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Qu'avez​-​vous, oui, Belle Blonde?

from A Celebration of Twenty by IONA

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Qu’avez-vous, Oui, Belle Blonde?(What’s up, pretty blonde?)/Ton bal Eured/Villancicu pixuatu/Salee de Llanes Cajun
Breton/Asturian trad

Refugees from religious persecution in France and Brittany immigrated to Canada's east coast in the eighteenth century, where they came to be referred to as Acadians. Ousted by the British, they fled south, settling in Louisiana, forming the roots of the thriving Cajun culture we know today. This version of Qu'avez-vous, collected by John and Alan Lomax from the singing of Jesse Stafford, is a song of discontent (although Barbara likes to interpret it as a song about how wonderful blondes are, based on the line "it's all for blondes, nothing for brunettes"). We intersperse Breton wedding dances from Polig Monjarret's collection to demonstrate the undeniable relationship between Breton and Cajun music, and finish off with a rousing set of tunes from Asturies, one of the Celtic areas in Spain: the first, a carol from Cuideiru, then a dance tune from Llanes. Chuck performs his debut on washboard..

Remastered from "Branching Out " (IONA - 2003)

lyrics

Qu'avez-vous, Oui, Belle Blonde?(What's up, pretty blonde?)

Je m'endors, je m'endors et j'ai soif et j'ai faim.
Le soleil est couché et tu viens loin de la maison.
Qu'avez-vous, oui belle blonde? Qu'avez-vous, oui belle brune?
C'est tous pour les blondes; c'est rien pour les brunes.

O les gens de Crowley sont toujours dans le chemin,
Sont toujours dans le chemin-z à rechercher-z à mal faire.
Avec le jug de plombeau et le ferail dans la poche,
Sont toujours dans le chemin-z à rechercher-z à mal faire.

Je m'endors, je m'endors et j'ai soif et j'ai faim.
Le soleil est couché et tu viens loin de la maison.
Bye-bye, oui belle blonde, bye-bye, oui belle brune:
C'est tous pour les blondes; c'est rien pour les brunes.

credits

from A Celebration of Twenty, released May 15, 2006
Barbara Ryan(vocals, bouzouki, bodhrán)
Bernard Argent (whistle, tambourine)
Bob Mitchell (Highland pipes)
Chuck (bass guitar, washboard)

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IONA Washington, D.C.

IONA has been taking its unique brand of traditional Celtic music to festivals, arts centers, schools & house concerts all over North America and Europe since 1986, blending music from the various Celtic traditions with stories and a little humor - Barbara Ryan (vocals, bouzouki, bodhran), Bernard Argent (flute, doumbek), Chuck Lawhorn (bass), Jim Queen (fiddle, banjo) & Kathleen Larrick (dance). ... more

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