‘t Smidje • Circle Mixer Folk Dance • Belgium {Flemish Folk Rock}

S’more ‘t Smidje Tidbits

What is danced to ‘t Smidje goes by many regional names for nearly identical dances: All American Promenade in USA, Allemansmarsj in Norway, Sweden, & Denmark, Humppa Mixer in Finland, and Progressive Gay Gordons/Gay Gordons Mixer in Scotland or USA. In Poland, where the popularity of the song preceded that of the dance, they adopted the modern ‘t Smidje as “Taniec Belgijski” (Belgian Dance) or Belgijka (the Belgian). In France the dance was already popular before ‘t Smidje as “La Champeloise” (derived from the village name Chapelle-des-Bois in eastern France) and is said to have originated in the 1930s. But in some dance scenes, the modern rendition of ‘t Smidje has displaced traditional jigs and reels of Brittany normally used for La Champeloise. The Chapelloise article on Wikipedia chronicles the historic and speculative origins of the dance.

The Story of the Little [Black]smith

The song “’t Smidge”—the Little [Black]smith—is set in medieval times, as are many of Laïs’ songs, when the County of Flanders stood on it’s own as neither French, Dutch, nor Belgian. The quickie synopsis is that a Flemish blacksmith travels to France in search of a beautiful wife, which he indeed finds. But he soon finds her to be a shrew who constantly nags him and denies him the simplest pleasure. He longs to be a bachelor once again, with only the company of his anvil and hammer.

In a post at Folkdance Footnotes, a Flemish speaker comments on the song lyric nuances and that “the Flemish hate and love and love and hate the French all at the same time.” While the language of the song is Flemish, it has been “polished” enough that Dutch speakers can understand it as Dutch with a Flemish accent. The commenter also notes the use of the diminutive form of “smith,” which could mean young or short, but more likely means the narrator is poking fun at or lamenting the misfortunes of this simple person. I recommend the reading the full post.

Laïs: Three women enlightening medieval Flemish folk songs

Laïs, a Celtic word meaning “voice,” got its start in 1994 when three women from Kalmthout, Belgium performed an a cappella number at a folk festival in Gooik, near Brussels. The group focused on bringing Flemish lyrics from the Middle Ages out of obscurity through new self-composed melodies. It was a slow start, and one founding member later left to join a different folk project. ‘t Smidje, while their most popular song, is not typical of the group’s original focus of polyphonic close harmonies sung a cappella or with simple background accompaniment. For their debut eponymous album, Laïs, the group pair with the Belgian folk-rock group Kadril for some of the tracks, but for later work, Laïs assembled their own band.