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Sleeve Notes
Si j'avais 1 000 ans — If I were 1,000 years old music from the film by Monique Enckell
Tour an Arvor — from two melodies from Barzaz-Breiz, text from the same collection:
The Tower of Armor
Marc'heien — Knights (see film)
Barn — Condemnation (see film)
Azenor — Melody by A. Stivell inspired by Tour an Arvor, text: continuation of the previous one
Sawen — old name for Gouel ar sent, All Saints' Day. Takeover and merger of
Marc'heien and Barn
Tour an Arvor (b) — solo harp theme
Eireog Shineidin, in Breton Yarig Chanedig, reel inspired by Jenny's chicken
Immram Brain — Bran's Journey. Irish mythological poem from 1,000 years ago, later Christianized as The Voyage or Navigations of Saint Brandan. Music A. Stivell.
Thanks to Éamonn Ó Ciosáin for his translation, his essential help with the pronunciation of Early Middle Ages Irish and his explanations on Gaelic mythological themes as well as to Pierre-Yves Lambert for the documents researched.
La venue des peuples "dieux" — The coming of the "god" peoples: Teacht na dtuatha dé
The first Irish monks transcribed and saved part of the literature that had been transmitted orally in Antiquity, much less known than another parallel literature, that of Homer, although it should vibrate more deeply in our beings.
The "Book of Conquests" describes the mythological history of the origins of Ireland. Four invasions precede that of the Gael Celts; the last being that of the Tuatha dé Danann.
Are these beings imagination, are they the memory of a distant past or future, are they supernatural spirits coming from the Beyond, is it an extraterrestrial civilization?
Do they come from another Space-time, which could answer all these questions?
My music tries to express these questions in the ambiguity they have in the lyrics and, like these lyrics, it does not really answer them, even if my taste for science fiction (older, which is saying something, than my passion for Celtic Civilization) can sometimes give it the colors of a journey in Space. I do not seek to demonstrate, as Coarer-Kalondan did, that the T.D.D. came from Cassiopeia, I am content to take the pictures that make me dream the most, even if it means leaving aside the innumerable battles that make up the bulk of this literature and even evoking texts forever lost.
Les peuples "dieux" de Danu — The "god" peoples of Danu: Tuatha dé Danann — It is written that they arrived on dark clouds, that they hid the sun for three days and three nights. They made magic rain fall, defeated Balor, the titan Fomor who launches a burning ray. The various "god-beings" devoted to the Mother Goddess Danu (Dana, Anu, Anna … ) have amazing gifts as surgeons, prosthetists, doctors, blacksmiths, harpists, warriors, druidesses; they are said to have come from the sky.
Dagda & Morrigan — The T.D.D. spent seven years preparing their weapons for the second battle of Magh Tuireadh. The Dagda, good god, druid-king has "bandail", a meeting with a woman, at the time of Samain (All Saints' Day); he found the woman washing herself in a river in Connacht; she had braids on her head; they made the union; then she said she is Morrigan.
Morrigan is a warrior-druidess. Out of love for him, she promises to kill the king of the Fomorians, Indech, and to bring him the "kidneys" of the slain king.
Eriu — In the poem "Gile na Gile", Aogan O Rathaille sees the splendor of all splendors appear on his path, her eyes clear as crystal, her long hair that removes the dew from the grass in their movement: Eriu, one of the personifications of Ireland; the poet approaches but she flees into a "sidh", a magical place: bruidhean Luachair; he follows her in the mist across marshes and moors and suddenly finds himself in front of a strange palace built by druidic magic.
Dans le tertre — In the mound: Sa charn
a) the crystal palace: "an lios gloine". The roof was made of white bronze, the openings entirely of glass, silver beds on brass plates; he drank wine there; she bared her breasts, they made love. It seemed to him that he had stayed one night, yet a year had passed.
b) The feast: "an lith". Food, music, dances.
Le songe d'Angus — Angus's dream: Aisling Aengusa — Angus, son of the Dagda, sees a ravishing girl in his dream one evening; she returns several nights in a row. He is so troubled that he wastes away from love for a year. No one finds a cure for him before the arrival of the druid-physician Fingen. He immediately guesses the cause of the illness and sends for the girl who haunts him, Caer Ibormeith. Her father refuses to give her away. Angus goes to find her himself. It is the festival of Samhain (November 1, the beginning of the Celtic year), he finds her transformed into a swan; one hundred and fifty swans are on the same lake, with golden links tinkling between each pair of swans. Angus asks Caer to be his mate; she agrees, he is changed into a swan and they both fly away followed by the others.
Le Pacte —The Pact: Comflaithius — Some Gaels wanted to put everyone to the sword, but the wind capsized their boat. The division of Ireland between the Tuatha Dé and the descendants of Mil or Gaels is done peacefully: the Gaels will live on the land and the T.D.D. under the earth. The latter then disperse into the different sidhs of Ireland as recounted in "The Feeding of the House of the Two Goblets". The agreement is called "comflaithius" or shared reign. Although the sidh are located near known places, it is said that all the sidh are part of Tir Tairngire, the promised land; in modern terms, the sidh are airlocks to another space-time.
Au-delà des 9 vagues — Beyond the 9 waves: Dar noi tonna or Taobh thall of naoi dtonn.
Original French translated via Google Translate.