O trabalho levado a cabo na Abadia de Monserrat pelo Padre Josep Massot i Muntzner, publicando materais da obra do cancioneiro popular da Catalunha continua a dar-nos frutos fascinantes. O volume VIII, publicado em 1998, contém a única estância conhecida até hoje duma cantiga em inglês macarronico. Estre breve artigo defende que a cantiga data do tempo da ocupação britânica de Minorca no séc. XVIII

Furey, Simon

Sapientia (Univ. do Algarve)

	  	  	  Estudos	  de	  Literatura	  Oral,	  6	  (2000),	  pp.	  77-­‐82	  	  ECHOES	   OF	   EMPIRE:	   A	   REMNANT	   OF	   ENGLISH	   IN	   THE	   FOLK	   SONG	   OF	   THE	  BALEARIC	  ISLANDS	   Simon	  Furey*	  	  During	  the	  Second	  World	  War,	  the	  US	  soldiers	  who	  came	  to	  Britain	  as	  allies	  were	   often	   less	   than	  welcome	   to	   their	   hosts.	   "Over	   paid,	   oversexed	  and	  over	  here"	  was	  a	  frequently-­‐heard	  moan.	  I	  have	  news	  for	  my	  American	  friends;	  we	  British	  have	  no	   right	   to	   complain,	   because	  we	  were	  doing	   the	  same	   thing	   ourselves	   to	   other	   people	   over	   a	   hundred	   years	   earlier!	   The	  evidence	  for	  this	  lies	  in	  a	  song	  published	  in	  Materials	  de	  l'obra	  del	  cançoner	  popular	  de	  Catalunya	  (OCPC).	  	  For	  those	  who	  have	  not	  encountered	  the	  OCPC,	  I	  should	  explain	  that	  in	  1921	  an	  ambitious	  project	  was	  undertaken	  to	  collect	  all	  of	  the	  folk	  songs	  of	   the	  països	  catalans.	  Small	   teams	  were	  sent	   to	  all	  points,	  near	  and	  far,	   to	  collect	   both	  words	   and	  music.	   They	  were	   successful	   beyond	   their	  wildest	  imaginings,	   and	   collected	   many	   thousands	   of	   songs.	   Meanwhile,	   back	   in	  Barcelona,	  another	  team	  had	  the	  unenviable	  task	  of	  editing	  the	  material	  into	  published	   volumes	   that	   contained	   not	   only	   the	   songs	   but	   background	  information	  and	  commentary	  on	  Catalan	  folk	  music.	  The	  editorial	  team	  was	  swamped,	   and	   as	   the	   years	   went	   by	   the	   backlog	   of	   unpublished	  material	  became	   enormous.	   The	   situation	   was	   further	   complicated	   by	   political	  instability	   in	   the	   region.	   Collection	   came	   to	   a	   halt	   in	   1936	   when	   a	   team	  member	   was	   murdered,	   although	   a	   limited	   amount	   of	   editorial	   work	  continued	   during	   the	   civil	   war	   until	   1938.	   Over	   the	   period	   of	   the	   OCPC	  activity	  five	  books	  were	  produced,	  three	  of	  which	  contained	  songs	  collected	  up	  to	  1925.	  Following	   Franco's	   victory	   in	   1939,	   Catalan	   culture	  was	   suppressed	  and	   much	   material	   was	   destroyed.	   Fortunately,	   the	   OCPC	   papers	   were	  hidden	   away	   and	   preserved	   almost	   entirely.	   In	   the	   early	   1990s	   a	   project	  began	   at	   Montserrat	   Abbey,	   outside	   Barcelona,	   to	   publish	   the	   materials	  under	   the	  supervision	  of	  Pare	   Josep	  Massot	   i	  Muntaner.	  Publication	  began	  in	  1993	  at	  the	  rate	  of	  one	  volume	  per	  year,	  and	  Pare	  Massot	  estimates	  that	  it	   will	   be	   nearly	   2010	   before	   selections	   of	   all	   of	   the	   material	   have	   been	  published.	  The	  newer	  publications	  differ	  from	  the	  pre-­‐war	  ones	  in	  one	  important	  respect.	   Instead	  of	  printed	  scores	   that	  are	   the	  result	  of	  editorial	  work	  and	  amendment,	   facsimiles	   of	   the	   original	   collected	   musical	   notation	   are	  included.	  This	  means	  that	  the	  reader	  can	  analyse	  the	  original	  field	  notes	  and	  see	  where	  the	  singer	  has	  probably	  varied	  the	  performance	  and	  the	  collector	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  * Department of Hispanic Studies. Arts Tower. University of Sheffield. Western Bank. Sheffield. South Yorkshire S10 2TN. United Kingdom. <simon.furey@btinternet.com>	  E.L.O., 6 (2000) 	  	  	  	  82	  has	  attempted	   to	  record	   the	  variations.	  The	  disadvantage	   is	   that	  mistakes,	  omissions	   and	   inconsistencies	   caused	   by	   the	   method	   of	   recording	   are	  visible.	  Unfortunately,	  where	  uncertainties	  exist,	   it	   is	  no	   longer	  possible	  to	  ask	  the	  collectors	  what	  the	  right	  interpretation	  should	  be.	  That	  said,	  one	  can	  only	   marvel	   at	   the	   quality	   of	   the	   notation	   in	   the	   books	   so	   far	   published,	  given	  that	  it	  was	  done	  in	  the	  field	  entirely	  without	  phonographic	  recording	  apparatus.	  In	   the	  meantime,	   it	   is	   a	   joy	   to	   receive	   each	   year	   another	   large	   grey	  volume,	  full	  of	  treasures	  ripe	  for	  exploration	  and	  discovery.	  It	  is	  just	  such	  a	  discovery	   that	   I	   made	   in	   Volume	   VIII	   of	   the	   OCPC	  Materials	   published	   in	  1998.	   This	   volume	   contains	   the	   first	   results	   published	   so	   far	   of	   the	   OCPC	  field	  research	  in	  the	  island	  of	  Minorca.	  Minorca	  was	  occupied	  by	  the	  British	  military	  for	  almost	  the	  whole	  of	  the	  18th	  century.	   It	  was	   therefore	   interesting	   to	  me	   to	   find	  an	  example	  of	  English	  used	   in	  a	   folk	  song	   from	  there.1	  The	  accompanying	  notes	  made	  by	  Baltasar	  Samper,	  who	  collected	  the	  song	  in	  1927,	  indicate	  that	  the	  song	  was	  obtained	  from	  Mgr.	  Antoni	  Orfila,	  the	  curate	  of	  Sant	  Lluís,	  who	  learnt	  it	  from	  some	   peasants	   in	   the	   village	   of	   Biniancollet.	   The	   song	   came	   from	   their	  grandfathers,	   who	   knew	   it	   as	   one	   of	   their	   "Latin	   songs,"	   and	   it	   had	   thus	  come	  down	  at	  least	  two	  generations.	  	  Figure	  1	  :	  Mgr.	  Antoni	  Orfila	  The	   song	   is	   interesting	  on	  a	  number	  of	   counts.	  First,	   in	   spite	  of	  oral	  transmission,	   the	  words	  are	  relatively	  ungarbled.	  Second,	  either	   the	  priest	  who	  passed	  on	  the	  song	  knew	  no	  English	  or	  he	  was	  broad-­‐minded!	  Here	  is	  the	   complete	   song,	   which	   like	   the	   photograph	   above	   is	   reproduced	   from	  Materials:	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  1 Francesc Pujol and others (ed.), Materials de l'obra del cançoner popular de Catalunya, VIII, Barcelona, Abadia de Montserrat, 1998, p. 343.	  Simon Furey, “Echoes of Empire” 	  	  	  	  83	  	  Figure	  2	  :	  The	  Song	  Mai	  fader	  	  	  Careful	  examination	  reveals	  that	  the	  words	  handwritten	  on	  the	  score	  are	   not	   quite	   the	   same	   as	   the	   words	   printed	   underneath	   it.	   Here	   are	   the	  words	  as	  transcribed	  from	  the	  score:	  Mai	  fader	  Mai	  mader	  Mai	  sister	  Mai	  güel.	  Di	  missis	  per	  doblis	  per	  bòtil	  de	  ueny	  E.L.O., 6 (2000) 	  	  	  	  84	  Crit:	  De	  ueny!	  De	  tu	  de	  titali	  tenc	  D'Espeny	  inglesmeny	  ueng,	  de	  tu,	  de	  tiquili	  tenc.	  Guimes	  per	  doblis	  de	  bòtils	  de	  uels	  Crit:	  De	  ueny!	  Crit:	  Foc	  a	  l'inglis!	  	  These	   are	   the	   collected	   words,	   not	   the	   result	   of	   later	   editing.	   They	  provide	   an	   excellent	   example	  of	  where	   the	  work	  of	  Pare	  Massot	   is	   of	   real	  benefit,	   because	   we	   can	   see	   the	  music	   score	   and	   text	   as	   collected	   on	   the	  mission.	  A	  case	  in	  point	  is	  the	  word	  inglis	  which	  makes	  more	  sense	  to	  me	  in	  an	  English/Catalan	  macaronic	  song	  than	  the	  Castilian	  inglès,	  which	  is	  what	  appears	   in	  the	  edited	  text	  (although	  I	  concede	  that	   inglès	   is	  an	  established	  Minorcan	  form,	  often	  replacing	  the	  standard	  Catalan	  anglès).	  Replacing	  the	  accented	  -­‐è-­‐	  with	  an	  unaccented	  -­‐i-­‐	  shifts	  the	  stress	  to	  the	  first	  syllable,	  so	  that	  the	  word	  sounds	  like	  "English".	  It	  is	  also	  clear	  thet	  the	  collector	  thought	  the	  singer	  said	  "Espenya"	  {Spain?)	  at	  one	  point,	  before	  correcting	  what	  he	  had	  written.	  Pronunciation	   is	  key	  to	  my	   interpretation,	  which	  I	  give	   in	  the	  following	  glossary.	  	  	  	  ORIGINAL	  WORD/PHRASE	   INTERPRETATION	  Mai	   My	  fader	   father	  mader	   mother	  güel	   girl	  Di	   The	  missis	   missus	  (=	  mistress	  =	  wife)	  per	   pay	  or	  per	  doblis	   obsolete	  copper	  coins	  (doblers)	  bòtil	   bottle	  de	   the	  or	  of	  ueny,	  ueng	   wine	  titali	  tenc	   titillating	  espeny	   Spain	  inglesmeny	   Englishmen	  Simon Furey, “Echoes of Empire” 	  	  	  	  85	  tiquili	  tenc	   tickling	  (garbled)	  Guimes	   Guineas	  uels	   girls	  Figure	  3	  :	  Glossary	  of	  Macaronic	  Words	  	  I	   have	   discussed	   this	   song	   in	   correspondence	  with	   Pare	  Massot.	   He	  conceded	   that	   he	   saw	  no	  meaning	   in	   the	  words	   other	   than	   a	   parallel	   to	   a	  common	   saying	   in	   the	   Balearics	   about	   the	   English	   language,	   which	   he	  quoted:	  	  S'inglès	  és	  molt	  fàcil.	  Veri	  güel	  vol	  dir	  Miquel,	  veri	  gut	  vol	  dir	  llaüt,	  i	  tot	  lo	  altre	  com	  noltros.	  	  In	   fact,	   the	  only	   thing	   this	   saying	  has	   in	   common	  with	   the	   song	  Mai	  fader	   is	   the	   word	   güel.	   In	   the	   above	   example	   the	   English	   phrases	   are,	   of	  course	  "very	  well"	  and	  "very	  good."	  Most	   of	   my	   interpretations	   are	   straightforward	   and,	   I	   believe,	  uncontentious.	  However,	   taking	  uels	   to	  mean	  "girls"	  may	  be	   less	  so.	   I	  have	  taken	   it	   by	   its	   similarity	   to	  güel	   that	   appears	   earlier.	   Clearly,	   to	  make	  any	  sense	  neither	  of	  these	  words	  relates	  to	  "well"	  as	  in	  Pare	  Massot's	  example.	  Taken	   all	   together,	   then,	   the	   meaning	   of	   the	   words	   of	   the	   song	   is	   quite	  explicit,	  if	  lacking	  in	  grammatical	  sense,	  and	  says,	  "My	  family	  can	  buy	  wine	  for	   coppers.	  You	   sell	  wine	   and	   titillation	   to	  Englishmen	   coming	  over	   from	  Spain.	  Now	  you	  want	  payment	  in	  guineas	  not	  doblers.	  Give	  us	  the	  wine,	  and	  to	   hell	   with	   all	   English!"	   What	   we	   have	   here	   in	   my	   view	   is	   a	   tavern	   or	  brothel	  song	  relating	  to	  the	  singer's	  unwillingness	  to	  pay	  the	  inflated	  prices	  brought	  about	  by	   the	  British	  military	  occupation.	   It	   is	  not	  a	  British	  song;	   I	  imagine	   it	   to	   be	   locally	   composed	   in	  Minorca.	   I	   date	   it	   from	  probably	   the	  18th	  or	  early	  19th	  century;	   the	  second	  verse	  refers	   to	  Englishmen	  coming	  from	   Spain,	   as	   happened	   during	   the	   Peninsular	   War.	   Likely	   as	   not,	   the	  officers	  would	   have	   had	   guineas	   to	   spend	   instead	   of	   the	   local	   currency.	   I	  have	  checked	  my	  interpretation	  with	  Pare	  Massot,	  who	  in	  a	  letter	  to	  me	  said	  that	  he	  found	  it	  bastant	  plausible.	  He	  differs,	  however,	  in	  the	  interpretation	  of	   the	  word	  doblis,	  which	   he	   takes	   to	  mean	  dobles	   rather	   than	  doblers.	   In	  context	  this	  will	  mean	  either	  doubled	  prices	  or	  double	  guineas.	  He	  may	  be	  right.	  The	   music	   of	   the	   song	   is	   also	   interesting.	   The	   first	   verse	   has	   a	  different	  tune	  to	  the	  second	  (assuming	  we	  divide	  the	  song	  at	  the	  first	  crit).	  The	  second	  tune	  I	  do	  not	  recognise,	  but	   the	   first	   is	  clearly	   the	  well-­‐known	  tune	  used	  for	  the	  Lourdes	  Hymn,	  Immaculate	  Mary.	  The	  miraculous	  visions	  of	   Bernadette	   Soubirous	   occurred	   in	   1858	   and	   the	   Pope	   declared	   them	  authentic	   in	   1862.	   The	   tune	   is	   quoted	   in	   hymn	   books	   as	   being	   "French	  E.L.O., 6 (2000) 	  	  	  	  86	  traditional"	   and	   the	   English	   and	   Latin	   words	   are	   anonymous.	   I	   have	   no	  other	  information	  on	  it,	  except	  that	  variants	  of	  the	  tune	  are	  used	  with	  other	  folk	   songs	   in	   Catalan,	   for	   example	   El	  minyó	   de	   Villeres.2	  I	   do	   not	   know	   at	  what	   stage	   the	  Lourdes	  hymn	  became	  popular;	   it	  may	  be	   later	   than	  when	  this	   strange	   macaronic	   song	   was	   collected	   in	   Minorca.	   Today,	   of	   course,	  such	  a	  combination	  of	  tune	  and	  words	  is	  likely	  to	  appear	  highly	  irreverent	  to	  devout	  Roman	  Catholics.	  According	  to	  Pare	  Massot,	  this	  song	  is	  an	  isolated	  instance;	  he	  knows	  of	   no	   other	   English/Catalan	   macaronic	   songs	   in	   the	   OCPC	   materials,	  published	   or	   unpublished,	   or	   indeed	   in	   any	   other	   collection.	   I	   have	   not	  found	  any	  other	  English	  occurrences	  in	  Catalan	  folk	  songs	  either;	  not	  even	  any	   instances	   of	   single	   words.	   Nevertheless,	   I	   shall	   be	   examining	   future	  volumes	  of	  Materials	  with	   increased	   interest.	   I	  am	  also	   looking	   forward	  to	  being	  able	  eventually	  to	  examine	  the	  corpus	  of	  OCPC	  collected	  songs,	  when	  Pare	  Massot	  makes	  it	  readily	  available	  in	  its	  entirety	  and	  when	  I	  and	  others	  have	   enough	   time	   to	   make	   proper	   examination	   of	   such	   an	   enormous	  amount	  of	  primary	  material.	  WORKS	  CITED	  Francesc	  Pujol	  and	  others	  (ed.),	  Materials	  de	  l'obra	  del	  cançoner	  popular	  de	  Catalunya,	   Barcelona,	   Fundació	   C.	   Rabell	   i	   Cibils,	   1926-­‐1929	   /	   Barcelona,	  Abadia	  de	  Montserrat,	  1993-­‐	  	  ,	  8	  vols.	  	   ABSTRACT	  	   The	   work	   at	   l'Abadia	   de	   Montserrat	   by	   Pare	   Josep	   Massot	   i	   Muntaner	   in	  publishing	  Materials	  de	  l'obra	  del	  cançoner	  popular	  de	  Catalunya	  continues	  to	  bear	  fascinating	  fruit.	  Volume	  VIII,	  published	  in	  1998,	  contains	  the	  only	  known	  instance	  thus	  far	  of	  a	  song	  in	  Macaronic	  English.	  This	  brief	  paper	  argues	  that	  the	  song	  dates	  from	  the	  time	  of	  the	  British	  occupation	  of	  Minorca	  in	  the	  18th	  century.	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  2 Materials, I, 2, p. 126.	  

Echoes of empire: a remnant of english in the folk song of the Balearic Islands

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Sapientia (Univ. do Algarve)