An astonishing musical project: Wêmuot, Wehmüet in “modern” Alsatian, a form of melancholy, a nostalgia, resulting from an atypical collaboration between 2 Alsatians, on the one hand the prolific Eric Kaija Guerrier, writer, songwriter, arranger and French musician, co-founder of the Weeper Circus, and on the other Carole Werner, doctoral student in dialectology and ATER at the University of Strasbourg. So why do you need a researcher for this project? Because in a heritage momentum, they decided to put to music texts by ancient authors in their language, read by Carole Werner, accompanied by the musical improvisations of Eric Kaija Guerrier.
You didn’t understand anything? It’s normal, here is a text by Otfrit von Weissenburg (born in 790 died in 870), considered the first poet in the Germanic language, who translated the Bible into the language of the Franks, one of the first writings in what it can be considered as the language of the Rhine Valley. And he comes from Wissembourg.
This is a text by the minnesänger, in French, we say troubadour Reinmar von Hagenau, it’s from the 12th century. Extract. And here is the rock-star of the stage, Gottfried von Strassburg, also a troubadour and contemporary of the previous one, who had readjusted Tristan and Yseult in Germanic, it is moreover an extract from the work which is read here.
We come to mystics, like Johannes Tauler, 14th century, disciple of Meister Eckhart.
The very famous moralist Sebastian Brant, world famous for his Ship of Fools, of which here is an extract in the language of the 16th century.
And Thomas Murner, satirist monk of the sixteenth century, great enemy of Luther. They were all Alsatian, spoke our Müedersproch, listen to how the language evolved.
To fully understand what it’s all about, find the translations of the texts on the site of Eric Kaija Guerrier, ekguerrier dot com, and this 6 titles wêmuot on Deezer, on Spotify, on Apple Music. It’s 100% local, the recording, mixing and mastering were done by Frank-Jean Schmidt, from the Barbarossa studio in Wintershouse.
Eric Kaija Guerrier releases an EP devoted to the theme of texts by Alsatian authors from the 9th to the 16th centuries. Its desire to preserve the ancient oral heritage is associated with improvised music.
References :
- Otfrit von Weissenburg (790-870) (first poet in the Germanic language)
- Reinmar von Hagenau (1150-1205) (minnesänger – troubadour)
- Gottfried von Strassburg (1180-1215) (minnesänger – troubadour)
- Johannes Tauler (1300-1361) (mystic)
- Sebastian Brant (1494-1521) (moralist)
- Thomas Murner (1475-1537) (satirist)
Find the translations of the texts on the site of Eric Kaija Guerrier.
Find the album on Deezer.
Find the album on Spotify.
Find the album on Apple Music.
Texts: public domain.
Guitars, music, arrangements and production: Éric Kaija Guerrier.
Recitatives in Old High German (750-1050), Middle High German (1050-1350) and Early New High German (1350-1650): Carole Werner.
Recording, mixing and mastering: Frank-Jean Schmidt, Barberousse studio, Wintershouse.