Cet heureux temps

Today’s carol dates from the 19^th 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.