Me zo ganet e kreiz ar mor
{{Short description|Song performed by Alan Stivell}}
"Me zo ganet e kreiz ar mor" ("I was born in the midst of the sea") is an autobiographical poem by the Breton-language writer Yann-Ber Kalloc'h which celebrates the island of Groix, where he was born, and describes his parents' struggles and his own. In a setting by Jef Le Penven it has become one of the most popular Breton-language songs,{{cite news |author= |date=17 November 2017 |title=Filaj en Breton. Y.-B. Kalloc'h par Jorj Belz |url=https://www.letelegramme.fr/morbihan/erdeven/filaj-en-breton-y-b-kalloc-h-par-jorj-belz-17-11-2017-11744605.php |work=Le Télégramme |location=Morlaix |language=fr |access-date=13 April 2023 }} performed by Alan Stivell, Yann-Fañch Kemener, Julie Fowlis and others. The title has several variants, including Me zo ganet e kreiz er mor{{cite journal |last=Dumerchat-Schouten |first=Anne-Marie |date=January 2015 |title=Me zo ganet e kreiz ar mor. Quand une mise en musique devient un tube |url=https://www.dastumedia.bzh/dyn/portal/index.seam?page=alo&aloId=53198&fonds=0&cid=3408 |language=fr |journal=Musique bretonne |volume=242 |page=35 |access-date=10 April 2023 }} and Me zo gañnet é kreiz er mor.{{cite book |last=Calloc'h |first=Jean-Pierre |author-link=Yann-Ber Kalloc'h |date=1921 |title=Ar en deùlin |url=https://br.wikisource.org/wiki/P%C3%A9den_%C3%A9n_t%C3%A9o%C3%A9led#Me_zo_gannet |language=br, fr|location=Paris |publisher=Plon-Nourrit |page=113 |access-date=10 April 2023 }}
Summary
The narrator describes the island of Groix where he was born. He explains that his father is a sailor, as his own forefathers were, and that he works with his mother in the fields to feed himself. Then he declares to Saint Mary that their happiness has left in a coffin to sleep in the field of mourning. But he considers that these tears are in vain, that you have to be strong for tomorrow. With his worldly happiness erased, the seminary, then the army, he walked towards God, reflecting on what he can say to him while awaiting his judgment.
Origins
The text is the work of Yann-Ber Kalloc'h (born Jean-Pierre Calloc'h, and also known as Bleimor), a poet born on the island of Groix, Morbihan, off the coast of Brittany, in 1888. After his death in action on 10 April 1917, this poem was published in Ar en deulin (1921), a collection of his works edited by his friend {{ill|Pierre Mocaër|fr}}. It also appeared a few years later in Minhoarheu ha dareu. Sourires et pleurs. Poésies de Bretagne (Quimper, 1926).{{cite web |url=https://blogs.bl.uk/european/2020/04/poems-from-the-edge-of-extinction-i.html |title=Poems from the Edge of Extinction I |last=Defrance |first=Sophie |display-authors=etal |date=22 April 2020 |website=European Studies Blog |publisher=British Library |access-date=13 April 2023 }} It was set to music by Jef Le Penven (1919–1967), a Breton composer, conductor and folksong-collector.{{cite web |url=http://nichee.celtique.free.fr/istor/ganet.htm |title=Me zo ganet e kreizh ar mor |author= |date=n.d. |website=Nichée Celtique |language=fr |access-date=9 April 2023 }} Le Penven's song, with its flexibility of musical phrase and sensitivity to the language of the original poem, suggests both traditional Breton laments and more modern idioms.{{cite journal |last=Dumerchat-Schouten |first=Anne-Marie |date=July–September 2012 |title=Jef Le Penven et le chant populaire breton: des sources à la composition |url=https://www.drom-kba.eu/IMG/pdf/anne_marie_dumerchat-schouten_travail_sur_jef_le_penven-2.pdf |journal=Musique bretonne |volume=232 |page=232 |language=fr |access-date=13 April 2023 }}
Interpretations
In the 1960s, Eliane Pronost, accompanied by the Kanerien Bro-Ouelou Plouézec choir, performed it on a 45 rpm record on the {{ill|Mouez Breiz|fr}} label,{{cite web |url=https://www.dastumedia.bzh/dyn/portal/index.seam?page=alo&aloId=56071&fonds=0&cid=6478 |title=Me 'zo ganet e kreiz ar mor |author= |website=Dastumedia |language=fr |access-date=11 April 2023 }} followed by Rozenn Bellec and {{ill|Soazig Noblet|fr}}, also on Mouez-Breiz.{{cite web |url=https://www.dastumedia.bzh/dyn/portal/index.seam?page=alo&aloId=55678&fonds=0&cid=6478 |title=Me zo ganet e kreiz ar mor... (*) |author= |website=Dastumedia |language=fr |access-date=11 April 2023 }} The song was popularised by Alan Stivell under the title Je suis né au milieu de la mer on his first album {{ill|Reflets (album d'Alan Stivell)|lt=Reflets|fr}}.{{cite web |url=http://fp.nightfall.fr/index.php?idchoix=2280 |title=Alan Stivell - Reflets (1970) |last=Stivell |first=Marco |website=Forces parallèles |publisher=Nightfall |language=fr |access-date=11 April 2023 }} It was performed by Héritage des Celtes on their 1994 self-titled album,{{cite web |url=http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=19718 |title=Héritage Des Celtes, Dan Ar Braz, Prog Folk |author= |website=Prog Archives |access-date=11 April 2023 }} and by Yann-Fañch Kemener with Didier Squiban on the album Enez Eusa (1996).{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/enez-eusa-mw0000763693 |title=Enez Eusa Yann-Fañch Kemener / Didier Squiban |author= |website=AllMusic |access-date=11 April 2023 }} In 1997 the Celtic rock band {{ill|L'Ange vert|fr}} recorded it on their album {{ill|Les Armes de Bretagne|fr}},{{cite web |url=http://nozbreizh.fr/php2/album.php?idalbum=652 |title=Nozbreizh - Extraits (30 sec) |author= |website=Nozbreizh - Danses et Musiques Bretonnes |language=fr |access-date=11 April 2023 }} and Andrea Ar Gouilh on Priñs ar C'hornog aour: hommage à Jef Le Penven.{{cite web |url=https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb38385243p |title=Notice bibliographique |author= |website= Catalogue Général |publisher=Bibliothèque nationale de France |language=fr |access-date=13 April 2023 }} Julie Fowlis included a Gaelic version of the song on her 2009 album Uam.{{cite web |url=https://www.mainlynorfolk.info/folk/records/juliefowlis.html |title=English and Scottish Folk and Other Good Music |author= |website=Mainly Norfolk |access-date=13 April 2023 }} In 2021, 50 years after the version popularized by Alan Stivell, the group {{ill|Fleuves|fr}} rearranged the melody accompanied by the vocals of Sarah Floc'h on the EP Odyssea.{{cite web |url=http://www.radio-univers.com/fleuves-sarah-floch-odyssea-n996/ |title=Fleuves & Sarah Floc'h, Odyssea. No. 996 |author= |date=9 June 2021 |website=Radio Univers |language=fr |access-date=11 April 2023 }}
Footnotes
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Wikisourcelang|br|Péden én téoéled|Me zo ganet e kreiz ar mor}}
- [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9694858z/f59.item.zoom Full text in Breton] at Gallica
- [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9694858z/f247.item.zoom Full text in French] at Gallica