Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

Òaï

English translation:

chaos

Added to glossary by Philippa Smith
May 5, 2012 09:13
12 yrs ago
French term

Òaï

French to English Other Music
Anybody know the correct term for this type of music in English? Merci!!!

Avec Lux B, ils forment en 2001, en parallèle de la scène massilienne, « Òaï Star », un duo explosif qui les emmènera sur les routes d’Òc et d’autres mondes. Avec un rock‘n’roll libre et affranchi, c’est en anti-starification réactive qu’ils s’imposeront comme les ambassadeurs des “Poètes du Tiroir” et de la promotion du “joyeux bordel” : le Òaï !!!
Change log

May 7, 2012 07:14: Philippa Smith Created KOG entry

Discussion

Lorna Coing (asker) May 5, 2012:
Response to Philippa Thanks, Philippa, it's great to have a 'local' to help me out with all this! You've given me a lot of great food for thought; thank you!
Philippa Smith May 5, 2012:
Tricky: I don't think it's a type of music, it's an occitan word they used to name the group, and it means "bordel", so presumably they used it in the sense of "mettre le bordel", which provides the word play here...you could try and use a word play in English, maybe somehow playing on the phonetics of "Òaï" by using "wild" - or you could not worry about trying to reproduce the word play and just find a nice way to describe their "joyful chaos" approach...

Proposed translations

+2
2 hrs
Selected

the joyful chaos that is their hallmark

As per my discussion entry: looking at it again, this suggestion occurred to me...
Peer comment(s):

agree Puchduggo
18 mins
Thanks a lot!
agree Yvonne Gallagher : yes, that should fit nicely
21 hrs
Many thanks!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Saved the day, once again! Thanks, Philippa!"
2 hrs

Mess/shamble/mix-up/chaos

It's a word derived from l'Occitan. See the discussion in the page below referring to an alternate spelling: ouaï.
Best,
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31 mins

Òaï Star

it's the name of duo so shouldn't be translated

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Note added at 35 mins (2012-05-05 09:48:46 GMT)
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just see Philippa's discussion entry and her "wild" or joyful chaos" could be used for "explosif"

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Note added at 1 day28 mins (2012-05-06 09:42:22 GMT)
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oops!
Note from asker:
That's not the part I'm trying to translate. It's the 'le Oaï' part at the end of the text.
Something went wrong...
1 day 6 hrs

Oaï

As it is slang, and a very particular slang at that, I agree that "joyeux bordel" is spot on for the meaning. Further, as it comes just before the "oaï" in question, I reckon you ought to leave it as is. After all, it is untranslatable and the text which comes just before provides the explanation. Otherwise, I agree with Philippa for "joyeux bordel" and tentatively suggest "hell of a mess" as a slightly less poetic alternative.
Note from asker:
Thanks for your input, Nikki!
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Reference comments

1 day 5 hrs
Reference:

dixit Papagena

http://www.languefrancaise.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1802

"Papageno06-12-2005 16:45:03
Dilettante
Déconnecté
De : Antibes
Inscrit : 19-11-2005
Messages : 285
Personnellement, je l'emploi très souvent, pour définir l'état de mon appartement, émettre des doutes sur un plan foireux, juger une ambiance un peu trop dynamique, ou un fil qui part dans tous les sens. "C'est le oai" "Foutre le oai" " Fan, qué oai!". Avant, on disait plutôt "bronx" ou "boxon". C'est vrai que ça s'emploi surtout dans le sud-est...
Il y a également "Footeuse de Oai", un groupe féminin qui vient de Toulouse, ainsi qu'un collectif de ragga baletti qui s'appelle le Oai Star, issu du Massilia Soundsystem ( pour ceux qui voudraient encore hurler à l'anglicisme sans infos préalables, les membres du soundsystem sont des grands défenseurs de la culture occitane et réinventent depuis plus de dix ans la langue provençale).
Dernière modification par Papageno (06-12-2005 16:50:51)"
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