Occitan Ballad: Moussu T e lei Jovents and "Sus l'Autura"

Moussu T e lei Jovents brings us our random tune for today. A Marseilles-based band that is inspired by the music of Marseilles between 1920 and 1930 and the melting pot that the city was and remains, Moussu T e le Jovents range musically from the blues to reggae to Brazilian music to music hall. The band splits its time between Marseilles, a French commune called La Ciotat, and Recife, Brazil. They are very comfortable singing in Occitan, the regional language of the southern third of France. They have released eight albums. This song, Sus l'Autura, can be found on Moussu T e lei Jovents' 2006 album Forever Polida.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moussu_T_e_lei_Jovents

Young and Insolent: Moussu T e lei Jovents and "La Grand"

Moussu T e lei Jovents, a Marseilles-based band, brings us the random tune for today, called La Grand. The band splits its time between Marseilles, a French commune called La Ciotat, and Recife, Brazil. They are inspired by the music of Marseilles between 1920 and 1930 and the melting pot that the city was and remains. They range musically from the blues to reggae to Brazilian music to music hall, and they are very comfortable singing in Occitan, the regional language of the southern third of France. They have released eight albums. La Grand can be found on Moussu T e lei Jovents' 2006 album Forever Polida. The song is a description of a girl, "...free and without fear, young, brunette and insolent..." selling candies on a Marseilles street.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

A Special Nobody Special: Moussu T e lei Jovents and "Forever Polida"

Marseilles band Moussu T e lei Jovents bring us the random tune for today, called Forever Polida. The band splits its time between Marseilles, a French commune called La Ciotat, and Recife, Brazil. They are inspired by the music of Marseilles between 1920 and 1930 and the melting pot that the city was and remains. They range musically from the blues to reggae to Brazilian music to music hall, and they are very comfortable singing in Occitan, the regional language of the southern third of France. They have released eight albums. Forever Polida is a simple song of love for someone who is special because they are nobody special. It can be found on Moussu T e lei Jovents 2006 album of the same name.

Going Provincial: Moussu T e Lei Jovents and "Embarcatz!"

In less than a year, we are thinking of going with some friends to France. I have never been to France - well, let me clarify. I've been in France, but I've never been to France. I was traveling on an itinerary and took a train from Austria through France, stopping in Paris to change train stations, and then on another train to the coast where I set sail for Ireland. So while I've been in France and seen some pastoral countryside and experienced the Metro in Paris while changing train stations, I didn't really spend any time there. In hindsight, that was stupid. I should have spent a few days in Paris at least. But I was young, on my first trip to Europe, and didn't have any sense that I could just make my own schedule and do my own thing.

I'm hoping to rectify that now. Some friends are planning to rent a place in Provence, and the plan is to fly into Paris and spend a week, and then spend another week in the countryside in Provence. We will join them for the trip. And what I am hoping for, besides seeing the sights that I need to see, is to hear some music. France has a wonderful music scene, with so many different kinds of musicians and groups from many genres, including North African, and I find myself really enjoying a lot of the French music I hear.

One of those groups that would be great to see is the provider of our random tune for today. Moussu T e Lei Jovents is a band that splits its time between Marseilles, a French commune called La Ciotat, and Recife, Brazil. They are inspired by the music of Marseilles between 1920 and 1930 and the melting pot that the city was and remains. They range musically from the blues to reggae to Brazilian music to music hall, and they are very comfortable singing in Occitan, the regional language of the southern third of France. They have released eight albums. Embarcatz! (All Aboard!), your tune for the day, is a really fun tune that you can turn up. The song is about traveling once bridges are burned and heading toward new adventure. As the refrain says:

In the world's great salad bowl

We'll add our pinch of salt

Here we are when the music starts

Let the ship sail away!

To the planet's great hymn

We want to bring our energy

Like a never ending groundswell

We will visit every port.

Embarcatz! can be found on their 2013 CD Artemis. The video starts out with a little movie with the music beginning about a minute into the video.

The Heart of the Plain: Lo Còr de la Plana and "Sant Trofima"

One of these days I will visit France. Actually, I have been in France but I never really visited France. I was passing through on a train, through the French countryside, and into Paris where I got off the train, took the subway to a different train station, got on another train, and headed through the French countryside to Le Havre where I caught a ferry to Ireland. So, I literally saw France from the inside of a train and I saw Paris from underground, and that was it.

A friend and his wife are planning to rent a villa in Provence next year. Every so often, they travel someplace interesting like Italy or France, rent a little villa, invite some friends and enjoy 2-4 weeks traveling around and seeing the countryside, enjoying the local fare and pretending that life just stops for a while. They have invited us over the years, and over the years we have found reasons not to go, usually because we are too busy or we have something else going on or we have work obligations. But I'm 50 now, and as I am now firmly ensconced in the last half of my life I think it is important that I indulge the things that give me joy. Those things are travel, food, music, and friends. And what better way to get them all in than spending 2-4 weeks in Provence where all of these things would be available to me?

And perhaps, when I am in Provence, I will get to see Lo Còr de la Plana. While prepping for a world music show about a year or so back, I found them. It is my practice to find and buy 10-15 new songs for each show, usually from albums released relatively recently. So, in my iTunes search, Lo Còr de la Plana popped up. Their unique sound, just voice and percussion and hand clapping and foot stomping, was different enough to catch my attention. It turns out there is more to their unique approach. Lo Còr de la Plana was formed in Marseilles in 2001, and they sing most of their songs in Occitan, a language I had never heard of but which apparently is the regional language of Provence. The songs are polyphonic chants in that language, but they apply chants and songs to a modern sensibility. According to Womad, they are not interested in reviving a long-dead past or culture, but appropriating what they need and applying it to the realities of Occitan life today. The band has released three albums to date, and their first album, Es Lo Titre (2003), won the prestigious Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles-Cros in the world music category.

This song, Sant Trofima, is from their 2012 CD Marcha!