin rish
Yon bon bounda, té vo
yon bitasyon
Tem-là changé, nou sur la pay
Nou ke zabiten té fèté
Va hélé nou kanay !!!
♦
27
La misère d’Ulysses Picou
27
La misère d’Ulysses Picou
Mister Jelly Roll
Alan Lomax, Cultural Equity (1949)
Mister Jelly Roll
Alan Lomax, Cultural Equity (1949)
The little man, who shambled in and edged across the room, bore the same resemblance to sturdy old Alphonse (Picou) as a withered orange peel does to an orange. He was a bag of stooped, toothless, withered, and debauched old bones, dressed in rags and greasy shoes at that. This was Alphonse’s ”little brother” Ulysses, composer of Creole songs, junkman by trade, and anxious to sing.
🇫🇷 Le petit homme qui entra dans la pièce en traînant les pieds, ressemblait au vieil Alphonse (Picou) comme une écorce d’orange ressemble à une orange fraîche. Édenté, ratatiné, c’était un sac de vieux os. Il était vêtu de haillons, chaussé de souliers sales et coiffé d’un chapeau graisseux. C’était le ”petit frère” d’Alphonse : Ulysses, compositeur de chansons créoles, chiffonnier de son état, et fort désireux de chanter.
Mister Jelly Roll
Alan Lomax
( traduction : Henri Parisot )
•
The little man, who shambled in and edged across the room, bore the same resemblance to sturdy old Alphonse (Picou) as a withered orange peel does to an orange. He was a bag of stooped, toothless, withered, and debauched old bones, dressed in rags and greasy shoes at that. This was Alphonse’s ”little brother” Ulysses, composer of Creole songs, junkman by trade, and anxious to sing.
🇫🇷 Le petit homme qui entra dans la pièce en traînant les pieds, ressemblait au vieil Alphonse (Picou) comme une écorce d’orange ressemble à une orange fraîche. Édenté, ratatiné, c’était un sac de vieux os. Il était vêtu de haillons, chaussé de souliers sales et coiffé d’un chapeau graisseux. C’était le ”petit frère” d’Alphonse : Ulysses, compositeur de chansons créoles, chiffonnier de son état, et fort désireux de chanter.
Mister Jelly Roll
Alan Lomax
( traduction : Henri Parisot )
•
🇫🇷 Notre nouvelle maison était sise rue Sainte-Anne, entre Marais et Villeré. Notre propriétaire se nommait M. J. Joubert, un petit homme fluet dont la réputation passait pour être celle d’un grigou, très dur avec ses locataires.
Our new house was located rue Sainte-Anne, between Marais and Villeré. Our landlord was called Mr. J. Joubert, a small, slender man whose reputation was said to be that of a grigou, very harsh with his tenants.
Ma Lousiane, Au temps de la Guerre de Sécession,
Céline Frémaux-Garcia, Perrin, 1990, p. 43
🇫🇷 Notre nouvelle maison était sise rue Sainte-Anne, entre Marais et Villeré. Notre propriétaire se nommait M. J. Joubert, un petit homme fluet dont la réputation passait pour être celle d’un grigou, très dur avec ses locataires.
Our new house was located rue Sainte-Anne, between Marais and Villeré. Our landlord was called Mr. J. Joubert, a small, slender man whose reputation was said to be that of a grigou, very harsh with his tenants.
Ma Lousiane, Au temps de la Guerre de Sécession,
Céline Frémaux-Garcia, Perrin, 1990, p. 43
He put a little notice
On the chimney
When I looked at the notice
It said I had to move out
I didn’t like that
Talking about depression
You don’t know what it is
When misery takes hold
of the pots
All the pots are
turned upside down
Misery, misery
It’s something to get rid of
Misery, misery
It’s something to get rid of
I walk into the house
There was no coffee
For tomorrow morning
dear friend
When we get up
Take the grains of the coffee
Dry them in the sun
If there is no sugar
Serve salt
Misery, misery
You don’t know what it is
Even my dog, even my cat
Everybody knows misery
When I was lying down
Trying to get my rest
I heard a knock
And the old lady looks at me
And says: I’m going to answer
It was Joubert (the landlord)
I tell him: I have no job
Come back next week
Misery, misery
It’s something to get rid of
When misery takes hold
of the pots
All the pots are turned
upside down
I have no money at all
To eat
Oh misery, misery
You don’t know what it is
He put a little notice
On the chimney
When I looked at the notice
It said I had to move out
I didn’t like that
Talking about depression
You don’t know what it is
When misery takes hold of the pots
All the pots are turned upside down
Misery, misery
It’s something to get rid of
Misery, misery
It’s something to get rid of
I walk into the house
There was no coffee
For tomorrow morning dear friend
When we get up
Take the grains of the coffee
Dry them in the sun
If there is no sugar
Serve salt
Misery, misery
You don’t know what it is
Even my dog, even my cat
Everybody knows misery
When I was lying down
Trying to get my rest
I heard a knock
And the old lady looks at me
And says: I’m going to answer
It was Joubert (the landlord)
I tell him: I have no job
Come back next week
Misery, misery
It’s something to get rid of
When misery takes hold of the pots
All the pots are turned upside down
I have no money at all
To eat
Oh misery, misery
You don’t know what it is
Li mété ti notice-la
Dési la shminé
Kan mo gardé ti notice-la
Çété pou déménajé
Mo pa linmé ça
Apé parlé pou depression
Vou pa koné ça ça yê
Kan la mizè prenn shodyè-yé
Shodyè-yé kapoté
Lamizè, lamizè
Çé kichoj kité-li
Lamizè, lamizè
Cé kichoj kité-li
Mo rentré dan kabann
Y avé pa kafé
Pou démin matin shær ami
Kan n’ va lévé
Prenn laman kafé
Shésé-li dan soléy
S’ina pa du suk shær ami
Sèrvi du sèl
Lamizè, lamizè
Vou pa koné ça ça yê
Jiska mô shyin, jiska mô sha
Tou moun gin lamizè
Kan t’apé lonjé
Apé seyé reposé
Mo tendé frapé
É la vyé gardé mwin
É di : mo alé répon
C’été (Gougotte) Joubert
Mo di pa apé travay
Vini la smènn proshèn
Lamizè, lamizè
Cé kichoj kité-li
Kan lamizè pren shodyè-yé
Shodyè kapoté
Mo pa d’arjen du tou
Pou mo manjé
Oh lamizè, lamizè
Vou pa koné ça ça yê
Li mété ti notice-la
Dési la shminé
Kan mo gardé ti notice-la
Çété pou déménajé
Mo pa linmé ça
Apé parlé pou depression
Vou pa koné ça ça yê
Kan la mizè prenn shodyè-yé
Shodyè-yé kapoté
Lamizè, lamizè
Çé kichoj kité-li
Lamizè, lamizè
Cé kichoj kité-li
Mo rentré dan kabann
Y avé pa kafé
Pou démin matin shær ami
Kan n’ va lévé
Prenn laman kafé
Shésé-li dan soléy
S’ina pa du suk shær ami
Sèrvi du sèl
Lamizè, lamizè
Vou pa koné ça ça yê
Jiska mô shyin, jiska mô sha
Tou moun gin lamizè
Kan t’apé lonjé
Apé seyé reposé
Mo tendé frapé
É la vyé gardé mwin
É di : mo alé répon
C’été (Gougotte) Joubert
Mo di pa apé travay
Vini la smènn proshèn
Lamizè, lamizè
Cé kichoj kité-li
Kan lamizè pren shodyè-yé
Shodyè kapoté
Mo pa d’arjen du tou
Pou mo manjé
Oh lamizè, lamizè
Vou pa koné ça ça yê
♦