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La Blanche Hermine
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = La Blanche Hermine
| cover =
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| artist = Gilles Servat
| album = La Blanche Hermine
| released = 1971
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| genre = Folk
| length = 3:47
| label = Kelenn, Phonogram
| writer = Gilles Servat
| producer =
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'La Blanche Hermine' (French for "The White Ermine") is a 1970 song by French singer Gilles Servat with lyrics affirming the Breton identity. It was first published on the eponymous album from 1971, which was certified gold. Calling for an armed uprising against the French, the song quickly became an anthem in Brittany and popular in all of France.
Song
The song is a rhymed seven-syllable laisse. The ermine from the title was the heraldic animal of the Duchy of Brittany, a sovereign feudal state.
The lyrics are about a villager who meets "a band of sailors, workers and peasants" who are going to ambush the "Franks" and win their freedom. He joins them and sings about the plight of his wife, visiting her and children in secret during the war, and possibly dying for his homeland.
The chorus mentions the fortresses of Fougres and Clisson, which seems to point to the feudal wars of the Bretons against the French at the border of the duchy. However, the rebels' "charged guns" indicate a more recent past; therefore, the only plausible period is believed to be the Chouannerie war of the French Revolution, popularized by La Villemarqu in 'Barzaz Breiz'.[https://archive.org/details/barzazbreizchant01lavi For example, in the poems 'Ar re c'hlaz' or 'Ar chouanted']See also: Franois Cadic, 'Chants de Chouans', Slatkine, 1949. The song is often found in collections dedicated to the Chouans, the War in the Vende, and the Legitimists, but also in general collections of military songs.
Background
Servat wrote the song in 1970, at the age of 25, while living in Paris.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHDMIv7jUH8 La blanche hermine ], DVD Nuit Celtique 2002 (Stade de France) The day before, he had heard an Irish song about the departure of a guerilla fighter with a bullet in his pocket.Stphane Grammont, [https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/bretagne/travers-chants-20-chansons-avec-de-la-bretagne-dedans-777081.html travers chants: 20 chansons avec de la Bretagne dedans], France 3 Bretagne, 27 July 2015 That same evening, he sang it for the first time at 'Ti Jos', a Breton restaurant at Montparnasse, where he made a living by begging.Stphane Guihneuf, [http://www.letelegramme.fr/finistere/pont-labbe/brodeuses-dans-les-pas-de-gilles-servat-10-07-2015-10700405.php Brodeuses. Dans les pas de Gilles Servat], Le Tlgramme, 10 July 2015 The words and the protest energy of the song made a big impression on the Bretons, which surprised the artist himself.
After the protests of May 68, Brittany had gone through an identity crisis and an economic transition. Servat wrote the warrior song to make the Bretons aware of their plight and inspire an uprising:
Bibliography in French
* Daniel Chatelain and Pierre Tafini, 'Qu'est ce qui fait courir les autonomistes ?', Stock, 1976
* Erwan Chartier, 'Gilles Servat. Portrait', Blanc Silex, 2004
* Guy Millire, 'Gilles Servat, posie et chansons', Seghers, 1975
References
'The above information is taken from the French Wikipedia article on the subject.'
Category:Breton music
Category:French music
Category:1971 songs
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