Fla ! Fla !
Official song of the carnival of Nice 1926
Nissart lyrics by Dominique Jules Mari, music by Hyacinthe Tarelli, known as Cinto Tarelli. Traditional from County of Nice.

The theme for this year 1926 is “La marmite aux Enfers” (The cauldron in Hell).

First page of the music sheet for Fla ! Fla ! illustration by Gustav Adolf Mossa, éd. Delrieu frères, Nice, 1926.		1st verse
		De retour vers lou sièu tronou Carneval a rescountrat           Una filla De buona familla ; Couma si suona Petronou Per prenoun li a dounat           Petronilla Era indicat !           Cat !		Back to his throne Carnival met           A girl From a good family; As her name is Petronou For first name he gave her           Petronilla It was suitable!           Table!
		Chorus
		Petronilla ! Regina dei flou ! Petronilla ! Per aquestu giou Zou ! Distribu’ a toui l’allegria ! Zou ! Fai n’en anà en ravaria ! Petronilla ! Fai lou bacanal ! Petronilla ! Mena toui lu bal’ ! Zou ! Fai sautà bulou e viei ra... pla... pla ! Zou ! Que cadun s’amuse sensa...           Fla ! Fla !		Petronilla! Queen of the flowers! Petronilla! During these days Shoo! She distributes elation to everybody! Shoo! Let do us to be delirious [with joy]! Petronilla! Let do the drunken dance! Petronilla! She leads all the dances! Shoo! Let do the sturdy men and the old “done in” jump! Shoo! Let everybody play without...           Fla ! Fla !
		2nd verse
		Nouostra nouvell’ Eurydissa, Que li a chivus coupat,           Petronilla Es tan bella filla Que souta lou ciel de Nissa, Doun cadun ès enflamat’,           Petronilla Sau si faire aimà !           Fla !		Our new Eurydice (1), Who has cut hair (2),           Petronilla Is so pretty girl That beneath the Nice sky, Where everybody flares up,           Petronilla Knows how to be loved!           Fla!
		3rd verse
		À l’infer cour’avìa sete, Si mandava en lou gavai           De pastilla De buona vanilla. Ma despi lou giou dei gipe Noun vòu plus suçà giamai,           Petronilla, Que de gipe en fai !           Fai !		In Hell when she was thirsty, She scoffed in her throat           Pastilles Vanilla-flavoured. But since day of “plasters (3)” She wants to suck for ever,           Petronilla, Only plaster in packet (4)!           Ket!
		4th verse
		Coura la festa finida Embé lou sièu bèu roman,           Petronilla Si farà la filla, Lu diau, toui en partida, Counduche dau viei Satan,           En familla, Li zounzouneran           Zan !		When the feast is ended, With her beautiful story,           Petronilla Will do the girl, The devils, together join in, Take her to the old Satan,           With the family, Will murmur her           Zan!

1. In the Greek mythology, Eurydice died bit by a snake. Her husband Orpheus, granted by Zeus, went down to Hell to bring her back on the Earth. He calmed the ferocious Cerberus, pacified for a while the Furies, and was allowed by Hades to take back Eurydice, on one condition: Orpheus had not to look at Eurydice before steping across the threshold of Hell. But Orpheus forgot this condition, and Eurydice disappeared for ever.

2. During Belle Époque (ca. the Edwardian era) – first years of 20th century – and the Roaring Twenties, the fashion for women was to have an urchin cut.

3. The “plaster day” refers to the last carnival day during which were used confetti that, in the past, were not made of paper, but formed by small pellets of plaster. The nissart “gip” designates gypsum from which is extracted the plaster, and, by metonymy, the plaster itself.

4. Fai: bundle, and more generally load to carry.

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