Magène is a non-profit-making organization. Its aim is to make the Norman language survive and develop. Many people have joined this association, especially in the Cotentin. Our main project is to produce songs and records. We use old and contemporary Norman lyrics written by local authors from Normandy and the Channel Islands. We write original music for them. Thus, our songs are original productions as a new traditional repertory. It would be a titanic work for me to translate this entirely web site! What is important here is the shop (it's Norman humour...) because you can order our products to make people know them in your country. Thank you very much to have read this word !

Meet you on the web ! Bye ! Daniel Bourdelès

"MAGENE have been performing their folk-rock arrangements of modern and classic texts by writers from Jersey, Guernsey and mainland Normandy since 1985 and have producted 6 CDs. The modern melodies range from the wistful to foot-stomping drinking songs, which have proved popular with audiences all over Normandy and the Channel Islands."         L'Office du Jèrriais, Jèrri.

Magène ("nô chlôr" uf Normännisch) isch ä Organisation i dr Normandie wo sich drum bemüht d'Normännischi Schprôch z'bewahre un z'vördere.
Magène isch 1987 z'Coutances vo Marcel Dalarun un Daniel Bourdeles gründet wôre.
Magène isch uf dr Halbinsel Cotentin aktiv un isch d'einzigi verglychbari Organisation i dr ganzi Normandie. D'Organisation isch vorallem ufem berych vur Musik aktiv un produzirt Normännischi Lieder uf Normännisch; im gagesatz zu andri Gruppe un Produzente wo entweder uf Französisch oder Cheltischi Musik produzire. Inzwische sin scho acht CDs uf Normännisch vo Magène produzirt wôre. S'Zyl vo Magène isch, s'Normännischi vorm usschterbe z'rätte un dô durch ä Schtück Normännischi Chultur z'erhalte. Usserdem isch Magène dfür daß d'verschiedni Langues d'oïl als Regionalschprôche annerchannt wäre.

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In connection with the two folk groups that performed, Magène and La Sagesse Nouormande, what is especially interesting about them is that they are not Jersey based, but were present in order to represent Norman culture through their renditions of Norman songs, some from the Channel Islands.

Magène are a Norman-French group and play various pieces that have a Norman origin, but they place the music in a contemporary musical context. The group note that they "use old and contemporary Norman lyrics written by local authors from Normandy and the Channel Islands. We write original music for them." (Magène, 2004) As well as adapting several verses of Jersey writers Augustus Asplet Le Gros (1840-77) and Frank Le Maistre (1910-2002), one of the songs they play has been composed from an anonymous 19th-century Jersey text, Ma Chifournie (or La Chifournie: My Hurdy-Gurdy or The Hurdy-Gurdy). There are three known musical settings, each of which is not based on a traditional local melody, but on a poem published in 1871.
The first musical setting of Ma Chifournie is published as part of the ten classical songs scored for voice and piano by Alfred Amy (1867-1936) (see Amy, 1988), where it is given the title La Chifournie.
The left-hand piano drone provides a characteristic hurdy-gurdy sound, with a folk song-like melody given to the vocal line. It is the right- hand piano part that gives the piece its classical sound, especially with its sometimes quite chromatic harmonic movement. The setting by Magène (2001), the original music of which was written by Daniel Bourdelès, is played on acoustic guitar with voice. The arpeggio guitar playing provides a typical contemporary folk style accompaniment. Magène's version retains the Jersey text, although it has been modified to accommodate Norman-French and has an alternating verse-chorus structure. La Sagesse Nouormande's musical setting is by Dominic Allan (he is not a member of the group), who wrote a tune in 2002 as a hurdy-gurdy piece with voice (Appendices 2-3). From the UK, La Sagesse Nouormande, whose name translates into English as "Norman Wisdom," perform contemporary renditions of traditional music from France and the Channel Islands played on such instruments as hurdy-gurdy, mandola, recorders, saxophone and rauschpfeife. Their melody of Ma Chifournie is a punchy hurdy-gurdy tune, quite different to the melody of Amy or Magène. The vocal line has been adapted to repeat the first two phrases of each verse, with the first verse also being repeated at the very end of the piece.
The transformation of a 19th-century Jersey text into classical and contemporary folk settings helps illustrate the ways that locals (ie, Amy) and non-locals (ie, Magène and la Sagesse Nouormande) help facilitate local culture. Amy placed the text in a classical context as a way of promoting the Jersey language in London at the Annual Dinners of The Jersey Society, which was founded in 1896; Magène have used the text as a source for promoting a broader notion of a somewhat fragmented Norman culture; and La Sagesse Nouormande have recontextualised the text for a modern and original setting. But what each has in common is that they have encouraged local culture. While Amy's work was published in 1988 as part of a rediscovery of Jèrriais, Magène and La Sagesse Nouormande have been important in giving local culture back to the locals through the medium of performance and public display. Each has helped facilitate local heritage in local and non-local contexts.

Magène ("nô chlôr" uf Normännisch) isch ä Organisation i dr Normandie wo sich drum bemüht d'Normännischi Schprôch z'bewahre un z'vördere.
Magène isch 1987 z'Coutances vo Marcel Dalarun un Daniel Bourdeles gründet wôre. Magène isch uf dr Halbinsel Cotentin aktiv un isch d'einzigi verglychbari Organisation i dr ganzi Normandie. D'Organisation isch vorallem ufem berych vur Musik aktiv un produzirt Normännischi Lieder uf Normännisch; im gagesatz zu andri Gruppe un Produzente wo entweder uf Französisch oder Cheltischi Musik produzire. Inzwische sin scho acht CDs uf Normännisch vo Magène produzirt wôre. S'Zyl vo Magène isch, s'Normännischi vorm usschterbe z'rätte un dô durch ä Schtück Normännischi Chultur z'erhalte. Usserdem isch Magène dfür daß d'verschiedni Langues d'oïl als Regionalschprôche annerchannt wäre.

Johnson, H (2005) Maintaining and Creating Heritage University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand Refereed papers from The 1st international Small Island Cultures conference Kagoshima University Centre (Japan) for the Pacific Islands, February 7 th-10th 2005 - http://www.sicri.org