The romans, that were always sung in French, have passionate themes of death, solitude, or ill-fated love as well as celebrations of love and humorous tales. They were ritually sung at weddings and funerals and sung informally for small groups of people at house parties as the food cooked and young children played. They were also sung to pass the time, bearing in mind, in days gone by, there was no radio or televisons, and learning and singing romans was a way to pass the time.
The Romans can be divided into different themes:
Courtship Romans
Long ago, romans was part of the rituals surrounding courtship and a love relationship between a man and women. Singing a romans at each stage of a relationship was not only part of the convention but can also be seen as a passage rite since it was a symbolical way to mark the passage from one phase in a relationship to the other. The courtship theme may also be subdivided into sub-themes including
- Declaration of love songs, ‘romances de déclaration’, romans deklarasyon lanmour;
- Songs to accept a declaration of love, ‘romances de consentement’, romans remersiman;
- Songs for rejection of a proposal, ‘romances du rejet’, romans pou refiz en propozisyon ;
- Songs to break up a relationship, ‘romances pour romper une relation’, romans pou kas relasyon;
- Romance for ill-fated love, ‘romances de l’amour malheureux’, romans lanmour perdi;
Declaration of love songs, ‘romances de déclaration’, romans deklarasyon lanmour;
The romans deklarasyon lanmour was a form of oral poetry in which the narrator sung his love to his suitor and, similarly the suitor sung back her answer. In days gone by, it was the norm for the man to sing his love to the woman he was courting and the woman to reply in singing whether she accepts or rejects his proposal. For example: the man sang his marriage proposal to the woman he had chosen; the woman sang a romans to accept the proposal and finally the former would sing back a romans remersiman (song to accept a declaration of love).
During a ball, a man could publicly signify his romantic intention by singing a romans deklarasyon lanmour to his loved one. A competitor could add with another song. In turn, the young girl could sing a romans in response. If it was positive, the boy could sing a thank you romance. If it was negative, the man could insist with another song.
Romans for rejection of a proposal
There was also romans to end a relationship and to reject the proposal of a man. For example, a young girl or a member of her family could sing a song to make the lover understand that there is no chance. This ritual could be accompanied by emblems (flowers, handkerchiefs) which all knew the meaning.
Wedding love songs –‘romances du marriage’, romans mariaz
There were specific romans that were sung at the different stages of the wedding ceremony such as:
- Songs to enter and leave the church, ‘romances de l’église’, romans legliz;
- Serenading songs, ‘romances de la serenade’, romans serenad; These were songs that would be sung to serenade the newly weds and bridal party from the church to the ‘salle verte’ or lasalvert. Lasalvert was the a wedding hall that was decorated with green coconut leaves (hence fr. salle verte, meaning green hall) and flowers.
- There were songs that were sung at the wedding venue. There was a repertoire associated with the different times of the festivities, such as the arrival at the venue, during the meal, the cutting of the cake, the toast, the speeches, the exit of the bride and groom and when the newly weds reached home. Several of these wedding romans evoke the theme of farewell to the motherland (fr. la patrie). The interpretation of sad and melancholy farewell songs during the nuptial festivities perhaps comes from the tradition in France of making the bride cry before she leaves.
The song of life of sailors and the sea
As previously mentioned, the settlers and traders from Réunion Island played a very important role in the developpment on the Seychelles islands especially in the early days of settlement. We inherited a lot including the romans.
During the years between 1830 and 1850, a very strong interest in maritime culture came into being. Sail was then at the peak of its expansion, and the quays of the great merchant ports resounded to the songs of sailors on the spree. It was at that time that songs with a maritime theme started to emerge. They came mostly from the coastal regions of France, mainly from Normandy and Britanny.
Patriotic Songs
Patriotic songs, ‘romances patriotiques’, romans patriyotik, were songs relating mostly to the Napoleonic war.
Other themes include:
- Farewell songs, ‘romances des adieux’- romans depar.
- Songs of deception in love, ‘romances de tromperie amoureuse’,romans desepsyon lanmour;
- Slavery songs, ‘romances des esclaves’ , douler lesklav
- Animal related songs, ‘romances des animaux’, romans zannimo
- Songs of death and sickeness, ‘romance des morts and maladies’, romans lanmor ek malad
- Songs of flowers, ‘romances des fleurs’, romans fler
- Nostalgique songs, ‘romances nostalgique’- romans nostalzik
Where do we go from here?
The romans was quite popular up until early late 1970s and then sadly started to decline in popularity and we fear that these songs will slowly dispear from our culture. This is the reason why I believe it is critical to collect and record as many romans as possible for all of us to cherish and to pass on to future generations.
I have therefore compiled a list of romans . For the list of romans click on this link. From the list you can click on the name of the romans to access the complete song. This list will gradually be extended as we progress. We will end up ultimately having about 200 romans in our collection.
Click here if you wish to read more about the romans in Seychelles
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