Chanson de la mer

The following commentary to the above image was written by the Occitan musician Miquèu Montanaro originally in French, but on its concert recording in Szeged, accompanied by the Hungarian Ghymes from Slovakia and the Serbian Vujicsics from Hungary, the guest singers – Nena Venetsanou, Pedro Aledo, Renat Sette, Hayet Ayad, Samia Benchikh, Sara Alexander – as well as Montanaro himself sang each of its strophes in their own mother tongues, in Hebrew, Kabyle, Spanish, Occitan, Turkish and Arabic. Except for the Kabyle, which exceeds our capacities, we translate them now for the first time to English. Thanks to Bumbó for the French text and to Gyuri for the Hebrew transcription.



Vent d’Est (Ghymes – Vujicsics – Miquèu Montanaro): Chanson de la mer (Song on the sea). From the CD Ballade pour une mer qui chante III (1997).
Un peu d’eau, de vent, de sable
Quelques peuples s’y baignant
Soleil, lumière, ombres et pierres
mêlées d’odeurs de goûts troublants.
A few water, wind, sand
some people bathing
sun, light and shadow, stones
mixed with troubling odors
הערב כאן לשם פרידה
לים הזה אומר תודה
על שסחף אותנו עד הלום
אתכם לשיר שירת שלום

Ha-erev kan le-shem preda
La-yam ha-ze omar toda
Al she-sachaf otanu ad halom
Itkhem lashir shirat shalom
Tonight, as a farewell
we say thanks to the sea
that she has brought us here
so we sing the song of peace
Elle crie la cornemuse
quand elle appelle la mer.
Chante sa force maudit ses ruses
pour mener marins aux enfers.
The bagpipe screams when
she is invoking the sea, her damned
force and her tricks with which
she leads the sailors in the depths
[Kabyle]
Qué me cuenta la guitarra
Cuando me habla de la mar
son tantas notas derramadas
que a mí me suelen amargar
What does the guitar tell me
when she speaks about the sea?
She sheds so many melodies
that often make me so bitter
Lo rocàs, la mar e l’aura
Fan levar lo còr d’espóscs
Lo soleu dur dins l’ombra paura
A rais ponhents cava son potz.
The rocks, the sea and the wind
lift up the heart with a light drizzle,
the hard sun with acute beams
hollows its wells in the poor shadow
Çekinmem ruzgarlardan
Denizden esen yelden
Bana seni hatırlatır
Ayrıyım ne gelir elden
I don’t fear the wind, neither
the storm blowing from the sea.
It reminds me of you
I am far away, what can I do.
صوت العود و الرباب یغني
يقول ماقالوه اخرین
أحلد نغمة في سمعي
يريت اتكون هكذا طول عمري

sut al-‘ud va al-rebab ighani
ighul maghaluh akhorin
ahlada naghmah fi sam‘ai
yaryet atkun hakida tul ‘umeri
The voice of the oud and rebab
responds to the song of the others.
I have never heard more beautiful
song, neither will I in my life
Que me conte la guitare
Quand ses accords disent la mer
Trop de guerres sur cette mare
Mes notes ont un son amer
What does the guitar relate
when she is speaking of the sea?
There are too many wars on this water
that embitter the tune of my song
Je dis pour vous, mes chers amies
Juste avant d’autre départ:
C’est la mer qui nous sépare
C’est elle aussi qui nous unit.
I tell you, my dear friends
before we set on a new journey
that it is the sea who separates
and it is also her who unites us

3 comentarios:

Araz dijo...

Thanks for sharing this song that reflects the sea of humanity we all share. It reminded me an old song "Limanda"-"At the pier".

As for the Turkish verse, I would translate it as below:

Çekinmem ruzgarlardan
Denizden esen yelden
Bana seni hatırlatır
Ayrıyım ne gelir elden

I don’t fear the wind, neither
the storm blowing from the sea.
It reminds me you
I am away, what can I do.

Studiolum dijo...

Thank you, Araz. I have substituted my translation for yours.

I did not know either Limanda or Mirza Babayev. Don’t you want to publish just this video with text and interpretation as well as a few words about the bard and his song?

Araz dijo...

Thank you, Studiolum. I would certainly love to write about sea theme on the shores of Caspian.