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Lou Festin dai magou  
Nissart lyrics and music by Georges Delrieu. Traditional from County of Nice.
Watercolour by Gustav Adolf Mossa published in Souta l’oulivié (“Under the olive tree”) by Georges Delrieu and Henri Carol, éd. Delrieu frères, to illustrate Lou Festin dai magou. | | 1st verse |
Sian lu fantaume, pihan pena
De si cuerbì de blanc lançòu.
Boulegan finda li cadena,
Desbrilan sauma, vaca, bòu.
Lu moutoun gras devenon maigre,
Espaventan tout lou pais,
L’oste noun sierve que vin aigre
E lou fournié que pan stais. | | We are the ghosts, we bother
To cover us with white sheet.
We shake the chains too,
We unbridle [the] mules, cows, oxen.
The fat sheep become scraggy,
We frighten the whole country,
The host serves only sour wine
And baker mouldy bread. |
Chorus |
Sian nautre lu mourre de tòla,
Sensa remoun tourdouléan
Tout à l’entour de la pairola,
Escouden cenque boulean. | | We are the awful killjoys (1),
Without making a racket we hang round
All around the cauldron,
We hide what we stir. |
2nd verse |
Lou drac
Sus nouostre suc aven de bana.
Malur doun soun passat lu drac !
Lu enfan vous fan la matana,
Lou paisan si crès embriac,
Lou magaioun es sensa plua,
L’aramoun laura d’arenin
E la bachourla si pertua,
Passa plus d’aiga en lou moulin ! | | The dragon
On our head we get horns.
Woe where have passed the dragons!
Children throw a tantrum,
The farmer thinks he’s drunk,
The dig hook is untoothed,
The stock [of the plough] churns fine sand
And the flask pierces itself,
No more water flows to the mill. |
3rd verse |
La masca
E se dòu tuis quauqu’un s’embila,
Se per carrièra v’acipas,
Au juec dai sòu se ven que pila,
Tambèn au cours se v’enganas,
Se siès agantat de la rasca,
Quau es lou mot que ven à tai ?
« Es mai aquela vielha masca ! »
Ahi ! Es nouostre aquéu travai ! | | The witch
And if because of the cough someone gets angry,
If in the street you stumble,
When tossing up if only the reverse side comes,
Likewise at the market if you make a mistake,
If you are reached by the ringworm (2),
What word comes just when needed?
“It’s again this old witch!”
Yes! It’s ours, this work! |
4th verse |
Lou magou
Una fès l’an e lou divendre,
Cousse rangou, magou gibous
S’agrumelan dau mage au mèndre,
Proch d’un pairòu que sembla un pous.
Cadun si leva, s’acoucouna,
Touta la nuech fin au matin.
Fantaume, drac, masca, mascouna
Noun fan qu’acò. Es lou festin ! | | The sorcerer
Once a year on Friday,
Lame gnomes, hunchbacked sorcerers
Gather together, from the eldest to the youngest,
Near a cauldron that looks like a well.
Each one stands up, crouches down,
All the night long up to morning.
Ghosts, dragons, witches, little witches
Do only this. It’s the feast! |
Last chorus |
Sian nautre lu mourre de tòla,
Sabès pas cenque bouléan ?
Es una cuècha de raiòla
Dintre un saussoun tourdouléan ! | | We are the awful killjoys,
Don’t you know what we are stirring?
It’s a cooking of raviolis
Inside a sauce [that] we are stirring! |
1. Mourre de tòla: ugly mug, literally “face of sheet metal”.
2. Rasca: ringworm, alopecia, impetigo.
| Bibliography | | • | Delrieu (Georges), Anthologie de la chanson niçoise (Anthology of the Song from Nice), Nice, publisher Delrieu & Co, 1960, p. 82-83. | | • | Tosan (Albert), Princivalle (Gaël) and d’Hulster (Frédéric), Anthologie de la chanson du comté de Nice (Anthology of the Song from County of Nice), Nice, Serre publisher, series “Encyclopædia niciensis – Patrimoine régional”, volume III, 2001, p. 116-117. |
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