Lyr Req: La Nobia (Occitan song)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: La Nobia (Occitan song)
From: Monique
Date: 13 Dec 10 - 01:36 AM

The lyrics to "La nòvia" are

La nòvia a nau brilhants suu cap
La nòvia a nau brilhants suu cap
Nau brilhants suu cap
L'anèth au dit
Nau brilhants suu cap
L'anèth au dit...

La nòvia a uèit brilhants suu cap ... then... sèt... shèis... cinc... tres... dus... the last one being La nòvia a un brilhant suu cap...

You can also find it as "La nòvia qu'a nau brilhants suu cap..." because in the Gascon dialect of Occitan, they use an expletive "que" (qu' before a vowel) before the verb in the affirmative.

About the song missing "four", it's because it's "quate" so 2 syllables then it wouldn't match the tune.

We have it (lyrics, English translation, song sung, "boha" rendition, midi and sheet music) on Mama Lisa's World, you can also find a "boha" rendition on YouTube. "Boha" is the name of the local bagpipe, the word comes from the verb "bohar" which means "to blow" (like the wind or into an instrument only...)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: La Nobia (Occitan song)
From: Mick Tems
Date: 27 Jul 07 - 09:24 PM

Perlinpinpin played here a good few years ago on a whistle-stop tour. What stunning, fine musicians - we met their accordeon diatonique player Patrick when I was a judge at the the melodeon championships at Santa Maria Nuova, close to Italy's east coast, and he was a booked guest. Of course, Llantrisant Folk Club couldn't possibly afford to bring Perlinpinpin to this country - but Llanelli Council could! Perlinpinpin came from Agen, in Gasconha (Gascony) and the council was twinned with Agen. Perlinpinpin were booked to play at the twinning bunfight, so we got on the phone to Patrick. At the club, Perlinpinpin played their socks off - wonderful, just wonderful.

Does Gasconha Plus include any members of Perlinpinpin?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: La Nobia (Occitan song)
From: Scotus
Date: 27 Jul 07 - 12:34 PM

How wonderful to see a ref to Occitan music on Mudcat! My group 'Heritage' toured the area around Agen a number of times in the 1980s and made a number of new friends in the process. Most notably Dominique LaLaurie and the members of her singing group 'Au Son de Votz' as well as another group called 'Perlinpinpin'.

Our final CD had Dominique as a guest for a set of Occitan Schottishes as well as a Scots translation of an Occitan song called 'Parlo Mi' (tell tae me).

I love the music and songs of Occitani!

Jack

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: La Nobia (Occitan song)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 Jul 07 - 08:03 PM

Claudi Marti is a well-known singer of Occitan songs; "el jinete" is one of his cds. Hear samples- http://perso.orange.fr/christian.esteve/marti.htm
Marti

Several songs, lyrics in both Occitan and French, included at this site, with brief clips.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: La Nobia (Occitan song)
From: Seán Báite
Date: 26 Jul 07 - 05:52 PM

Becca,

Here's some order of answer to your question from a couple of friends of mine, Claire and Michel, who play in a group called Octet (mostly French / Occitan trad but ocassionally a bit of Irish too).
First in French :

On retrouvé les paroles et la musique de la novia (en occitan, le v se prononce b).:cela signifie:"la mariée a neuf brillants sur la tête, et l'anneau au doigt"
c'est un chant de 9, c'est à dire qu'on reprend ensuite: la novia a uèit (huit)brillants......puis sèt(sept), sièis (six), cinc (cinq), on saute le 4 généralement ( j'ignore pourquoi);
puis tres, (trois), dus (deux), un ..Ce chant se trouve sur le cd de Gascogne Plus.

and the translation :

We found the words and the music of La Novia (in Occitan the 'v' is pronounced as a 'b') : the meaning is: "the bride has 9 gems about her head, and the ring on her finger"
It's a song by 9, meaning that you continue thus : la novia a uèit (eight)brillants......then sèt(seven), sièis (six), cinc (five), the 4 is skipped usually ( I don't know why ) then
tres, (three), dus (two), un.. This song is included on the current CD of Gasconha Plus

(Gasconha Plus are a group based around here (Agen) made up of a few well established and well respected Occitan music figures)

In looking for Occitan stuff on the net, there's very little out there, well according to Google anyway. The following Wikipedia entry might lead you on to useful stuff :

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanson_traditionnelle_en_occitan

I also found the below contact details :

Conservatoire Occitan - Centre des musiques et danses traditionnelles Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées
1, rue Jacques-Darré - B.P. 3011

31024 Toulouse cedex 3

Tél. : [phone]

Responsable phonothèque : Bénédicte Bonnemason

Courriel : [e-mail]

http://www.conservatoire-occitan.org/

I tried to find sites giving lyrics in Occitan as you would for Irish songs for ex. but there's very little out there. As usual with the French, the above institutions tend to glorify the Academic / highbrow rather than actual popular culture. This is also evident in another type of event they organise betimes around here 'La Dictée' (a dictation of a text in Occitan for the purposes of catching out people on their spelling / grammatical mistakes). A sure fire way to kill even a living language - never mind one that's on a life support machine!
Anyway, enough of my moaning - you might also be interested in this pair :
http://www.fabulous-trobadors.com/
Modern day Occitan Troubadours from Toulouse - nothing dictée-torial about them at all.
Hope you find the answer to your question in my reply above.

all the best SB

Subject: RE: Words for Occitan song La Nobia
From: Seán Báite
Date: 16 Jul 07 - 01:07 AM

Becca,

don't know it myself but I'll e-mail a couple of occitan heads around these parts (Agen) to see if i can get the lyrics and at least a version in good Jacobin French...

seán b

Subject: La Novia Occitan song - words please!
From: GUEST,Becca
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 05:52 AM

I'm just reposting this message because I've managed to work out that the song I'm looking for the words for is actually titled "La Novia" (not La Nobia as written in my previous post).

If anyone has got a set of words to this Occitan song, and/or guidance to the correct pronunciation, I'd be very grateful.

Someone has told me that a band called Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. did a version of this song on their LP La Novia. Anyone out there got a version of this they could share with me?

Many thanks for any help,

Becca Flintham

Subject: Words for Occitan song La Nobia
From: GUEST,Becca
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 04:01 AM

Hi, all.

I'm trying to track down the words for an Occitan song which we learned at a workshop 3 or 4 years ago.

The song is a wedding song I think, or is about a bride anyway. As far as I can recall, the words are approximately as follows:

La nobia nau brillant su cap
La nobia nau brillant su cap
Nau brillant su cap
La nez au dit
Nau brillant su cap
La nez au dit


I think each verse is similar, just the number changes (the song counts down - "nau" I think means nine, so the next verse is eight, the next one seven and so on).

I can't remember the proper translation, but I think it was along the lines of "The bride [with] a veil on her head, a ring on her finger" or something like that. It's confusing because the Occitan words look like mainstream French but I don't think they have the same meanings.

If anyone could point me in the direction of the correct words and/or translation I'd be very grateful!

Many thanks,

from Becca