Today’s carol dates from the 19th Century, but
across La Manche from Britain, where a lot of the other music I’ve been sharing
comes from. It first appeared in a collection of carols called “Airs des Noëls
lorrains”, meaning Christmas songs from Lorraine.
As with yesterday’s offering (and a whole lot of them,
really) it’s about Jesus’s birth in a stable, and it has a rustic feel to me. I
almost expect to see frost on the breath of the singers, and bits of straw
flying about in the air.
This rendition by The Chieftains (coupled with another
carol, “Ça bergers”) with Kate and Anna McGarrigle reinforces that notion for
me. (This is from the same album that has Jackson Browne's "The Rebel Jesus".) The song makes mention of the bagpipes, so it seems appropriate that what’s
in essence an Irish ceilidh band (with uilleann pipes) should be singing it
with a couple of French Canadiennes.
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