S'on Me Regarde: Pop Sensibilities

Album: Music of the Gothic Era
Track: "S'on me regarde" (Track #3)
Composer: Anonymous
Instruments: 2 voices, fiddle, mandora, harp, psaltery
Year: ~1250

Another piece included in the Montpellier Codex, "S'on me regarde" is a French love song in motet form. Of what I've heard during my journey thus far, this song comes closest to what I think of as a "traditional" song; that is, the sort of thing I might have sung in summer camp or high school french class. The tune is catchy and, interestingly, either of the two vocal parts could be argued to carry the melody. One can imagine that the composers of this time would have had only the crudest notion of how to write effective accompaniment -- perhaps here they chose to simply write another melody line to accompany the first, we can only guess. Either way, the result is impressive and I'm not aware of any equivalent in modern music.

External Links: YouTube