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Posted by: Cornelius Sep 16 2005, 10:51 PM

Hello anyone out there,

I'm new on the list, and I've already got a question....

In the second half of the eighties there was this BBC documentary series "The Celts" written and presented by Frank Delaney with soundtrack music by Enya. Now, in the last episode of this series, one particular Breton song was performed by a group called Tammles (whilst standing on a boat) and the song, according to Frank Delaney, was in Breton and called "Three sailors from Brest" (I assume that's the literal translation from the Breton) It's an absolutely fantastic song, and if anyone knows the lyrics to this song (I don't know what it is called in the Breton tongue, unfortunately) than I would be more than happy!

Leis gach deagh dh�rachd,

Cornelius.

Posted by: Charlotte Sep 17 2005, 09:02 AM

Tri Martolod?

Posted by: Charlotte Sep 17 2005, 09:06 AM

try http://perso.wanadoo.fr/per.kentel/martold1.htm. On the top, if you click on the blue and white rectangle with Selaou written on, you can listen to the tune so you may now if that's the song you were looking for.

Posted by: Cornelius Sep 18 2005, 08:26 AM

No, unfortunately that is the not the song. Judging from what I hear it should also actually contain the name of the city of Brest. My French is not very good, but I couldn't understand one single word of it so it must have been in Breton (as your suggestion was too), although at one point I thought I heard them use the word "capitaine". I'll try to record the song one of these days so that I can put it online and let you listen to it.
Merci beaucoup for the effort though.

PS Any one know any good "Breton for beginners" online lessons on the Internet?

C.

Posted by: Charlotte Sep 18 2005, 09:25 AM

tri martolod starts with "three young sailors". I thought that maybe the translation you had wasn't right.
But by the way where is Roidsear, our expert in breton?

Posted by: Roidsear Sep 18 2005, 10:44 PM

A Cornelius!

Ciamar a tha thu?

Roidsear is here... currently very busy, and thus rarely writing..

A good place for learning Brezhoneg is www.kervarker.org.
It gives a series of lessons, together with audio examples and an excellent form with lots of friendly people willing to lend a helping hand with translation problems and grammar questions.

A good collection of breton songs can be found at:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/per.kentel/

Some breton songs are here as well:
http://www.cantalibre.de

Hope this helps...

Beannachd leat,
#Roidsear

Posted by: Cornelius Sep 20 2005, 09:45 AM

Tapadh leat a Roidsear, tha mise gu doigheil! A bheil G�idhlig na h-Alba agad? (Bha mi a' smuineachadh gum faic mi beagan Gaeilge cuideachd!)

To Charlotte: well, I didn't translate the song myself. It's just that Frank Delaney said: "This Breton song is called 'Three Sailors from Brest'" I don't know much about Breton myself (the only Celtic I know is a bit of Scottish Gaelic), I would just love to learn the basics and be at least able to pronounce it for the folkband I'm in (http://www.cumsuis.tk). We'd love to include one or two Breton songs. Yet, as I said before, I'll try to turn the fragment into an MP3 sound file so people can actually hear which song I'm talking about.

Tioraidh,

C.

Posted by: Roidsear Sep 20 2005, 12:48 PM

Se do bheatha, a Cornelius, a chara!

Tha mi gu doigheil cuideachadh..
Chan eil m�ran G�idhlig agam... Dh'fhag mi ionnsaigh G�idhlig agus thosaigh mi ionnsaigh Gaeilge.


Tioraidh an-dr�sda,
#Roidsear

Posted by: tafwys Sep 22 2005, 04:30 PM

I've just watched the DVD of the programme again to find out! It's not Tri Martelod but a song, and a group, that I've never come across before. Here are the lyrics:

TROIS MATELOTS DU PORT DE BREST

(Traditionnel breton)

Trois matelots du port de Brest
De sur la mer, djemalon lonla lura,
De sur la mer se sont embarqu�s.

Ont bien �t� trois mois sur mer
Sans jamais terre, djemalon lonla lura,
Sans jamais terre y aborder.

Au bout de cinq � six semaines
Le pain le vin, djemalon lonla lura,
Le pain le vin vint � manquer.

Fallut tirer la courte paille
Pour savoir qui, djemalon lonla lura,
Pour savoir qui serait mang�.

La courte paille tomba sur le chef
Ce s�ra donc moi, djemalon lonla lura,
Ce s�ra donc moi qui s�rai mang�.

Oh non sinon, mon capitaine
La mort pour vous, djemalon lonla lura,
La mort pour vous j�endurerai.

La mort pour moi si tu l�endures
Cent �cus d�or, djemalon lonla lura,
Cent �cus d�or je t�y donn�rai.

Ou bien ma fille en mariage
Ou c�beau bateau, djemalon lonla lura,
Ou c�beau bateau qui est sous nos pieds.

Il n��tait pas � demi-hune
Se mit � rire, djemalon lonla lura,
Se mit � rire et � chanter.

Courage mes enfants courage
Je vois la terre, djemalon lonla lura,
Je vois la terre de tous c�t�s.

Je vois les tours de Babylone
Trois charpentiers, djemalon lonla lura,
Trois charpentiers y travailler.

Je vois les moutons sur la lande
Trois belles berg�res, djemalon lonla lura,
Trois belles berg�res � les garder.

Je crois que j�en reconnais une
C�est ma ma�tresse, djemalon lonla lura,
C�est ma ma�tresse du temps pass�.

Ian

Posted by: Cornelius Sep 29 2005, 10:21 AM

Thanks a million! That particular episode's credits give the group's name as "Tammles", about who little can be found on the Internet, unfortunately...

Cornelius

Posted by: Charlotte Sep 29 2005, 07:04 PM

The lyrics are in French then. I had supposed they would be in breton.

Posted by: Cornelius Oct 2 2005, 05:33 PM

So had I at first... Oh well... it's a beautiful song nonetheless (for someone who can read French, that is... )

Posted by: Cornelius Oct 2 2005, 05:35 PM

I can't really make sense of this verse, though... As I don't have the foggiest clue as to what "demi-hune" means. Could you help me out?

Posted by: Charlotte Oct 3 2005, 09:27 AM

I havent a clue what that means. Might be some technical sailing word

Posted by: Bredenarder Oct 7 2005, 08:03 PM

Goeie dag,

"La hune" is a part of a mast that is called the "Top" in english.
On the ships in old french sail navy, one of the masts was called "le m�t de hune".

"Il n��tait pas � demi-hune" : = sthg like : he hadn't even reached the level of half the Top, [as he is climbing up the mast, to see if there's land near]

"Se mit � rire, djemalon lonla lura,
Se mit � rire et � chanter."
began to laugh (...) began to laugh and sing. [because he sees land, which means they all are saved and do not need to sacrifice one of them to eat him anymore, as they were about to do.]

Posted by: Charlotte Oct 8 2005, 10:38 AM

I knew it was something technical about sailing

Posted by: Cornelius Oct 8 2005, 08:47 PM

Cheers galore for that explanation. It now starts to make sense that verse.

I do interpret that song in such a way that to me it seems to end in a bad way though. To me it seems that because of the hunger they all go mad and become delirious and then the guy in the mast says "je vois la terre de tous c�t�s." ("I see land on all sides" I suppose). He sees the towers of Babylon, sheep, and shepherdesses that he remembers from the past (so probably dead already). This does tie in with the Celtic idea of the islands in the western sea, the otherworld, the realm of those who have passed away (compare St. Brendan and his voyage to Hy Breasil, the voyage of Maelduin, and for example islands such as Tir na n-Og in the Irish cycles).

Posted by: Bredenarder Oct 15 2005, 11:58 AM

Great interpretation, I think you are totally right.