Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Arrangement by Farya Faraji, vocals by Ila Rodriguez, Aurora Aguilar and Farya Faraji. This is a reworking of the version I uploaded in June of 2024 which can be listened to here: youtube.com/watch?v=Pn-vbEhPp9M&feature=youtu.be which included the unfortunately deep-rooted mistake in medieval reconstruction recordings of featuring the hurdy--gurdy's rhythmical buzz, called the chien, a physical component of the instrument only attested at the very end of the Middle-Ages and not known to exist at the time of this song, mostly dated between the 1100's to 1300's. I substituted this rythmic repetition of the tonic on the hurdy-gurdy's chien with a static drone on the lute.
This is a historically informed rendition of an old medieval song from Occitania, today's southern France where the Occitan language was historically predominant. It's widely believed that this song's origin and its melody may have roots in liturgical music that was repurposed in a comedic and parodic manner to fit the reality of the pastoral commoners.
The arrangement is historically informed and uses the known features of Medieval European music, namely the fact that the song is primarily monophonic in nature, driven by a constant drone on the tonic provided by the hurdy-gurdy, and the harmony used is accurate to the time period, taking the form of transposition to consecutive parallel fifths throughout the melody, as well as a drone harmony consisting solely of the perfect fifth. Both these forms of harmony are very much alien to today's Western triadic and tonal harmony, but were the norm from the 800's to the 1300's, when harmony began to take on a more polyphonic shape that would soon crystallise into today's tonal harmony of Western music.
The instrumentation consists of a hurdy-gurdy, a flute, lute, and cittern, with drums serving as percussions.
Lyrics in Medieval Occitan:
Ai vist lo lop, lo rainard, la lèbre
Ai vist lo lop, lo rainard dançar
Totei tres fasián lo torn de l'aubre
Ai vist lo lop, lo rainard, la lèbre
Totei tres fasián lo torn de l'aubre
Fasián lo torn dau boisson folhat.
Aquí trimam tota l'annada
Per se ganhar quauquei sòus
Rèn que dins una mesada
Ai vist lo lop, lo rainal, la lèbre
Nos i fotèm tot pel cuol
Ai vist lo lèbre, lo rainal, lo lop.
English translation:
I saw the wolf, the fox, the hare,
I saw the wolf, the fox dance.
All three were circling round the tree
I saw the wolf, the fox, the hare,
All three were circling round the tree,
They were circling round the sprouting bush.
Here we slave away all the year round
So we can earn a few coins
And just in a month's time
I saw the wolf, the fox, the hare,
We shove it all in our asses,
I saw the hare, the fox, the wolf.
Arrangement by Farya Faraji, vocals by Ila Rodriguez, Aurora Aguilar and Farya Faraji. This is a reworking of the version I uploaded in June of 2024 which can be listened to here: youtube.com/watch?v=Pn-vbEhPp9M&feature=youtu.be which included the unfortunately deep-rooted mistake in medieval reconstruction recordings of featuring the hurdy--gurdy's rhythmical buzz, called the chien, a physical component of the instrument only attested at the very end of the Middle-Ages and not known to exist at the time of this song, mostly dated between the 1100's to 1300's. I substituted this rythmic repetition of the tonic on the hurdy-gurdy's chien with a static drone on the lute.
This is a historically informed rendition of an old medieval song from Occitania, today's southern France where the Occitan language was historically predominant. It's widely believed that this song's origin and its melody may have roots in liturgical music that was repurposed in a comedic and parodic manner to fit the reality of the pastoral commoners.
The arrangement is historically informed and uses the known features of Medieval European music, namely the fact that the song is primarily monophonic in nature, driven by a constant drone on the tonic provided by the hurdy-gurdy, and the harmony used is accurate to the time period, taking the form of transposition to consecutive parallel fifths throughout the melody, as well as a drone harmony consisting solely of the perfect fifth. Both these forms of harmony are very much alien to today's Western triadic and tonal harmony, but were the norm from the 800's to the 1300's, when harmony began to take on a more polyphonic shape that would soon crystallise into today's tonal harmony of Western music.
The instrumentation consists of a hurdy-gurdy, a flute, lute, and cittern, with drums serving as percussions.
Lyrics in Medieval Occitan:
Ai vist lo lop, lo rainard, la lèbre
Ai vist lo lop, lo rainard dançar
Totei tres fasián lo torn de l'aubre
Ai vist lo lop, lo rainard, la lèbre
Totei tres fasián lo torn de l'aubre
Fasián lo torn dau boisson folhat.
Aquí trimam tota l'annada
Per se ganhar quauquei sòus
Rèn que dins una mesada
Ai vist lo lop, lo rainal, la lèbre
Nos i fotèm tot pel cuol
Ai vist lo lèbre, lo rainal, lo lop.
English translation:
I saw the wolf, the fox, the hare,
I saw the wolf, the fox dance.
All three were circling round the tree
I saw the wolf, the fox, the hare,
All three were circling round the tree,
They were circling round the sprouting bush.
Here we slave away all the year round
So we can earn a few coins
And just in a month's time
I saw the wolf, the fox, the hare,
We shove it all in our asses,
I saw the hare, the fox, the wolf.
