"Ar rannoù" ("The Series", published as "The Series, or the Druid and the Child"), also known as "Gousperoù ar raned" ("The Frogs' Vespers"), is a traditional

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

folksong Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, composed in twelve parts or "

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...

Origin and significance of the song

The real origin of the song remains unknown. Théodore Hersart de La Villemarqué collected this song in

Cornouaille Cornouaille (; br, Kernev, Kerne) is a historical region on the west coast of Brittany in West France. The name is cognate with Cornwall in neighbouring Great Britain. This can be explained by the settlement of Cornouaille by migrant princ ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

, and published it in ''

Barzaz Breiz ''Barzaz Breiz'' (in modern spelling ''Barzhaz Breizh'', meaning "Ballads of Brittany": ''barzh'' is the equivalent of "bard" and ''Breizh'' means "Brittany") is a collection of Breton popular songs collected by Théodore Hersart de la Villemar ...

'', making it the opening piece of his work. For him the origin of the song stretches back to the time of the

Druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

s and is a testimony of the past, treating of

Breton mythology Breton mythology is the mythology or corpus of explanatory and heroic tales originating in Brittany. The Bretons are the descendants of insular Britons who settled in Brittany from at least the third century. While the Britons were already Chri ...

, the composition of the world, life and battles. For others, including

François-Marie Luzel François-Marie Luzel (6 June 1821 – 26 February 1895), often known by his Breton name ''Fañch an Uhel'',He signed his name as ''Francès-Mary an Uhel'' in the ''Les Chants de l'épée'' (1856), although Joseph Ollivier, in his 1943 preface to ...

who collected around twenty different versions in Cornouaille and

Trégor Trégor (; br, Treger, ), officially the Land of Trégor (french: pays du Trégor, link=no; br, Bro-Dreger, link=no, ) is one of the nine traditional provinces of Brittany, in its northwestern area. It comprises the western part of the Côte ...

(''Gousperoù ar raned''), it is only a '' rimadell'', intended to exercise the memory. Luzel rejected La Villemarqué's version, which he declared erroneous because overinterpreted as to the mythological aspect. However, some variants collected by Luzel have elements very close to the version of de La Villemarqué. In both cases, the real meaning of the lyrics remains surrounded by a certain mystery, the people from whom these songs are collected themselves admitting their ignorance of the real meaning of the lyrics.

Manner of singing

The song is a dialogue between a child and a teacher (a druid for de La Villemarqué). The teacher asks the child what he wants to know, at which the child asks him for the first

strophe A strophe () is a poetic term originally referring to the first part of the ode in Ancient Greek tragedy, followed by the antistrophe and epode. The term has been extended to also mean a structural division of a poem containing stanzas of varying ...

(a "series" for de La Villemarqué). The teacher sings the first strophe, then again asks the question. The child then asks for the second strophe. The teacher sings the second strophe and repeats the first one. Then the child asks for the third strophe, and so on. The song carries on with these repetitions of the previous stanzas already sung, until the twelfth stanza is sung.

Comparison of the translated lyrics

References

External links

Bibliographical details
at the ''

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

'' (in French)
More bibliographical details
at the ''Bibliothèque nationale de France'' (in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rannoù, ar Breton mythology and folklore Breton folk songs Cumulative songs Songwriter unknown Year of song unknown