Johan de Cangas (or ''Xohan de Cangas'' in an anachronistically modernized Galician form) was a ''jograr'' or non-noble

troubadour A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tr ...

, probably active during the thirteenth century. He seems to have been from—or associated with – Cangas do Morrazo, a small town of

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the ''Pontevedra (comarca), Comarca'' and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is als ...

, Galicia (

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

). Only three of his songs survive. All three are ''

cantigas de amigo ''Cantiga de amigo'' (, ) or ''cantiga d'amigo'' ( Galician-Portuguese spelling), literally "friend song", is a genre of medieval lyric poetry, more specifically the Galician-Portuguese lyric, apparently rooted in a female-voiced song tradition n ...

'' and in each of them the girl mentions a religious site (''ermida'') at ''San Momede do Mar'' ("San Momede of the Sea"). These references to the sea may be symbolic (symbolizing sexuality) as they are real (given the geography), but they have earned this poet the designation of "singer of the sea". In the first text, a girl asks her mother for permission to go see her boyfriend at ''San Momede do Mar''; in the second she informs her mother that the boyfriend did not come and she has surely lost him; in the third she asks her boyfriend to meet her there, and not to break his word to her again. As with most ''jograes'', nothing is known for certain about his life, although the preservation of three of his '' cantigas'' suggests that he performed in the courts of local nobles. The location of the poet's compositions in the manuscript tradition, the use of a place-name (''Cangas'') in lieu of a surname, and the form and rhetoric of his songs all seem to confirm his status as a ''jograr''. In both manuscripts (

Cancioneiro da Vaticana The ''Cancioneiro da Vaticana'' (, ; ''Vatican Songbook'') is a compilation of troubadour lyrics in Galician-Portuguese. It was discovered c. 1840 in the holdings of the Vatican Library and was first transcribed by D. Caetano Lopes de Moura in ...

and

Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional The ''Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional'' (, ; "The National Library Songbook"), commonly called ''Colocci-Brancuti'', is a compilation of Galician-Portuguese lyrics by both troubadours and ''jograes'' (non-noble performers and composers) . Th ...

) his name is spelled ''Johan'' (the modern Galician equivalent being ''Xoán'', Portuguese ''João''). Johan de Cangas had attracted almost no critical attention until 1998, when the

Galician Literature Day Galician Literature Day () is a public holiday observed in Galicia, Spain. It is a celebration of the Galician language and its literature which was inaugurated by the Royal Galician Academy (''Real Academia Galega'') in 1963. This celebration ...

was dedicated to him and to two other "singers of the sea",

Martín Codax Martin Codax or Codaz, Martín Codax () or Martim Codax was a Galician medieval ''joglar'' (non-noble composer and performer, as opposed to a ''trobador''), possibly from Vigo, Galicia in present-day Spain. He may have been active during the ...

and Mendinho.

Example

cantiga de amigo ''Cantiga de amigo'' (, ) or ''cantiga d'amigo'' ( Galician-Portuguese spelling), literally "friend song", is a genre of medieval lyric poetry, more specifically the Galician-Portuguese lyric, apparently rooted in a female-voiced song tradition ...

of Johan de Cangas (ed. R. Cohen; tr. R. Cohen)

References

*Cohen, Rip. 2010. https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/33843 ''The Cantigas d'Amigo: An English Verse Translation''. *Cohen, Rip. 2003. ''500 Cantigas d'amigo: A Critical Edition''. Porto: Campo das Letras. *Lanciani, Giulia and Giuseppe Tavani (org.). 1993. ''Dicionário da Literatura Medieval Galega e Portuguesa''. Lisbon: Caminho. *Lorenzo, Ramon. "Johan de Cangas" in Lanciani & Tavani 1993: 343–345. *Nunes, José Joaquim. 1926–28. ''Cantigas d’amigo dos trovadores galego-portugueses'', edição crítica acompanhada de introdução, comentário, variantes, e glossário. 3 vols. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade (rpt. Lisbon: Centro do Livro Brasileiro, 1973). *Oliveira, António Resende de. 1994. ''Depois do Espectáculo Trovadoresco, a estrutura dos cancioneiros peninsulares e as recolhas dos séculos XIII e XIV''. Lisbon: Edições Colibri. *Tavani, Giuseppe. 2002. ''Trovadores e Jograis: Introdução à poesia medieval galego-portuguesa''. Lisbon: Caminho. {{DEFAULTSORT:Johan de Cangas 13th-century Galician-Portuguese troubadours Musicians from Galicia (Spain) Spanish poets Galician poets Galician-language writers Spanish male poets