After our first article about linguistic minorities and militant music in Italy, here is a second article about minority languages, this time in France. If you missed our punk playlist in minority languages, you can find it here.

Here’s the full article. Enjoy!

François Fontan, “Ethnism”:

“For as long as it takes place, assimilation means for the subjugated people a greater obstacle to the acquisition of education. The teaching given in a foreign language, the reduction of the mother tongue to the level of a non-literary language, of a pariah and despised language, prevents the development of the creative faculties of the individual, destroys an essential condition of the child’s development, and thus leads a whole people to a kind of removal and cultural decay.”

Trotsky, “And now?”:

“The distinctive element in Bolshevism in the national question consists in considering oppressed nationalities […] not only as an objective element, but as a subjective element of politics. Bolshevism does not merely grant them the “right” to self-decision and protest to parliament against the violation of this right. Bolshevism penetrates among the oppressed nationalities, makes them rise up against the oppressor, links their struggle to that of the proletariat in the capitalist countries, teaches the oppressed Chinese, Indians or Arabs the art of insurrection, and takes full responsibility for this work before the civilized executioners. Only here begins Bolshevism, that is, revolutionary Marxism in action. Everything that does not reach these limits remains centrism.”

Antoni Simon Mossa, “The Reasons for Independentism”:

“France, the country that has taught freedom to other peoples, that has a democratically mature population, is nevertheless still the most nationalist and anti-communitarian country that exists. French culture has undoubtedly contributed to the suppression and, in some territories, the erasure of any community consciousness.”

The main idioms forced to a condition of “minority” language in France (and covering more than half of the surface of the state) are Flemish (in the French Westhoek, region of Haute-France), Arpitan also known as Franco-Provençal (spoken in several areas of the administrative regions of Burgundy-Franche-Comté and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, as well as in western Switzerland and Italy, specifically in territories scattered between Valle d’Aosta, Liguria, Piedmont and even in a couple of municipalities in Puglia), Breton and Gaul in Brittany (Breizh and Bertègn, in the native languages), German in Lorraine, Alsatian in Alsace, Occitan in almost all of southern France, Basque in Iparralde, Catalan in Roussillon or Northern Catalonia, Romaní (especially in the south), Corsican and in a couple of municipalities in Corsica Ligurian (where until the second half of the last century there was a historic Greek minority in the municipality of Cargese). With regard to other languages, there is an ongoing debate about whether they are variants of French (identified as the continuation of the ancient langue d’oïl) or whether they can be considered autonomous, such as Picard, Norman, Walloon, Pittavino-Santongese, Lorraine, Frainc-Comtou, Burgundian and Champenois.

One could venture to define France, like Italy and Spain, as a state created on the basis of interests, invasions and conquests and without taking into account real factors such as demographic composition, linguistic-ethnographic distribution and, above all, the effective will of the inhabitants of these regions, who for centuries have been denied basic rights concerning self-determination, the formation of their own administrations and/or State bodies and the use of their own language at all levels; France, not by chance, is considered a sort of “minority-eater”. In short, whether we are talking about Brittany, Occitania or Alsace, the annexation has always been obtained with the sword and the rifle or with marriage agreements between aristocrats; Therefore, for the proletariat and the popular strata such agreements are worth less than waste paper and their antiquity does not provide any added value, on the contrary, it is a proof of the fact that they are largely outdated, as are the same laws and constitutions on the subject (it is almost futile to emphasize how hypocritical are the international institutions, which at the same time recognize the right to self-determination and independence but also the “intangibility of borders” of large states, contradictory principles that can be used for the use and consumption of the same imperialist entities or blocs).

We must remember the many overseas colonies still in the hands of the French administration, in which there are particular languages that have often had the role of conveying forms of communication and revolutionary and anti-colonial expression, which deserve a separate discussion and to be addressed elsewhere. These colonies are New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, East Polynesia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Reunion and East Guyana, where there have been Marxist and anti-imperialist formations (Trotskyist, Maoist, Marxist-Leninist or linked to the New Left) that have also led to forms of armed struggle as the Alliance révolutionnaire caraïbe, the Groupe de Libération Armée and Yich Telga.

Independentism on French soil has tended to take progressive positions, sometimes and especially in certain decades openly revolutionary, but in some regions the political forces of this tendency have been characterized by approaching the national question by appealing to the most boorish traditionalism and the worst forms of nationalism, opposing the theories on ethnicism of François Fontan and Antoni Simon Mossa, markedly anti-nationalist. The Alsatian, Flemish, Nice and Savoy movements are unfortunately characterized by centrist positions and tend to be conservative and petit-bourgeois, sometimes coming close to xenophobia and neo-Nazism (Nissa Rebela, Alsace d’abord, Vlaams Verbond van Frankrijk by Abbot Gantois, Adsav in Brittany. Note how very often formations of this type or moderate conservatives claim positions closer to autonomism and regionalism than to real independence, worrying more about “opposing the construction of minarets” or the “distribution of soups of local cuisine soaked in lard” that observant Muslim believers can not consume, and other sincerely ridiculous actions).

This also happened, for example, in Brittany in the first half of the “short century”, as various groupings composed largely of elements from the petty and large bourgeoisie and the clergy sought alliance during World War II with Nazi Germany, an alliance crowned by the contribution of volunteer soldiers, hoping to achieve a supposed “liberation” of their land with the help of and subservience to such a reactionary external power. The responsibility also falls on the leadership of the parties and movements of the working class, which either ignored the problem or adopted ridiculous positions that appealed to forms of “patriotism” behind which are hidden nationalist and social-imperialist reminiscences that claim roots in the Jacobins and the French Revolution (think of the sometimes ambiguous attitudes of the Parti Communiste Français towards the peoples fighting in the colonies and the minoritized languages).

The peoples discussed here consider their specific oppression, termed internal colonization, tripartite in three different factors: political, resulting from forced centralism; economic and social, caused by capitalism; and cultural, originating from Jacobinism and the bourgeoisie, which required centralized states on all levels, including the linguistic one. The nationalitary movements within the “small” peoples often take on anti-nationalist connotations, unlike what the moderate opportunist detractors and the exponents of the “ultra-left” claim, who unwittingly take sides on the same barricade as the reaction (we are talking in particular about the chauvinists of the “Left”, often more committed to producing “patriotic” propaganda and criticism of “separatism” than in the battles of working men and women) in the same mold as the inglorious representatives of social democracy who supported the great massacre of World War I), questioning the very roots of French nationalism and imperialism (it is no coincidence that the exponents of the right are concerned with “denouncing” these movements as “anti-France”).

OCCITANIA

Known as lenga d’óc, the Occitan language had a flourishing past, also as a literary language (particularly in the Middle Ages), until the crusade invoked by the pope against the Cathar heretics, which was decidedly inauspicious for the people of those territories who had to suffer Catholic oppression through the Tribunal of the Inquisition. Engels himself mentioned the contribution to European culture and the blood-soaked invasion suffered by these people in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung in 1848, even though he concluded that the Occitanist movement of his time was reactionary and in defense of feudal residues; at the beginning of the twentieth century, however, the south was subject to the hatred and racism of the north, particularly following the revolt of the vine-dressers in 1907, and the south began to be identified as the lair of “republicanism, Judaism, Protestantism, parliamentarianism, and Freemasonry”.

Occitania proper is a vast territory, which includes almost all of southern France, the Val d’Aran administered by Spanish Catalonia, the Principality of Monaco and the Occitan Valleys in Piedmont. The status of this idiom is not the best, having suffered centuries of repression by French bureaucrats who have stabilized their dominance through discriminatory linguistic policies, while in the administrative entity of Catalonia subject to Spain it enjoys a condition of co-officiality. In recent decades, the pan-Occitanist movement is going through a happy season even if downsized compared to the seventies, as the contact and fusion with the movements of struggle concerning the protection of the environment and anti-fascism is well successful.

The most prestigious historical figure of the movement and its main theorist is François Fontan, who has a very particular militant background, as his phases of militancy testify: first a member of an unlikely monarchical-socialist formation, then an anarchist, Trotskyist and Maoist. Founder of such pivotal groups as the Partit Nacionalista Occitan (now social-democratic although originally inspired by the Algerian FLN and Marxism), the Movimento Autonomista Occitano (whose acronym, MAO, is by no means accidental), his theory was also strongly influenced by the Marxist psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich and anti-imperialism (he was condemned because of his help to the Algerian National Liberation Front but was also characterized by questionable pro-Zionist stances in the Palestinian issue).

Traditionally a sector “on the Left”, in addition to social democratic groups (Partit Occitan, Esquèrra Republicana Occitana, Bastir!) Occitan independence boasts and has boasted Marxist and anarcho-communist formations such as Organizacion Democratica del Pòble Occitan, Libertat!, Lucha Occitana, Occitània Libertària, Federacion Anarquista Comunista d’Occitània, Anaram Au Patac, Pòble d’Òc, Patriòtas Occitans, Reviscòl Roergàs, Corrent Revolucionari Occitan, Hartèra, and Brigade Rouge d’Occitanes. Another of the major theorists of Occitanism, Félix Castan, was also previously an adherent of the Parti communiste français.

A sort of Occitan national anthem is Se chanta, theoretically a love song but in practice used as an Albigensian resistance song against the crusade (or in other words, military invasion) and there is a sort of provisional government called Republica Federala Occitana. An aid to the development of these movements came from Gaullist policies, which tended to favor the development of the northern regions and led to the closure of the mining and industrial center of Decazeville, hardening relations between France and Occitania.

Occitan music has always been lively and well known for the use of a large number of instruments characteristic of the area (fifres, rebebas, semitons, galobets, samponha, bodega, etc.) and for the presence of wandering singer-musicians known as trobadors, but in the last century there has been a turning point that has unfortunately led to the consideration of all these characteristics as immutable and more suitable for historical re-enactments based on folk dances and popular songs, a phenomenon opposed by the movement of the Nova Cançon Occitana (also thanks to the push of the analogous Catalan phenomenon), which has recovered practices and popular songs of ancient origin, but has not proceeded to the same process of ethno-folkloric embalming.

Exponents such as Daniel Daumàs, Mans de Breish, Marie Rouanet, the anarchist Joan-Pau Verdier, Patric, Claudia Galibert, Josiana Vincenzutto (whose surname is unequivocally of Friulian origin), Claudi Martí, Pèire-Andrièu Delbeau, Jacmelina (author of the Cançon Per Puig Antich), Jan Mària Carlotti, Cardabèla, Tòcabiòl, André Chiron, the Gascon Nadau (among the best known, very active in the creation of Occitan schools known as Calandretas and in Cap’òc, a service of pedagogical elaboration in the Languedoc language), Bombes 2 Bal, Marc Perrone, Los pagalhós, Los Caminaires D’Oc, Rosina De Peira e Martina, Jan dau Melhau, Peiraguda, Miquèu Montanaro, the anarchist Gaston Beltrame, Eric Fraj, Francesa Daga and Didier Duponteix contributed to the link between Occitanist struggle and Left militancy (in fact they actively participated in the Luta del Larzac, which saw the local peasants confront the expansion of land destined for military use through the expropriation of land), acting with their songs as a “soundtrack for Occitan ’68”, a movement in which the little Woody Guthries thrived and advanced their attacks on French “internal colonization”.

If their successors in the “Italian” part adopt an approach that starts from dance music and to which they add more or less rocking elements, in the “French” Occitania the most combative bands usually have an approach more related to patchanka (very generic term, whose main historical reference is Sandinista!, historical album by The Clash, which proceeded to a heterogeneous mixture of genres also very distant from each other). A very committed group, active in the underground since the emblematic 1984, is the originally reggae group of Massilia Sound System, very tied to the city and its team (whose fans are on the Left) and the starting point for many other projects. Other heterogeneous bands are Fabulous Trobadors (who have, among other things, taken a public stance against the fascists of the Front National) and their “cousins” Femmouzes T., Papet J., Nux Vomica, Moussu T e lei Jovents (whose Facebook page is very clear on the chosen side of the barricade, with posts in solidarity with Rojava, Catalonia, strikes, Zapatistas and red flags with hammer and sickle), Mauresca Fracàs Dub, Oai Star, Lo Còr de la Plana, D’Aqui Dub, Lo Mago d’en Casteù, La Talvera, Compagnie Lubat Dé Gasconha, the Languedocian Du Bartàs (who have created a version of the anti-Franco song ¡Ay Carmela! and one for the anarchist Sante Caserio), Uèi, Lou Dàvi, Sam Karpienia, Casa Grinta, Gari Grèu and Dupain, who connect folk from many places (even from Brittany) with more experimental sounds.

Rap/hip hop has several representatives, such as Doctors de Trobar, while punk in Occitan is not widespread if not as the energetic glue of patchanka, even if there is no lack of important examples and precedents such as Papà Gahús, the oi! of Gojats of Hédas, linked to the Libertat! movement. And, representatives of the classic militant anti-fascist and radical formation, the revolutionary ska-punk against “the Jacobin bureaucracy of the central state” of Goulamas’K, and Arnapi. Tados and La Bande à Kaader, on the other hand, are linked to Occitanist claims but do not use the langue d’oc. There are also several metal groups, but they do not become established as committed formations, with the exception of Sonoloco, and some contemporary singer-songwriters, among which it is worth mentioning Marilís Orionaa, Corne d’Aur’òc, Joan-Frances Tisnèr, Primaël e Joanda, Trencavel, Loule Sabronde, Parpalhon and Familha Artús, now known only as Artús, a recent progressive and experimental group influenced by medieval sounds that define musica radicala de Gasconha and considered part of the Rock In Opposition movement. Final note: even a “mainstream” author like Francis Cabrel has taken a stand in favor of the language and has recorded some songs in Occitan.

Ed.: you can read our article about the new album by Goulamas’K here.

NORTH CATALONIA

This is the territory belonging to the department of Pyrénées-Orientales, whose best known comarca is Roussillon, a name often used to identify the whole Catalan-speaking area. An often forgotten territory, barely recognized (by regional administrative entities but not by the central state) and subject, like the others, to massive Frenchification since the nineteenth century, it has been politically less active than the other minoritized nationalities of the state. This in no way detracts from the resistance carried out by groups linked to the combative Left in the past: Esquerra Catalana dels Treballadors (close to Maoist theory), Organització Socialista d’Alliberament Nacional e Partit Socialista d’Alliberament Nacional (Marxists); there has also been a group dedicated to armed struggle, Resistència Catalana, which has directed its attacks mainly against French urban interests. In addition, recent years have witnessed the resurgence of the Catalan movement in this area and protests calling for a referendum with the aim of reunifying the department with the rest of Catalonia; it should be noted that independence militants helped their compatriots in the uprisings that occurred in 2017, including against the repression that resulted from the vote. In addition, there has been an improvement in the spread of Catalan in the last ten years, particularly in signage and teaching, but this still affects a low percentage of the population.

Pere Figueres, poet and singer-songwriter, symbol of the Catalan cultural rebirth and exponent of Nova Cançó (Catalan anti-Francoist songwriting phenomenon born at the end of the 50’s), is from Rossiglionese Catalonia. He is among the main exponents of the Grup d’Acció Cultural Guillem de Cabestany collective of songwriters, together with Jordi Barre and the more humorous and surrealist Joan Pau Giné. Another important exponent is Teresa Rebull: born in the “Spanish” Catalonia, daughter of two anarcho-syndicalists, she became part of the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista, an anti-Francoist organization of Trotskyist tendency) during the Spanish Civil War of 36-39, she was forced by the victory of the fascists to exile in France where she collaborated with the partisans and befriended André Breton, Jean Malaquais, Sartre, Camus and Brassens. Very active even if burdened by the most disparate occasional jobs, she collaborated with the Spanish government in exile and was part of the Casal de Catalunya, an association of Catalan exiles in Paris. At the beginning of her first concert there is the chance: some young people asked her to perform, thus starting in 1968 an intense musical and cultural activity in defense of the Catalan language and culture heavily attacked by Franco’s fascism, becoming the Àvia de la Nova Cançó (the “grandmother of the new Catalan song”). She passed away in 2006, in northern Catalonia, in Banyuls de la Marenda, the place where she settled in 1979. Also worth mentioning is Serge Utgé-Royo, who recorded a few songs in Catalan (a version of Lluis Llach’s L’estaca, Une énorme boule rouge).

BRITTANY AND GAUL

Breton is often remembered because it is the only Celtic idiom still present on continental soil and the French state, ça va sans dire, had a heavy hand with it, as noted by linguists of the level of Michel Malherbe. Protection has improved in recent years, of course, but it remains at risk of disappearing (as UNESCO notes in its Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger), along with the other language spoken in the region, Gaul, of neo-Latin origin and less recognized. Both are used in the administrative region of Brittany, from which, however, the Department of Loire-Atlantique has been excluded, an issue on which there are political claims in favor of reunification. In response to this situation, language schools, newspapers and associations have sprung up, bilingualism has been achieved in the toponymy and the teaching of the two languages in state schools.

In obtaining these rights, however minimal, had and has great importance the revolutionary political activity of formations such as Breizhistance (the main anti-capitalist-independentist movement today), Emgann (close to the Noveau Parti anticapitaliste), Dispac’h, Union démocratique bretonne (today social-democratic but at one time present within it were Marxist bangs), the Mao-Guevarist Parti communiste breton, the anarchists of Stourm Breizh, Treger Disuj and Coordination Bretagne Indépendante et libertaire, the self-management socialists of Comités d’action bretons and Front socialiste autogestionnaire breton, the close to democratic confederalism of Douar ha Frankiz, the trade union Sindikad Labourerien Breizh, various groups in defense and for the dissemination of the language and associations for the protection of political prisoners (Skoazell Vreizh, Coordination antirépressive de Bretagne), in addition to the important armed struggle led by the Front de libération de la Bretagne and the Armée Révolutionnaire Bretonne. The battles for national liberation, even if they were developed in the nineteenth century on the wave of the revival of nationalism, in particular the Irish one, have centuries-old roots.

The musical production of this people is remarkable, especially in the “traditional” sphere (such as the Sœurs Goadec and the Frères Morvan) and in the period of the renowned sixties/seventies, decades in which the class struggle in the region flourished and linked itself to independentism, modernizing the Breton movement, previously anchored on traditionalist, petit-bourgeois and even fascist positions. It is necessary to specify the presence of important exceptions, such as small groups and minorities of a few hundred people within the nationalist and regionalist movements, such as the members of the Groupe régionaliste breton who passed from conservatism to internationalism with the passage of time, the Parti national révolutionnaire breton, Sao Breiz, Strollad Emrenerien Vreiz, Ligue fédéraliste de Bretagne, the partisans of Bleiz Mor and Groupe Liberté de Saint-Nazaire, and important individuals such as the progressive presbyter and partisan Abbé Pierre, the thinker Yann Sohier, internationalist, anti-fascist and socialist as well as staunch defender of the right of self-determination of all peoples and founder of the magazine Ar Falz, (The Sickle), a name certainly not accidental, and others such as Charles Brunellière, Maurice Duhamel, Francis Gourvil, Youenn Souffes-Després, Jean Le Maho and the anarchist-socialist Émile Masson.

It was during these years that the socialist avant-garde of the territory became aware of the phenomenon of colonization and systematic destruction of language and culture to which their compatriots had been subjected, giving rise to dozens of groups of Celtic music or that are partially related to it, which are joined by soloists and bands of all kinds, sometimes limited to popular festivals called Fest-noz but also internationally successful, as in the case of Alan Stivell. Stivell is one of the most representative musicians of the Breton scene, who since the seventies has renewed the music of the region thanks to his experiments with the harp and other instruments and by making use of his mother tongue, which has not prevented him from achieving success and worldwide recognition. Aligned with the Left, he was a spokesman for various demands, first and foremost those of the Breton people (and of Pan-Celticism in general), but also internationalist, egalitarian and ecologist. Among his most important works is Before landing, a 1977 concept album on Breton history that serves as a call for “national liberation against a history falsified by the bourgeoisie”. In the seventies he was openly in favor of the construction of a communist society, while in later times his militancy has unfortunately been watered down into a sort of social democratic and “humanitarian” autonomism; moreover, although he dedicated a song to Bobby Sands, he became a supporter of a utopian pacifism and decidedly not materialistic, and his anti-capitalism has become just as little attentive to the objective reality of things to pursue vacuous trends in the style of happy degrowth. Having said that, it is worth remembering that he was the most important musician to act as a megaphone for the struggle of “other civilizations” denied by the “demons of French nationalism”, as he himself stated decades ago before expiring in new age fashion.“demoni del nazionalismo francese”, come egli stesso affermava decenni fa prima di scadere nella moda new age.

Since the 1970s, an extraordinary undergrowth of chanson bretonne authors has been forming in Brittany, referring to struggles, working-class life and more intimate themes. Most united around the 1972 Manifeste de Plessala des chanteurs bretons, in which some fifty artists placed themselves “at the service of the people” and helped to revive and renew the nation’s popular energies and culture, not only with the production of theoretical material, but also with the subsequent creation of cooperatives of musicians, with the stated goal of liberating “politically, economically, socially and culturally the Breton people” (many would later participate in Skoazell Vreizh, 1976 LP in support of the families of imprisoned militants). Of these, several used French, while drawing heavily from the musical tradition of the territory, such as Serge Kerguiduff, the Basque Gérard Ducos, the “female bard” Maripol o Annkrist, songwriter whose songs drew heavily from the blues (she gave the voice to songs like the Orwellian Prison 101 and 27 rue Kernadeis, on the miserable conditions of a worker).

In the same period began his activity Gilles Servat, who in 1971 released a record symbol of the independentist and socialist militancy (he was active in the Union Démocratique Bretonne, in whose name he ran for Nantes in 1982), La Blanche Hermine, whose eponymous song is an authentic battle song that incites to the redemption and unity of Breton workers against French imperialism, a song that recently has paradoxically suffered an attempt of appropriation by the Front National. Other important songs are Gwerz Victor C’hara (Ballad for Victor Jara), Les prolétaires, Classes, Daou dewezh eus Maria Otaegui (against Francoism), Trugarekadenn, Ki Du, Le Pays Basque.

Another poet, guitarist and militant songwriter is Evgen Kirjuhel, who has recorded folk songs (often related to theatrical performances and inspired by blues, jazz and flamenco) on the ’68 in Paris (Ah, le joli mois de Mai à Paris!), on the Maoist worker and militant Pierre Overney murdered by a security guard (Chant Funèbre A La Mémoire De Pierre Overney) and myriad others related to strikes, demonstrations, labor struggles and inconvenient artists. In the absence of record companies interested in publishing his work, he founded a collective called Droug, in 1972, through which he distributed his first 33 rpm independently. Although he was not of Breton origin, he was convinced by Glenmor to espouse the cause of these Celtic people and took positions against the patriarchal sexism and bigotry that permeated Breton society at the time (a subject touched on in the song Les Mâles).

Tri Yann, also active since the seventies (and officially disbanded this year) and well-known gauchistes, were discovered by Servat, who contributed to the development of their folk rock and to make them one of the most important Breton ensembles. They have recorded several songs that refer to centuries-old songs of struggle and in the eighties they sided with the intense popular ecological mobilizations and against the construction of a nuclear power plant in Plogoff sur la Pointe-du-Raz, facts referred to in the album An Heol A Zo Glaz; the album Suite gallaise is in Gaul. In the nineties has been active a formation of rock fusion with some components of Tri Yann, the Kad.

Of the same militant kind is Gweltaz Ar Fur, a singer-songwriter who became aware of his national identity at the age of fourteen and in the seventies used his voice and acoustic guitar as a means of denunciation and support for the strikes and prisoners of the Front de libération de la Bretagne. Before becoming a bookseller, he participated in the foundation of the Diwan schools in 1977 (where Breton-French bilingualism is still active) and has released three albums (the last in 2010), collaborating with all the most important artists of the Breton cultural revival and with bands such as Diaouled Ar Menez.

Another of the most important animators of Breton culture, active since the 1950s and who died at the end of the millennium, is Glenmor, pseudonym of Émile Le Scanve (or Milig ar Skañv). True guru of the mixture between art and militant independence, poet, theater actor, writer and composer of peasant origin, he suffered from childhood humiliation and punishment because he spoke in his mother tongue at school. Initially he tried to engage in militant theater but then diverted his artistic commitment in music, writing important battle songs such ase Kan bale an ARB (anthem of the Armée révolutionnaire bretonne), which he actively supported, for example by participating in the hunger strike in demand of the release of some political prisoners guilty of having made an attack against the palace of Versailles.

Particular is the case of a friend and collaborator of his, Youenn Gwernig, who moved at the end of the fifties to the United States, becoming its citizen. A friend of Jack Kerouac, he will create a folk that amalgamates American pop culture, beat generation and Celtic tradition of the motherland, where he will return the following decade. During his stay in New York he will write numerous poems in Breton often dedicated to the “great tribe” of the damned and discriminated (at the request of Kerouac he will adopt a trilingual system, adding versions of the same text in English and French), while for the first record work we had to wait until 1971, containing the iconic Les derniers bougnoules, in which the condition of the Breton people is associated with that of other discriminated populations on French soil (the term bougnole is a derogatory appellation used to define Arabs, blacks and Romani) and with an indicative ending: “‘lec’h mont d’an Amerik/aet on gant ‘n F.L.B.! – rather than America/I joined the F.L.B. – Front de libération de la Bretagne”.

The range of musicians from this period extends far beyond those already mentioned. Others are the “sixty-eight” anti-militarist Gérard Delahaye (as well as a member of the band of Breton veterans of the beat generation Trio EDF and founder of the popular cooperative-record label ca Névénoé), Manu Lann Huel, Jef Philippe, Melaine Favennec, Yann-Fañch Kemener, Andrea Ar Gouilh, Erik Marchand, the bizarre Gwendal, storyteller and violinist Patrick Ewen, the Ar Breizerien vocal ensemble, Kristen Noguès, Claude Besson, Sonerien Du, and pacifist Maxime Piolot.

Storlok, on the other hand, is known as the “first Breton rock band”. Active only for a few years, from 1976 to 1980, they still had time to record a 45 rpm and an LP. Both contain Gwerz maro Jorj Jackson, The Ballad of George Jackson, dedicated to the famous militant of the Black Panther Party murdered in prison by a prison guard and author of the extraordinary writings contained in Blood in my Eye and Soledad Brothers. The album Stok ha stok includes Keleier Plogoff, dedicated to the battle against the construction of a nuclear power plant. Some members of the group continued the activity of musicians: Denez Abernot (important figure also in Diwan schools) and Bernez Tangi.

The best known of the contemporary scene are Les Ramoneurs de Menhirs, exponents of celtic anarchic punk and which also include former Bérurier Noir members, as well as being known for collaborating with the important exponent of chanson bretonne Louise Ebrel and for the recording of personal versions of songs such as Bella ciao (Bell’Arb), La Blanche Hermine, Viva la revolution (by Adicts) and La Makhnovtchina. Others engaged in the side of punk are Tri Bleiz Die, who have carried on a discontinuous activity since the nineties, Trouz An Noz, born in 2007 and who share the same militant charge of the Ramoneurs even if less celtic and with electronic elements (they maintain however a violin in the formation) and also use the Gaul, i Digresk on the same militant and celtic-punk wave, BogZH Celtic Cats, who add to the formula Irish influences and rock’n’roll. Other examples active in the last decades are the militant crossover of rap and rock of Rhapsoldya, the celtic rock of Daonet, EV and Soldat Louis, the progressive of Brieg Guerveno, the ska-dub-rock of Fiskal Bazar, the patchanka that combines gypsy rhythms, Celtic and Algerian rhythms of the Collectif Jeu à la Nantaise, the singer and composer Nolwenn Korbell, the acoustic rock singer-songwriter Dom Duff, Taÿfa who combine the Celtic-Breton musical tradition in a curious mélange with the Berber and Arab-Andalusian one and lyrics about peoples in revolt and misery.

In addition, there is an interesting experiment carried out by Breton (from Red Cardell) and Scottish musicians united in a single band called The Celtic Social Club, known for having recorded a song dedicated to Joe Strummer of The Clash and that carries out a mélange of traditional Celtic songs revisited, rock, blues, folk, reggae, hip hop and kan ha diskan, a Breton genre characterized by the sing-song beat and response (exemplary is the EP Kan ha Diskan, in which is mentioned several times the Front de libération de la Bretagne, by Lama Meur and Yann Ber, and is dedicated to the success of the strike of the Joint Français, dated 1972 and supported by musicians such as Tri Yann, Servat and the Occitan Claude Nougaro). Québreizh on the other hand dealt with an unlikely but effective intercontinental communion of Breton and Quebec folk music and in 1978 released the album of the same name containing several combative songs in the Celtic language. Not to be missed are Renésens, who perform the créoloceltique, (or more correctly Musik Kréoloceltik), a mixture of Breton and Creole sounds and instrumentation from Réunion, an island still subject to France and located near Madagascar and Mauritius, full of denunciation lyrics on issues such as anti-racism, the environment, the prohibitions on minoritized languages and crushed by the educational institutions of the French state (such as Breton and Reunion Creole) and the deportation of Chagossians from their islands by the British to make room for U.S. military bases. There are many other examples of political as well as musical commitment on the island (Kiltir, Ousanousava, Ziskakan, Baster, Kom Zot, Danyèl Waro who was part of the Parti communiste réunionnais) but for reasons of space it is necessary to give up talking about them here. loro isole da parte dei britannici per far spazio alle basi militari statunitensi. Molti altri sono gli esempi di impegno politico oltre che musicale nell’isola (Kiltir, Ousanousava, Ziskakan, Baster, Kom Zot, Danyèl Waro che ha fatto parte del Parti communiste réunionnais) ma per questioni di spazio è necessario rinunciare a parlarne in sede.

Ed.: We talked about Les Ramoneurs de Menhirs in an article about Brittany. If you missed it, you can find it here.

IPARRALDE

Even the small Iparralde (approximately three thousand square kilometers), a French Basque territory, has an independent and revolutionary history worthy of note. Made up of three provinces (Lapurdi, Zuberoa, Behe-Nafarroa) located in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques region, it is inhabited by over three hundred thousand people, but only a few tens of thousands speak Basque as a result of the long repression put in place by the French state. However, there are several media that make use of the language, such as magazines, television and radio programs.

The references of the abertzale revolutionary left have been different (parties, unions, collectives, youth), groups such as Enbata (the first in Iparralde), Abertzaleen Batasuna, Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak, Iparra Borrokan, Euskal Batasuna, Oldartzen, Segi (“democratically” banned on charges of supporting “terrorism”), Ezkerreko Mugimendu Abertzalea, Herriaren Alde, Patxa (of anarchist tendency and linked to the squats of the 1990s present in the region), Herritarren Zerrenda, Herriko Alderdi Sozialista (which has given life by joining the Eusko Alderdi Sozialista of the “Spanish” area to the Euskal Herriko Alderdi Sozialista, present in both states), and the armed groups active in the last twenty years, such as Euskal Zuzentasuna, Iparretarrak (never officially disbanded), Iparra Borrokan, Irrintzi (very active against real estate speculation) and Hordago (in addition to the more famous Euskadi Ta Askatasuna). In addition to the class struggle and independence, they often promote other demands linked to feminism and ecology.

Here the music has had strong connections not only with the local territory, but also with the Basque Country subjected to Spain and, as proof of this, this area has welcomed many compatriots political refugees from the south and several songs recorded in Iparralde have spread to the south, where because of the Franco regime was more dangerous and difficult to spread militant songs. While the father of the “new Basque song”, Michel Labéguerie, was of Christian-democratic tendencies (but still an abertzal militant), most of the ensembles were combative and of the Left. One of these innovative groups, Soroak laukoa, born in 1958, were among the main innovators of local music, introducing the use of the guitar and elements of “black music”, and for this they suffered attacks from the press that defined them heretics.

The folk duo Etxamendi eta Larralde, on the other hand, since the sixties has been a school for the engagé artists of the region and some of their songs have been taken up by Banda Bassotti. One of these is Yup! la la, which became famous in Spain and is dedicated to the Operación Ogro of ETA, which put an end to the misdeeds of the fascist Carrero Blanco, and taken up in Así es mi vida del gruppo romano. of the Roman group. Another very important independence duo born in the same decade are Pantxoa eta Peio, disbanded definitively in 2016, and authors of famous revolutionary songs (some of them written by the independence leader and theorist Telesforo Monzón) such as Batasuna, Aita kartzelan duzu and Itziarren semea dedicated to prisoners, Lepoan hartu ta segi aurrera and Kanta aberria. Last, in the folk sphere of the decade, but not least, the singer-songwriter Estitxu (daughter of the refugee and founder of the union Eusko Langileen Alkartasuna, Manuel Robles Aranguiz, and obviously censored in Franco’s Spain) and in particular Guk, who between 1968 and 1998 narrated the peasant and working-class instances of the Basques of the north (they were accused of being propagandists of the armed groups, in particular for the song, later covered by Arcusgi, Arrantzale maitagarri, dedicated to Didier Lafitte, fisherman and member of Iparretarrak murdered by the police) and the singer-songwriter Manex Pagola, also active in groups and parties such as Enbata and honorary member of the Basque Academy.

Of great importance was the avant-garde cultural movement Ez Dok Amairu, part of the phenomenon of Euskal Kantagintza Berria (New Basque Song), which existed between 1966 and 1972, which was concerned with the reappropriation of Basque culture and its renewal (the name, suggested by the poet Jorge Oteiza, in fact, derives from a folk tale and means “that the curse has ceased”, meaning that the curse that gripped the Basque culture has ended), not only in the musical field, placing itself in a similar perspective to the Manifiesto Canción del Sur of Andalusia and the Catalan collective Els Setze Jutges. Musicians from the “French” side were also part of it, such as Eñaut Etxamendi (singer but also linguist, farmer, professor, writer and militant of Enbata).

In 1973 in Lapurdi was born the first rock group (specifically, “progressive”), Errobi, but within a few years they gave up the commitment of the beginnings (embryo of the later activity of the interesting Anje Duhalde) while the first “old school rocker” is Niko Etxart, who, although not dealing with explicitly political issues in his songs, had to clash with the most conservative entities within the Basque galaxy (especially the clergy) because of the musical genre of which he became the spokesman (Euskal rock’n roll, like a song of the same name) and his style (electric guitar, leather jacket, long hair, jeans) and he participated in benefits against nuclear power and an album in favor of Basque political prisoners (along with other “celebrities” of Iparralde as the singer-shepherd-farmer Erramun Martikorena). Note of merit also for the folk group Altzükütarrak.

Later in the nineties Xalbador eta Ihidoi, a duo considered the heir of Etxamendi eta Larralde, and Sustraia, a rock group that combines ska, punk and Basque folk at the time: they recorded a live show with Occitan Lou Dalfin and accompanied Ska-P on tour, before disbanding in 2009. As for militant punk in 2016 were born the Gadafiste Brothers & Sisters, influenced by Bérurier Noir (they also recorded a cover of Canto a Camilo, dedicated to the guerrilla priest Camillo Torres), while in the nineties raged Beltzez with their hardcore punk typical of bands of anarchist orientation and, more festive but certainly not disengaged, Skunk, proponents of a mix that incorporates punk reggae, jazz, raï, hip hop and ska (active also a collaboration with the famous Jamaican-Cuban musician Laurel Aitken). Also Aggressive Agricultor, punk and thrash metal, which unfortunately use their language only “sous l’emprise de l’alcool” (“under the influence of alcohol”) and Killers, an important speed metal group in the whole French State, are necessary to be mentioned because they are extremely linked to the local culture.

Other more unusual genres also have their track record: rappers 2zio and M.A.K. (Musika Armatu Komando) have been active since 2010 and 2003, respectively, and since 2008 Xutik!, who incorporate rock sounds with ska, gypsy and folk influences. Between 1994 and 1998 there were also King Mafundi, authors of reggae music sung not only in Basque but also in Mandinka and Wolof and with components originating from the Central African Republic, Senegal and Guadeloupe. They have also collaborated with the guru of the militant music of the Euskadi (ex Kortatu and Negu Gorriak), Fermin Muguruza; in fact, the first album was released on his label, Esan Ozenki. The themes dealt with in the songs: Malcolm X, anti-racism, Apartheid, colonial oppression, discrimination (including that which the band members suffered at the hands of police and reactionaries), Che Guevara. Conceptually similar are MIX6T, which in activity since 2002 mixes funk, reggae and hip hop and addresses issues of a social nature, the rights of oppressed peoples and anti-racism, and two other reggae bands, Xiberoots (who in 2019 participated in the protests towards the G7 in the province of Lapurdi) and Root’System. Zezenaren Taldea, on the other hand, play Punk boltxebikoa (“Bolshevik punk”), to which gypsy sounds a la Goran Bregović are combined. One last curiosity: Peio Serbielle, a singer who is rather harmless in terms of the themes he deals with, was arrested and imprisoned in 2004 on the charge of being part of Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, an affair which aroused the indignation of numerous musicians and intellectuals such as the popular Renaud.

CORSICA

The history of Corsica is also sprinkled with moments of tension and very harsh relations between the central state and the island characterized by policies of exploitation, colonialism and discrimination. Although the struggle developed mainly between the sixties and seventies, historically progressive and/or conflicting claims have been developed on several occasions: the heretical movement of the Ghjuvannali (who rejected private property and were exterminated by Pope Urban V after a brief armed resistance between 1363 and 1364), the 1755 Corsican Republic led by revolutionary Pasquale de’ Paoli (the first to adopt a Constitution governed by Enlightenment principles and to include women’s suffrage, so much so that it gave inspiration to the American revolutionaries in the drafting of the Constitution of 1787), the anti-militarist impulses that arose during the First World War (the Corsicans were sent to slaughter without restraint by the French hierarchies so much so that the island suffered a serious demographic collapse and was the territory of France to suffer the highest percentage of losses compared to the total population), the resistance to the fascist occupation during the Second World War and in the second half of the 20th century the struggles against the colonists (often exiles from Algeria linked to paramilitary and right-wing terrorist groups such as the OAS, dedicated to the exploitation of cheap labor made up of migrants from North Africa and cause of widespread corruption within the administration and the tax authorities) to whom a large part of the island’s land was entrusted, which from that moment on were subjected to tourist speculation and environmental devastation (struggles repressed for decades through the militarization of the island, which entailed the perennial, asphyxiating and massive presence of the police and their violence at every major event, such as the occupation of the lands of the speculators).

Groups and parties of the Left are and have been numerous, more or less sympathizers of the armed struggle, plagued by exasperating internal divisions, often linked to struggles against building and tourist speculation, the devastation of the coast, the militarization of the island and in favor of cultural claims (for example, among the predecessors, where there were already several communist and gauchistes elements, we find the Mouvement du 29 novembre, Front Régionaliste Corse, Azzione per a rinascita di a Corsica, l’Action régionaliste corse, followed by the more recent Corsica Libera, A Manca, Partitu Corsu per u Socialismu, Action pour la renaissance de la Corse, A Cuncolta Naziunalista, Corsica Nazione, Mouvement pour l’autodetermination, Core in Fronte, Accolta naziunale corsa, Rinnovu, Corsica nazione indipendente, Partitu sucialistu per l’indipendenza).

As for the trade unions, such as Sindicatu di i travagliadori corsi, they cross the class struggle with the struggle for the national recognition of the island and the officialization of the language; there are also several youth organizations such as Ghjuventù Indipendentista, Ghjuventù Paolina, Ghjuventù Naziunalista, Cunsulta di a Ghjuventù Corsa e la Cunsulta di i Studienti Corsi. The decades-long armed struggle has been carried out mainly by the Fronte di liberazione naziunale corsu (FLNC) e dalle sue innumerevoli scissioni and its countless splinter groups (the most recent group, born this year, is F.L.N.C. Maghju 21), sometimes in contrast and open conflict with each other. In addition, the island has often been a meeting place for international independence movements, such as the International Days of Court, which have been attended by representatives from non-European territories such as Polynesia and New Caledonia. To pollute this militant tradition of the left and internationalist groups have intervened xenophobic militants in the early 2000s, or Resistenza Corsa and Clandestini Corsi, forced to disband by the FLNC on pain of physical elimination. To counter the organization, as usual, paramilitary groups such as FRANCIA will be employed to start yet another dirty war, dictated by the infamous formula worthy of the Nazi occupiers of “terrorizing terrorists”.

The musical scene of the island is stylistically more homogeneous than that of the other nationalities oppressed by French imperialism and the groups are almost all ascribable to Corsican polyphonic choral music, a central element of the island’s cultural claims and a very popular genre, which also boasts a particular instrumentation, such as caramusa and pifana. The linking song between the various groups is Dio vi salvi Regina, originally a religious song but which has become a de facto national anthem. In general, the positions of these groups, although different, are strongly aligned on anti-imperialism and internationalism with other peoples in search of self-determination, not limiting themselves to a mere folkloric revival.

These polyphonic choirs underwent an important rebirth in the 1970s, accompanied by the phenomenon of cultural reappropriation called Riacquistu, and accompanied the growth and exasperation of the armed and union conflict. Famous and prolific exponents born in this decade are Chjami Aghjalesi, among the most explicitly socialist, whose name recalls the threshing of wheat (also taken up on the cover of their first record, Nant’à u solcu di a Storia; to remember songs such as E prigione francese, lthe antimilitarist Le Chemin des Dames, U partigianu, on the air of Makhnovtchina and Populu Vivu); Diana di l’Alba, authors of a personal version of Hasta Siempre, the famous song by Carlos Puebla dedicated to the commander Che Guevara and other significant songs such as A nostra indiatura and Ameridianu, dedicated to the American First Nations (vulgarly called “Native Americans”); Canta U Populu Corsu, among the most popular still today, who initially devoted themselves to remakes of traditional songs taken from tradition (such as paghjelle and lamenti) and then moved on to the recording of their own songs in favor of the anti-colonial revolt, anti-fascism, the release of political prisoners and brotherhood with peoples in struggle such as the Basques, the Irish and the Berbers (in this regard they dedicated the album Rinvivisce to the committed Kabyle singer-songwriter Lounès Matoub murdered in 1998).

Starting from the eighties, new groups made their way, such as L’Arcusgi, “archibugi” (name chosen to recall the rifles used by Pasquale Paoli’s independentists), born as a “political-cultural” group and also very tied to the support of other minorities in struggle, especially Basques, and famous for songs like Resistenza, Askatasunera, Lotta Ghjuventù, So Elli, Revoluzione, Scrittori di a Storia; Surghjenti, born in 1978 as a cultural association on the wave of the influence of a generation lived in the shadow of the political developments of the sixties and the war for the independence of Algeria, songs to remember are Vinceremu, A me patria, Pa te Chile, A lutta populari, I cumbattanti d’onori; the more sweetened Muvrini, authors of pacifist and anti-racist songs and known for having collaborated with the Catalan songwriter Lluís Llach; A Filetta, in particular for songs such as the anti-fascist Liberata, L’orrida bestia, A paghjella di l’impiccati, Sta mane qui, Euskadi; Tavagna, authors among other things of a Cantu per Nelson Mandela; L’Albinu, who recorded militant albums such as Suminata He A Grana Di L’Avvene, Omàggi and Versu Tè; Svegliu d’isula; Alte Voce; L’Abbrivu; A Primavera, who performed live El pueblo unido with the historic Chilean group Quilapayún in a bilingual Corsican-Spanish version; Orizonte, they also have a song dedicated to Che, Evviva Che Guevara; Giramondu; Voce Ventu; Voci di a Gravona; I Messaggeri; Esse; I Mantini; Les Nouvelles Polyphonies corses; U Gruppu Scontru, fixed presence in fundraising for Corsican and Basque political prisoners; Cuscenza; A Pasqualina; L’Alma Viva; Altagna.

From these groups emerged important artists who have given themselves to solo careers and other more recent ones who have been influenced by them, such as Petru Guelfucci, Charles Marcellesi, Antoine Ciosi (to remember in particular the albums Corsica Sempre Corsa and Canti Di A Libertà, which includes Bandiera Rossa and Si tu passes par là, dedicated to Dominique Vincetti, communist partisan) and the singers previously united in a single project called E Duie Patrizie, Patrizia Poli and Patrizia Gattaceca (investigated for having helped the militant independentist Yvan Colonna to escape).

There is a scarce presence in the more “contemporary” genres, with a few non-committal rock bands such as Zia Devota, but there is also no shortage of examples such as the progressive rock of U Rialzu, the rock of Novi and L’Altru Latu, the hardcore punk of Vindetta (who released a song, Corsica Anarchy, inspired by Anarchy in the U.K. By the Sex Pistols), and the rap of L’Insulaire. Even mainstream musicians from the island such as the mezzo-soprano Battista Acquaviva distinguish themselves by releasing albums marked by a certain flair for struggle, such as Les Chants de Liberté, in which songs in nine different languages are interpreted, including Bella ciao, Txoria Txori by Mikel Laboa, Here’s to you by Joan Baez and Hasta siempre.

ALLOGENIC AND MIGRANT LANGUAGES

The panorama related to linguistic minorities among migrant communities is also interesting. To grasp all the musical phenomena linked to these communities would require a monumental work, therefore, it is necessary to limit ourselves to quick notes. However, it is necessary to point out that several of the bands mentioned above are in many cases composed by “migrants”, often coming from territories previously subjected to colonial policies and, what is really interesting, several musicians make use of languages forced to be “minoritized” and spoken in territories outside of mainland France, in particular Berber or some varieties of Creole.

A prime example is Slimane Azem, a famous Kabyle musician and singer, known for a famous song against French colonialism called Effeɣ ay ajrad tamurt iw, in which colonialists are compared to devastating locusts and which earned him the unwelcome attention of the French state. He was forced to repair to France in 1962 and became a symbol of Berber claims; in fact, his songs were banned by laws promoting Arabization and by the policies of Boumédiène, who, however, supported liberation movements in other countries.

Of the same style is Ferhat Mehenni, writer, singer and founder and first president of the Mouvement pour l’autodétermination de la Kabylie, an organization that fights against the Algerian regime and for the recognition and rights of the Berber population of Kabylia. This strenuous activist, against whom the Algerian state has issued an international arrest warrant on August 26, 2021 (as if continuous persecution, twenty-one months in prison, an assassination by radical Islamists that he narrowly escaped, and exile were not enough), has over time shown off a repertoire of international songs such as Le Déserteur by Boris Vian eand versions of Bella Ciao and L’Internazionale translated into Kabyle, as well as more than half a dozen albums published despite censorship.

Lounès Matoub, who lived in exile in France for a long time, suffered a worse fate. Singer-songwriter, poet, Kabyle militant, atheist and for the extension of democratic rights, after his return to Algeria he was seriously wounded by an Algerian policeman in 1988, kidnapped by Islamist reactionaries in 1994 for fifteen days and assassinated on June 25, 1998 by an armed commando, a murder that provoked riots and clashes in Kabylia. Influenced by the various uprisings that took place over the years in his homeland, he wrote much more direct and less metaphorical songs than many of his colleagues, not skimping on naming names and attacking the government (which he accused of having betrayed the fighters for independence) from the beginning of his career.

Idir, who died in 2020, is one of the most famous representatives of Berber culture in the world and is known as the “king of Amazigh music” and of Kabyle protest poetry. Strenuous defender of the rights of the Berber peoples, he moved to France in 1975, where he began his career as a musician (previously he should have become a geologist), continuing to strongly claim his real national belonging and opposing the policies of forced Arabization towards his people, which he actively supported on several occasions, particularly in the various anti-government revolts that took place over the years in Kabylia. Interesting note is that he has collaborated with several Breton musicians, such as Stivell, Dan Ar Braz and Servat, as well as with Manu Chao and Zebda.

Another example is the singer, guitarist and actress Fatoumata Diawara: born of Malian parents in the Ivory Coast, she was forced to repair to France to avoid being forced to marry. The main language used in her songs is Bambara, one of the most widespread idioms in West Africa, with which she narrates emigration, the struggles of African women, the horror of infibulation and religious fanaticism, and she speaks out against the racism unleashed against the Tuareg when they attempted to gain independence (forming a short-lived state in northern Mali, Azawad, in 2012).

Other artists are the “Leonard Cohen africain” Geoffrey Oryema (passed away in 2018) who also used lingala and acholi; Dahmane El Harrachi, one of the most famous chaabi (traditional Algerian music) composers who dealt with the suffering caused by forced migration; the Gnawa Diffusion, who present songs in Arabic, French and English and a sound derived from gnawa music, chaâbi, raï, reggae, rap, electro and punk; Dhoad gitans du Rajasthan, coming from the homonymous state of India, play traditional music and have had several contacts with I Muvrini and Canta U Populu Corsu; Watcha Clan from Marseille, who present a mix of reggae, dub, electronic and jungle and lyrics in Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, Yiddish, Tamashek, English and French and have also made their own version of the anti-Franco El Quinto Regimiento.

In punk scene we must mention Outrage that use several languages, including Yiddish, Romanian, Serbian, Russian, English, Spanish, German and Italian; in fact, they define themselves “europunk”. Les Caméléons, on the other hand, are considered the “little brothers” of Negu Gorriak, Wampas and Mano Negra and have recorded numerous songs in Spanish and some dedicated to the Basque Country.

Among the other minorities, unfortunately, there were no musicians or ensembles to be considered related to the article (even though they could claim interesting past revolutionary experiences, such as the Republic of Alsace and Lorraine councils of 1918), apart from a few exceptions such as the Muckrackers, industrial metal from Lorraine that also use German, and La Manivelle, an Alsatian folk duo that has committed itself to ecologism, among other things.

Essential bibliography:

Atlas of the stateless Nations in Europe, Mikael Bodlore-penlaez, Yolfa, 2013
Ethnism (Ethnisme), François Fontan, Z’editions, 1999
La mê lenghe e sune il rock, Marco Stolfo, Informazione Friulana, 2011
Le ragioni dell’indipendentismo, Antonio Simon Mossa, Alfa Editrice, 2012
Matria e patria, Sergio Salvi, Insula, 2017

Essential sitography:

Badok: https://www.badok.eus
Canzoni contro la guerra: https://www.antiwarsongs.org/index.php?lang=it
Eurominority.eu: https://www.eurominority.eu
Portal d’Occitània: http://www.chambradoc.it/portalDoccitania.page
Terre Celtiche Blog: https://terreceltiche.altervista.org
Trobasons: https://trobasons.viasona.cat/grops

Article by Alessio Ecoretti

Photo taken from the website http://lingua.chez.com/

L'articolo Linguistic minorities and militant music in France proviene da Radio Punk.

Alessandra Kersevan, about Aiello’s “Canzoniere popolare”: “With the Canzonir we started singing in Friulian dialect because this was the language of farmers, blue collars and partisans […] Going on we realized even more that the language itself was in slavery and needed liberation. Also for this reason it needed to be used in music and communication.” (from “La me lenghe e sune il rock” by Marco Stolfo).

On PCI’s (Communist Italian Party, N.d.t.) weekly journal a young Friulian marxist efficiently summarized the opinion that: “a serious hystorical-materialist class analysis” absolutely can’t “reduce itself to a pure and simple abstract contraposition between bourgeoisie and proletariat because, in the epoch of imperialism, not considering the categories of nationality and colony, not to mention all that regards feminism, the private-public relation etc., is anti-historical and anti-scientific.Therefore class war must be seen as a struggle inside dominating and dominated nations and nationalities, otherwise the risk is to do bad service to the creation of socialism, which would bring with itself unresolved historical knots (minorities and oppressed nationalities) that would easily be exploited by the right-wing and revived as nationalistic conflicts […]” (from “Patria e Matria” by Sergio Salvi).

Unfortunately most formations that use so called minority or local languages are not interested in using their instrument’s notes as vehicles for social change and limit themselves to a folk revival of songs from the popular tradition of the respective territories.

However, it should be added that many of these songs of the past were lively forms of protest, which played today are not dated as they should (society has not progressed as intellectuals and neoliberal leaders would like to believe and indeed the most recent legislative formulations of many States detract from the rights of the weaker sections of the population). More importantly, the very decision to use languages long banned and opposed by bourgeois institutions and used by the poorer sections of the population is already an act of resistance. For centuries the colonialism of the so-called “great nations” has attempted to eradicate and destroy these languages, in particular but not exclusively the most reactionary regimes (just think of Fascist Italy and Francoist Spain, but has democratic France perhaps used better methods towards the Bretons and the Courses? And the sticks on the hands of those who spoke Sardinian or Friulian at school until some time ago?). For the avoidance of misunderstandings, as the author of this article I emphasize the recognition of these “minorities” in a framework that does not refer to that ethnic-localist vision much appreciated by the hunters of demonstrations of the old days and even less to that of nationalism.

First of all, the undersigned considers it an abomination to define these populations as minorities (for example, compared to whom would the Basques be a minority? To the Castilians? But who is the minority in the Basque Country?), Secondly they are real peoples fighting for the right of self-determination, just as much as the Vietnamese during the French and American invasions or the Kurds nowadays. The right to self-determination is a principle to be considered fundamental both for Marxism (or did you think that the Soviet Union was formed in a federation of republics because it was fun to create the flags of Turkmenistan and Armenia?) and for the anarchist movement (see Bakunin’s support for the Slavic liberation movements or the Basque Felix Likianiano, among many examples). The Italian constitution’s affirmations do not interest us at all, phrases such as “Italy is unique and indivisible” we consider them antics written by the bourgeoisie who with these territories, peoples and idioms in most cases had nothing to do.
What is Italy if not an imperialist program based on colonialism to the detriment of the peasants of Sicily and the South, who since the unification have fought against this state of affairs, giving rise to the first uprisings against the post-unitary bourgeoisie ( following the obvious betrayal of most democrats and reformers of high social backgrounds)?

In general

Before analyzing the musical situations, a brief summary of the languages ​​historically spoken in the peninsula (although it would be interesting to analyze also those present from more recent times and their impact on pre-existing musical traditions). Italian in the strict sense at the time of unification was used by a small section of the population and was spread through schools and later on television. There is an open debate between linguists on the recognition or otherwise of those linguistic identities recognized by the State as dialects (we speak of Ligurian, Lombard, Piedmontese, Veneto, Emiliano, Romagnolo, Sicilian and Neapolitan, all recognized by UNESCO as true idioms as they evolved from Latin parallel to what is now called Italian). Most of the others are Indo-European and officially recognized and more or less protected. Often less. On the Rhaeto-Romanic side there are Friulian and Dolomite Ladin; in Sardinia the Sardinian language; in the south there is the Arbëreshë community, spoken by communities of Albanian origin; several Germanic languages ​​as well as the German of Südtirol and some small areas of Friuli, such as the Cimbrian, the Mocheno and the Walser; the Greek islands of the south; Slovenian in the border areas and the ancient Croatian of Molise; romaní; Catalan in the city of Alghero; Occitan in Piedmont and Franco-Provençal / Arpitano in Valle d’Aosta. Most of the musical scenes that use the aforementioned languages ​​refer almost exclusively to the folkloric tones, as already mentioned. Fortunately, several artists have managed to go beyond this aspect and there are numerous formations that use more contemporary tones (metal, rap, punk, blues, jazz, reggae, dub, electronics, pop rock, etc.).

In detail

Sardinia

The richness of Sardinian music is known all over the world and has been studied in its popular and historical meanings by ethnomusicologists and anthropologists from all over Europe (Edouard Fouré Caul-Futy and Andreas Fridolin Weis Bentzon among others) and boasts its particular instrumentation ( launeddas, pipiolu, trimpanu, serraggia, etc.). Nowadays ethno-pop and tenor singing formations like the Istentales are not lacking and proliferate. In the sixties, apart from the Salis related to the Stormy Six, it is necessary to remember the Rubanu Group, which introduced the political lyrics within the tenor area following the revolt of Pratobello (which gave birth to one of the best known Sardinian songs of revolt together with “Moderare Procurre”, “Sa lottata di Pratobello”) and the meeting with nothing less than the Inti-Illimani. They also had the merit of being the first group of tenor singing to merge with experimental jazz. In addition to these, the famous Maria Carta can also be considered a committed artist who made use of the mother tongue and the Canzoniere del Lazio, who recorded some pieces in Sardinian.

In the eighties there was no shortage of hardcore punk groups born in the wake of Crass and Discharge such as P.S.A. (just as there is no shortage today), but most of these used Italian or English. For combat rock in Sardinian it was necessary to wait for the arrival of Kenze Neke, the spearhead of militant island music. Born in Siniscola in 1989, the name in the Baronese dialect means “without fault”. These words were chosen in memory of Michele Schirru, a Sardinian anarchist shot in 1931 for planning to kill Mussolini, who ordered him to be assassinated by a special platoon. They have disentangled themselves in various themes such as anti-militarism, anti-colonialism, anti-fascism, the independence of peoples such as Basque and Irish, immigration and the life of the Sardinian proletariat and sub-proletariat. The obvious source of inspiration is Clash, and in fact their combat rock has incorporated sounds of all kinds, such as punk, reggae, metal, ska, traditional Sardinian music (including instrumentation, such as the accordion, the launeddas and the trunfa). Several of their works have been published by Gridalo Forte Records (Banda Bassotti’ s label) and have developed into different projects over time. The first derivation was the acoustic one of KNA (“Kenzaskra”) in 2006, born from the fusion with another important red and militant formation like the fellow villagers Askra, with whom they previously shared a mini-cd. Following other important projects continue a story made of music and militancy, the Tzoku and the Soberanìa Populare. Also interesting is the hip hop scene (Balentia, Menhir, Malos Cantores, Sa Razza, Funtana Beat), in which the Stranos Elementos and Dr. Drer & CRC Posse stand out for the topics covered. The first more recent (they also recorded an anti-fascist song with Acero Moretti), the second have held out since 1991 (they are part of those formations born in the parades and influenced by the Red Wave Posse, rather than listening to black music or hip hop concerts). To share the aversion to a permanent state of “bombs and tumors”, self-production and support for the most disparate causes. Also noteworthy is the independentist Futta of Sassari. Other recent musical upheavals are represented by Dr. Boost‘s reggae / dub, the post-folk of Boghes de Bogamundos, the borderless ska punk reggae of Ruja Karrera, the militant punk of C4 Combat Rock (which at the moment use Sardinian only partially, just like the first Kortatu with Basque), the anarcho punk A Fora De Arrastu and Keret Korria (still red punk). Unfortunately I found the example of an oi! band nominally independentist, but actually affiliated with the neo-fascists of CPI. I do not name it because reactionary propaganda, even when wearing the mask of alleged artistic ambitions, must be eliminated without doubt.

North-East

Moving on to the north-east, the first outbursts par furlan of political resistance in music are related to the phenomenon of songbooks, namely the Canzoniere Friulano and the Canzoniere Popolare di Aiello (or Canzonir di Dael, which also includes the researcher Alessandra Kersevan among the founders) . Although the texts do not refer to Friulian language in their own language, they meander between the poems of Pasolini and the revolutionary Giovanni Minut from Friuli, social rights, workers’ and peasant struggles, emigration, anti-fascism and anti-militarism (much felt both in Sardinia and in Friuli because of the military easements present in both places). In the early eighties the first politicized punk and experimental groups appeared in Friuli (Eu’s Arse, Warfare, Detonazione, Soglia del Dolore), while in the nineties we can find a hardcore punk band singing in Friulian, the Inzirli, and rappers in Marilenghe ( like the DLH Posse). Furthermore, Radio Onde Furlane, the Premi Friûl and the Usmis magazine (close to the self-managed social center of Udine) also developed in this period. Unfortunately there are no bands that can be considered analogous to the Basque Kortatu or to the Kenze Neke.

On the other hand, in Friuli, it is necessary to add, the autonomy organized into parties has always been fairly bland, almost always bourgeois in character or even tied to the old school Northern League, if not to the Front Furlan which has a footprint worthy of Forza Nuova as far as social policies are concerned (it’s no coincidence that it was founded by leavers from the mother party), Sardism instead had and still has examples of organizations ranging from the vaguely progressive Left to the more combative far left (like A Manca Pro S ‘Independence or anarchists). In any case, in the Nineties the phenomenon of Gnove music furlane was born, which brought together very different groups. In this sense, interesting patchanka or modernized folk formations, such as Sedon Salvadie, the Mussels FLK (leading exponents of Friulian music; the acronym stands for “Furlan Liberation Kongress”), Bande Tzingare, Kosovni Odpadki, Zuf de Žur (who have recorded a disc on the partisan resistance with Ivan Della Mea, Moni Ovadia, Giovanna Marini and Vlado Kreslin), Povolâr Ensemble, Furclap, Lino Straulino (who rearranged the texts of Victor Jara and collaborated with the organizations of relatives of the Argentine desaparecidos) and important Arbe Garbe. Many of these bands share an authentic passion for the southern hemisphere and cultural diversity, have recorded songs against military servitude and war, on the anti-fascist historical memory, but it would be incorrect to define them as militants or underground, in many cases the approach is more similar to lighter Modena City Ramblers or songwriters. A couple of curiosities: the bluesman (or bluesom) Fabian Riz boasts a song with the heirs of Kina, the Frontier, and the Francis and the Phantoms are a darkwave group in marilenghe with nihilistic and socially oriented lyrics.

Occitania

Even the “Italian” Occitania can boast several very interesting formations, which combine the most traditional and medieval sounds with the most modern ones (punk, ska, reggae, jazz, etc.). The spirit is often combative and between live covers of “Bella ciao” and the proximity to the No Tav movement, it is inevitable to mention at least the most important formations such as Gai Saber, Lou Dalfin, Lou Seriol (dedicated to self-production) and Lou Tapage.

As for the other linguistic “minorities”, most do not present formations interested in the political struggle (or devote themselves to rather bland forms of commitment), with the exception of the Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino. Nowadays it does not retain any of the original members, but was founded by the writer Rina Durante whose musical approach stemmed in the first place from a need for political militancy and denunciation towards the overpowering that the peasant and working class had suffered throughout their existence.

Alessio Ecoretti

L'articolo Linguistic minorities and militant music in the peninsula and Sardinia proviene da Radio Punk.