Key signature: Gmajor
Submitted on January 17th 2009 by Mix O'Lydian.
This tune has been added to 4 tunebooks.
Also known as Plant A Cabbage, Plante Un Chou.
X: 1
T: Plant Un Cao
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: hornpipe
K: Gmaj
|:G2 D2 G2 AB|c2 B2 A2 D2|dedc BABc|B2 A2 B2 G2|
B2 A2 GDGB|c2 B2 A2 D2|dedc BABc|B2 A2 G4:|
B2 B2 c3B|AGAB G3z|A2 A2 BcBA|G2 F2 E4|
EFGE A2 A2|GFGA B2 B2|EFGA BcBA|G2 F2 E3 z|
B2 B2 e3d|cBAc B4|EFGA BcBA|G2 A2 B2 G2|
B2 B2 e3d|cBAc B4|EFGA BcBA|G2 F2 E4||
Plant An Cao
I learnt this tune back in the early 1980s from Barrie Morgan. - a great fiddle player and good all-round musician. Sadly, he died quite young so is no longer with us.
I'd forgotten all about it until today, when I stumbled upon a web recording by a French Band - Gentiane. Pretty much the same as the tune that I first heard all those years ago, except that they seem to be calling it Plant un Cao.
A difficult tune to classify: I've submitted it as hornpipe, but you might consider it as a Schottische - or maybe even as a march. Played with just a small amount of swing.
Key-wise, it starts in G, but it of course modulates to the relative natural minor (Em) in the "B" part.
What I really would like to know though, is the origin of this tune. I don't think that "Plant" means the horticultural kind. Neither do I think that it refers to heavy machinery.
I have a theory that the tune might be Welsh in origin:
Plant = children
An= our
So, "Our Children"
But what is "Cao". I know of no such Welsh word, but my knowledge of that language is minimal.
So what are your views on the origin, sessionites?
# Posted on January 17th 2009 by Mix O'Lydian
'Plant yn y Cae' would mean 'Children in the Field'
'our children' would be 'ein plant' or 'ein plant ni'
'Plant un Cao' could be a case of Chinese whispers (or Welsh scribbles). Welsh 'yn' (meaning, among other things, 'in') is pronounced roughly like English 'un-', as in 'unfamiliar' - and a scrawled 'e' could easily be misread as an 'o'.
Or maybe it means something entirely different.
# Posted on January 18th 2009 by OrganicPeatCreature
Thanks!
Diolch yn fawr, ragaman!
All - interesting feedback so far - but inconclusive.
Any more theories, anyone?
# Posted on January 18th 2009 by Mix O'Lydian
Plante Un Chou
Not Welsh.
From The Fiddler's Companion < http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/PIO_PLANT.htm >:
"PLANTE UN CHOU. French, Scottish (2/4 time). C Major ('A' part) & A Minor ('B' and 'C' parts). Standard tuning. AA'BBCC. Stevens (Massif Central), vol. 1, 1987; No. 14."
Additionally:
https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0409&L=IRTRAD-L&P=24528
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/Info/RRTuneBk/gettune/000006ec.abc
# Posted on January 18th 2009 by joesmith
So, 'Plant a Cabbage'.
Actually, that did occur to me, the children's song 'Savez Vous Plantez les Choux?' coming to mind. But this tune doesn't bear any similarities with it.
# Posted on January 18th 2009 by OrganicPeatCreature
...Could 'Plant an Cao' be in one of the many dialects spoken in France? Provencal? Occitan? Bearnais?...
# Posted on January 18th 2009 by OrganicPeatCreature
...given that 'chou' is cognate with English 'kale', German 'kohl', Portuguese 'couve' etc., it's not inconceivable that 'cao' could be another version.
# Posted on January 18th 2009 by OrganicPeatCreature
Still a Doubt
Thanks for the research, joesmith! Also for your additional feedback, ragaman.
But explain this to me.
Here is a link to Gentiane playing the tune.
http://www.last.fm/music/Gentiane/_/Plant+un+cao+(Scottisch)
Interestingly, they play it two ways - AABBCC (by splitting the B part, and also as AAB (the B being 16 bar) - the latter being the way I remembered it and encoded it.
I understand that Gentiane is a French band.
If so, why would they use the tune title: "Plant un Cao" (only one letter different than the tune title that I was given 25 years ago) rather than "Plante un Chou"?
I think that maybe there is more to be discovered here!
# Posted on January 18th 2009 by Mix O'Lydian
Sorry - bad link - please try this
Sorry - bad link - please try this:
http://www.last.fm/music/Gentiane/_/Plant+un+cao+(Scottisch)
# Posted on January 18th 2009 by Mix O'Lydian
Unless of course ..
Unless of course ragaman is correct about it being a dialect - and Gentiane altered it to be standard French ...
# Posted on January 18th 2009 by Mix O'Lydian
Bad link - again!
Sorry folks - the link that I posted still doesn't work. Don't really understand why.
But if you click the link, then add a right bracket and press "Enter", it works fine ...
# Posted on January 19th 2009 by Mix O'Lydian
"an" to "un"
When I made the suggestion above about Gentiane possibly altering the title, I meant of course just changing "an" to "un".
# Posted on January 19th 2009 by Mix O'Lydian
LOL!
# Posted on January 19th 2009 by joesmith
Plantán an ceo in Irish would mean the Foggy Banana.
Now THERE's a great name for a (flute) tune,
Who care'a about the name. I liked the look of it - played it as a swing-march loved it and intend to start teaching it as a Welsh tune,
Something different and nice.
Peter
# Posted on January 19th 2009 by Peter O'Connor
Foggy Banana
If you call it that Pete, you'll have to play it "straight" - otherwise risk falling foul of the European directive regarding bananas!
Enquiries are still continuing, but at the moment it looks like a Massif Central origin is the most likely.
# Posted on January 19th 2009 by Mix O'Lydian
Plant un cao
It's from Gentiane's lp of music from the Auvergne so that seems a safe assumption. I used to play this tune on the Hurdy Gurdy during the mid seventies, takes me back a while. Still have the Gentiane lp too.
# Posted on January 20th 2009 by <>-_-_-<>
Plant un Cao it is !
I've just received some information from a friend who is a native French speaker. Hopefully, definitive.
The tune is from the Auvergne region of France (Massif Central).
The title - Plant un Cao - is Auvergnat - a spoken regional variation of Langue D'Oc. Translated into French it is "Plante un Chou". Translated into English it is "Plant a Cabbage".
Apparently, the Auvergne region has a very strong culinary tradition of using cabbage - hence the title!
Check out these links:
http://croquecamille.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/regional-french-cuisine-auvergne-stuffed-cabbage/
http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/recipes/potee-braised-cabbage-and-meats-auvergne-style/
http://www.french-property.com/regions/auvergne/food-gastronomy/potee-auvergnate/
Apparently, there was a very famous (in France!) comedy with Louis de Funes many years ago (set in the Auvergne region) where an alien landed in a farm and the farmer introduced him to cabbage soup.
Reminds me of the classic Monty Python "spam" sketch set in a "greasy spoon" cafe where you could have anything you wanted as long as it included spam and chips.
# Posted on January 22nd 2009 by Mix O'Lydian