Lyr Req/Add: Re Gilardin

Subject: Re Gilardin [sp?]
From: Ely
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 12:55 PM

This is on one of the Gordon Bok recordings but it's in Italian (I think). I can get snippets of it with my poor Spanish, but not enough. Does anyone know where I might find the lyrics (English not necessary, I can figure it out later).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Re Gilardin [sp?]
From: Margaret V
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 12:31 AM

Ely, I don't know the Gordon Bok version but I do have a beautiful recording of it by the apparently prolific Italian group La Ciapa Rusa. It's on an anthology of Italian Traditional Song edited by Luisa Del Giudice, and the booklet that accompanies the anthology has the words in Italian and the English translation as well. I'm a little too sleepy right now to type them all in, but will be glad to do so in a day or two if you like. Cheers!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Re Gilardin [sp?]
From: Ely
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 02:58 PM

Thanks! It's got such a beautiful tune, I would love to know what they're actually saying, but I'm not good at transcribing from recordings.

Subject: ADD: Re Gilardin
From: Margaret V
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 10:01 PM

Hi, Ely, here we go. I'm sorry if the format comes out strangely but I don't know how to make line breaks. Also, the second line of each stanza repeats as the third line in all but one stanza; I won't type the repeat.

Re Gilardin

Re Gilardin lu 'l va a la guera
lu 'l va a guera a tirar di spada; O quand 'l e stai mita la strada

Re Gilardin 'l e restai ferito; Re Gilardin ritorna 'ndietro
dalla sua mamma vo 'nda morire; O tun, tun, tun pica a la porta

o mamma mia, che mi son morto; O pica pian caro 'l mio figlio
vhe la to dona 'l g'a 'n picul fante; Ca sia 'n fio ca 'l sia una fiola

che sensa padre deve restare; O si e 'n fio mandel'a scola
si l'e un fiola mandela monica; O madona, la mia madona

cosa vol dire ch'i sonan tanto?; O nuretta, la mia nuretta
j g'fan 'legria al tuo fante; O madona, la mia madona

casa vol dire ca 'l gh'e tanti chiari?; O nuretta, la mia nuretta

o j'en i doni ch'j va int la stala; O madona, la mia madona
cosa vol dire ch'j cantan tanto; O nuretta, la mia nuretta

j g'fan 'legria ai soldati; O madona, la mia madona
disem che giorno o da alsarmi?; Alsati anco, alsati domani

alsati 'n po' quando ti pare; O madona, la mia madona
disem che moda o da vestirmi; Vestati di rosso, vestati di nero

ma le brunette stanno piu bene; O quand l'e stai 'nt l'us de la chiesa
d'un girighello si l'a incontrato: bundi, bungiur an voi, vedovella;

O no no no, che non son vedovella
g'o 'l fante 'n cuna e 'l marito in guerra; O si si si, che vui sei vedovella

vostro mari l'e trei di che 'l fa terra; O tera o tera aprati 'n quatro
volio vedera il mio cuor reale; La tua boca la sa di rose
'nvece la mia la sa di terra.

(I hope this is comprehensible; obviously I don't know how to make accent marks either. . .)

Here are Luisa's comments on the song:

A young king is wounded in war and returns home to die. He is greeted by his mother who attempts to conceal his moribund state from his young wife who is still in bed, recovering from the birth of their infant. The madona foils the young woman's questions by giving plausible explanations for the singing, the music, the candles--all of which are actually accompanying the king's funeral. The final encounter of the wife with the coffin of her dead husband represents the moment of highest tragedy and leads to one of the few revenant (ghost) scenes between lovers in Italian balladry: the husband speaks to the wife, telling her that she is in the land of the living while he has returned to the earth.

She also says the ballad is known all over Europe by various names.

But I'm with you; it's the great beauty of the tune that makes the song so compelling to me.

Enjoy! Margaret

Subject: ADD: Gilardin
From: GUEST,Jimmy
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 01:51 AM

On their CD "Only Human", Cindy Kallet, Ellen Epstein and Michael Cicone do a wonderful version of this song. They attribute their source to Gordon Bok introducing them to a recording by the Italian group La Ciapa Rusa. The dialect is Piemontese and the translation by Imero Gobbato and Joseph Giandalone. Margaret V's version has more lyrics than this version. Perhaps someone can fill in the blanks.

GILARDIN

Re Gilardin lu 'l va a la guera (King Gilardin goes to war)
Lu 'l va a guera a tirar di spada. (He goes to war with his sword)

O quand 'l e stai mita la strada (Then in the middle of it all)
Re Gilardin 'l e restai ferito. (King Gilardin is wounded)

Re Gilardin ritorna 'ndietro (King Gilardin returns back the way he came)
Dalla sua mamma vo 'nda morire. (To his mother he wants to go to die)

O tun, tun, tun pica a la porta (Knock, knock, knock, he knocks at the door)
O mamma mia, che mi son morto. (Oh, my mother, I am dead)

O pica pian caro 'l mio figlio (oh, knock softly, my dear son)
Che la to dona 'l g'a 'n picul fante. (For your wife is giving birth to a child)

Ca sia 'n fio ca 'l sia una fiola (??)
Che sensa padre deve restare. (??)

O si e 'n fio mandel'a scola (??)
Si l'e un fiola mandela monica.(??)

O madona, la mia madona (Oh Mother-in-law, mother-in-law)
Cosa vol dire ch'i sonan tanto?. (Why are they playing the bells so much)

O nuretta, la mia nuretta (Oh daughter-in-law, my little daughter-in-law)
J g'fan 'legria al tuo fante. (They are celebrating your child)

O madona, la mia madona (Oh Mother-in-law, mother-in-law)
Cosa vol dire ca 'l gh'e tanti chiari?. (??)

O nuretta, la mia nuretta (Oh daughter-in-law, my little daughter-in-law)
O j'en i doni ch'j va int la stala. (??)

O madona, la mia madona (Oh Mother-in-law, mother-in-law)
Cosa vol dire ch'j cantan tanto. (Why are they singing so much)

O nuretta, la mia nuretta (Oh daughter-in-law, my little daughter-in-law)
J g'fan 'legria ai soldati. (They are giving cheer to the soldiers)

O madona, la mia madona (Oh Mother-in-law, mother-in-law)
Disem che giorno o da alsarmi?. (??)
Alsati 'n po' quando ti pare. (??)

O madona, la mia madona (Oh Mother-in-law, mother-in-law)
Disem che moda o da vestirme. (Tell me in what way I should dress myself)

Vestati di rosso, vestati di nero (Dress yourself in red, dress yourself in black)
Ma le brunette stanno piu bene. (But the darker color would be more appropriate)

O quand l'e stai 'nt l'us de la chiesa (Oh, when she was in the entrance way of the church)
D'un girighello si l'a incontrato. (She meets an alter-boy who says)
Bundi, bungiur an vui, vedovella. (Good morning, young widow)

O no no no, che non son vedovella (Oh, no, no, no, I am not a widow)
G'o 'l fante 'n cuna e 'l marito in guerra. (I have a child in the cradle and my husband off to war)

O si si si, che vui sei vedovella (Oh, yes, yes, yes, but you are a widow)
Vostro mari l'e trei di che 'l fa terra. (Your husband is three days in the ground)

O tera o tera aprati 'n quatro (Oh earth, earth, open up for me)
Volio vedera il mio cuor reale. (I want to see my true (or regal) heart)

La tua boca la sa di rose (Your mouth, it tastes of roses)
'Nvece la mia la sa di terra. (But mine tastes of earth)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Re Gilardin [sp?]
From: Margaret V
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 12:57 AM

I can fill in the blanks:

Ca sia 'n fio ca 'l sia una fiola/che sensa padre deve restare = Be it a son, be it a daughter, it will be without a father.
O si e 'n fio mandel'a scola/si l'e un fiola mandela monica = Oh if it is a son send him to school, if it is a daughter make her a nun.
Cosa vol dire ca 'l gh'e tanti chiari? = Why are there so many candles?
O j'en i doni ch'j va int la stala = It is the women who are going into the stable.
Disem che giorno o da alsarmi? = On which day shall I rise?
Alsati anco, alsati domani/alsati 'n po' quando ti pare = Rise today, rise tomorrow, rise when you please.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Re Gilardin [sp?]
From: Ely
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 03:00 PM

Thank all of you so much! I'm absolutely thrilled to finally have the lyrics (in both languages, no less).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Re Gilardin
From: GUEST,Cattia Salto
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 09:46 AM

The Alexandrian group Ciapa Rusa (founders Maurizio Martinotti and Beppe Greppi) picked up on the field-among the many ethnographic research at the elderly singers and the musicians of the musical tradition of the four provinces, the popular song Re Gilardin. (More precisely in Alta Val Borbera -area belonging from the point of view of the musical tradition of the Four Provinces, a soil and mountainous area straddling four provinces of Al, Ge, Pv and Pc.)
The ballad of the early Middle Ages, had already been collected and published in different versions by Costantino Nigra in his "Folk songs of Piedmont"

The Ciapa Rusa in 1982 makes it a first arrangement.
In this first version is set up a sort of dramatic representation of the model companies of strolling players of the past with the narration (Alberto Cesa) King (Maurizio Martinotti), the mother, the widow, was an altar boy at the church. We can imagine all the more tragic than comic skit - turn in horror at Bernie ripping one last kiss to his widow !!
In 1997 the group under the name Tendachent (remain Maurizio Martinotti - gurdy and song, Bruno Raiteri -violino and violations and Devis Longo - singing, keyboards and wind instruments) again maintains ballad in the first album of the new formation "Ori pari" in 2000, with a more progressive sound (now the group is called progressive folk-rock north-Italian)
song and lyrics http://terreceltiche.altervista.org/morte-occultata-re-gilardin/