Music of the Channel Islands
Encyclopedia
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
are located in the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, by Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The two bailiwick
Bailiwick
A bailiwick is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and may also apply to a territory in which the sheriff's functions were exercised by a privately appointed bailiff under a royal or imperial writ. The word is now more generally used in a metaphorical sense, to indicate a sphere of...
s, Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
and Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
, are not a part of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, but since the 20th century are majority English-speaking and part of the British cultural sphere. They also share a historic cultural (and musical) identity with the people of Normandy.
Little is known of the history of music in the islands. The Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
brought Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
to the islands and the later strong influence of Methodism
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
suppressed dancing and secular music. A number of traditional songs and dances have been recorded, although some gentrified dances were collected in the 19th century in Guernsey. Some traditional folk songs such as Jean, Gros Jean and J'ai pèrdu ma femme (Jèrriais
Jèrriais
Jèrriais is the form of the Norman language spoken in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, off the coast of France. It has been in decline over the past century as English has increasingly become the language of education, commerce and administration...
)/J'ai perdu ma faumme (Dgèrnésiais
Dgèrnésiais
Guernésiais, also known as Dgèrnésiais, Guernsey French, and Guernsey Norman French, is the variety of the Norman language spoken in Guernsey. It is sometimes known on the island by the semi-disparaging name "patois"...
) have survived. Periodic fieldwork by collectors such as Peter Kennedy (1957; 1960), Claudie Marcel-Dubois (Sark, 1972) and Martin J. Locke (Sark, 1976) revealed a number of folk songs which were mostly in French, with parallels or variants also present in the folk traditions of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and French-speaking Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. There were a smaller number of songs in Jèrriais
Jèrriais
Jèrriais is the form of the Norman language spoken in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, off the coast of France. It has been in decline over the past century as English has increasingly become the language of education, commerce and administration...
, Dgèrnésiais
Dgèrnésiais
Guernésiais, also known as Dgèrnésiais, Guernsey French, and Guernsey Norman French, is the variety of the Norman language spoken in Guernsey. It is sometimes known on the island by the semi-disparaging name "patois"...
, Sèrtchiais and English.
The traditional musical instrument most associated with the islands was the chifournie. According to Edith Carey (1903), it had disappeared from Guernsey by the mid-nineteenth century. It was to disappear from Jersey by the early twentieth century (see Frank Le Maistre: "Dictionnaire jersiais-français", 1976). Fiddle and accordion playing persisted for somewhat longer.
Dances included the "ronde", or round dance
Round dance
There are two distinct dance categories called round dance. The specific dances belonging to the first of these categories are often considered to be ethnic, folk or country dances...
, the cotillion, and popular nineteenth-century dances such as the waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
, schottisch and polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
. "La Danse des Chapieaux" (the hat dance) was a popular game of forfeit, while "La Bérouaisse" (the broom dance) was a display of agility by a solo dancer. "La Bébée" ("the Baby Polka" or "Klatschtanz") is a 19th century novelty dance which also remains popular with costumed folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
groups in various parts of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
The development of tourism in the 19th century brought a demand for dance music in tea-rooms and hotels. Some local composers supplied songs and sheet music aimed at a tourist market.
Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
composed part of La Mer in Jersey. John Ireland
John Ireland
John Ireland may refer to:* John Ireland , Anglican priest and philanthropist* John Ireland , American politician...
settled for a time in Guernsey.
The Channel Islands Music Council was founded in 1974 to promote music in the islands. In 2004, the Jersey Live
Jersey Live
Jersey Live is an indie/dance music festival held annually at The Royal Jersey Showground in the parish of Trinity, Jersey. The festival has grown in popularity and size each year and has drawn interest from people outside the Channel Islands with overseas visitors making up approximately 25% of...
Music Festival was first held, now scheduled annually.
See also
- Ma NormandieMa Normandie"Ma Normandie" is the semi-official anthem of the Bailiwick of Jersey, a British Crown dependency in the Channel Islands, and was written and composed by Frédéric Bérat...
- Sarnia CherieSarnia CherieSarnia Cherie is used as the anthem of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. 'Sarnia' is a traditional Latin name for the island, hence, the title translates as 'Guernsey Dear'. George Deighton wrote Sarnia Cherie in 1911, with Domenico Santangelo subsequently composing the tune...
- Jersey LiveJersey LiveJersey Live is an indie/dance music festival held annually at The Royal Jersey Showground in the parish of Trinity, Jersey. The festival has grown in popularity and size each year and has drawn interest from people outside the Channel Islands with overseas visitors making up approximately 25% of...
- Culture of JerseyCulture of JerseyThe culture of Jersey is the culture of the Bailiwick of Jersey. This has been shaped by Jersey's indigenous Norman language and traditions as well as French and British cultural influences, to which have been added cultural trends from immigrant communities such as the Bretons and the...