The French composers and folk song hunters share footage of an intimate performance of an Iberian traditional song
“This is a song called “Dona Inês”, says French musician and composer Marion Cousin over email. “It's a song from Trás-Os-Montes, a place in the north-east of Portugal. It's about a young woman, daughter of a king. Her father doesn't want to let her get married and have her own life. But one day, some bandits go to the castle and attack her.”
After falling in love with the Spanish language as a teenager, Cousin's interest in the country's folk music developed during time spent living in Barcelona and Minorca. Her fascination with Spanish rhythm, melody and song has extended to research into Portuguese music from sparsely populated regions, and has since culminated in a series of three albums of experimental interpretations of the traditional music from these places.
The third collection of songs released as part of this ongoing project is Com A Lanceta Na Mão, which Cousin created with French musician Eloïse Decazes. This video – filmed by Renaud de Foville from Le Cargo! in Thiers, France – captures the duo rehearsing for their first live show, which took place in April after four years of working together, learning this music tradition in order to share and preserve it.
After falling in love with the Spanish language as a teenager, Cousin's interest in the country's folk music developed during time spent living in Barcelona and Minorca. Her fascination with Spanish rhythm, melody and song has extended to research into Portuguese music from sparsely populated regions, and has since culminated in a series of three albums of experimental interpretations of the traditional music from these places.
The third collection of songs released as part of this ongoing project is Com A Lanceta Na Mão, which Cousin created with French musician Eloïse Decazes. This video – filmed by Renaud de Foville from Le Cargo! in Thiers, France – captures the duo rehearsing for their first live show, which took place in April after four years of working together, learning this music tradition in order to share and preserve it.
Read more about the projects and collaborations of Marion Cousin in Derek Walmsley's interview with the artist in The Wire 484. Wire subscribers can also access the article online via the digital magazine library.
