Robert Lafont, Jan-Mari Carlotti: 
Dire mis en musique

Wendy Pfeffer

Robert Lafont (1923-2009) was an internationally respected 
scholar of Occitan language and literature. A native of Nîmes, 
France, his teaching career was primarily at the University 
of Montpellier. His scholarly publications included studies of 
Provençal (one of the several dialects of Occitan) orthography 
and phonetics, as well as literary histories such as the two-
volume Nouvelle histoire de la littérature occitane, written with 
Christian Anatole (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 
1970), a major contribution to our understanding of the corpus of 
Occitan literature from the Middle Ages to the present.

A militant Occitanist, Lafont fought for the recognition of his 
native language as part of the cultural heritage of France; his 
works to this end include titles such as Décoloniser en France 
(Paris: Gallimard, 1971) and À ces cons de Français et ces 
couillons d’Occitans (Valence d’Albigeois: Vent Terral, 2005). He 
was a major force in a number of organizations devoted to the 
support and promotion of Occitan including the Institut d’Études 
Occitanes and the Association Internationale d’Études Occitanes. 

He was also a talented creative writer, composing works in a 
variety of genres, including novels, short stories, plays, and lyric 
poetry; these works formed another aspect of his efforts to promote 
Occitan language and culture. The set of poems published as 
Dire, poëmas 1945-1953 (Toulouse: Institut d’Estudis Occitans, 
1957) express themes that recur in his entire oeuvre: the merits 
of Occitan as a literary language, issues of place, the author’s 
love of women, the problem of oppression, whether manu militari 
or by legislative or regal decree. One of his later works, La 
Gacha a la Cistèrna (Montpeyroux: Jorn, 1998), is an epic poem 
(recently translated into English by Marie-Christine Coste-Rixte 
[Montpeyroux: Jorn, 2014]). Lafont continued to publish creative 
works to the end of his life.

Occitan musician and singer Jan-Mari Carlotti first met 
Robert Lafont in 1977 in preparation for a film documenting 
Occitan literature (Les Troubadours, 1979). Subsequently, Lafont 
remained in contact with Carlotti and his associates, musicians 
of the group Mont-Jòia, providing texts for performances and 
writing a presentation for the performance of the oratorio Mirèio 
by Patrice Conte, a Mont-Jòia member. Mont-Jòia and its lead 



Wendy Pfeffer    101

singer Carlotti had an established tradition of performing works 
by Occitan authors from the Middle Ages to the modern day (the 
play list ranges from Jaufre Rudel and Pistoleta to Gélu, Mistral, 
and Reboul, with folksongs in between). 

In 1988, Lafont gave Carlotti a copy of his second collection 
of verse, Dire, poëmas 1945-1953, which Carlotti began to set to 
music. In 1998-99, Carlotti returned to the Dire project. Shortly 
afterwards, Robert Lafont asked him to create something for 
the MARPOC colloquium, “Robert Lafont: L’oeuvre littéraire,” 
which took place in Nîmes on May 12-13, 2000. For that event, 
Carlotti gave a concert entitled “Dire,” presenting his musical 
interpretations of Lafont’s verse. 

Selections from the Dire concert were published as a compact 
disc by Carlotti (M.J 004-2005). The record notes included the 
long out-of-print Occitan texts accompanied by translations into 
French by Carlotti and English translations by William Calin and 
by Patrick Hutchinson. This recording, Dire, poëmas de R. Lafont, 
mis en musique par Jan-Mari Carlotti,1 produced by the Ass. Mont-
Jòia, offers listeners the poetry of Lafont with the interpretations 
of a contemporary musician, a blending of resources that has 
roots in the Occitan Middle Ages. Carlotti has now retired from 
performing; it is unclear if he has maintained a web presence.2 

To inquire about the recording of Dire, contact the producers at 
mont-joia@wanadoo.fr.

1 Melodies by Jan-Mari Carlotti; performers J. M. Carlotti (vocals, guitars, 
psaltery), Michel Marre (trumpet, bugle, piano), Denis Fournier (drums and 
percussion), with the assistance of Luzmilla Carpio (vocals), Solenn Grand 
(cello) and Jan Carlotti.
2 For information on Carlotti’s recordings, see http://www.paraulas.net/musica/
artista.php?cl=041&PHPSESSID=f02c34f7c07f0228f4d2c7e85386678c.

Note from Delos: The text by Robert Lafont and William Calin’s 
translations were originally published in Tenso: Bulletin of the Société 
Guilhem IX 20 (2005), and also became part of the print materials 
accompanying the Carlotti recording discussed in this commentary 
by Wendy Pfeffer. Thanks are due to Wendy, who revised her original 
introduction for Delos readers, and to Tenso, which permits us to 
reprint the translations. 

mailto:mont-joia@wanadoo.fr
http://www.paraulas.net/musica/artista.php?cl=041&PHPSESSID=f02c34f7c07f0228f4d2c7e85386678c
http://www.paraulas.net/musica/artista.php?cl=041&PHPSESSID=f02c34f7c07f0228f4d2c7e85386678c

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