Tune Req: title of this folk song

Subject: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: GUEST,minhash
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 04:01 AM

i cant get this melody off of my head... its very simple somewhat russian or polka like. i am posting an ABC notation. please help!

X:1
T:russian folk song maybe
R:Trad
B:Trad
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:Bm
"Bm"bf2f f2 ed|"F#7"e2 e g f4|
"Bm"bf2f f2 ed|"A"e2 "A"d c "Bm"B4|

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: Jack Campin
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 04:51 AM

Sure it isn't Breton? There's an "an dro" a bit like that.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 05:20 AM

thanks for your message!
greatly appreciated.
by the way, what is Breton? Celtic?
and "an dro"?
please advise!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: GUEST,Derick
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 05:29 AM

The Bretons are a Celtic people with their own language,related to Welsh and Cornish.Brittany their homeland is in the north west of France.
An An Dro is a type of circle dance.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: GUEST,minhash
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 05:34 AM

wow thanks!
do you happen to know the title of the "an dro"?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: Jack Campin
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 05:46 AM

An-dros don't usually have titles. I'll post an ABC of the one I'm thinking of later today.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: GUEST,minhash
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 05:53 AM

thank you so much!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: Helen
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 06:52 AM

I have heard a few An Dro tunes but the one you have posted does sound more Russian to me.

An Dro is a dance, and there are many tunes which are played for the dance. A lot of the tunes don't have a specific name, so it can get very confusing.

An example of an An Dro tune and the dance:

An Dro - Fest Noz - Riec sur Belon - 8-8-2009

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: GUEST,minhash
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 07:17 AM

yeah, since you said it, it has this certain borscht flavor to it...

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: Jack Campin
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 08:02 AM

Kolomeykas and an-dros can be a bit hard to tell apart.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: Helen
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 04:34 PM

Guest, minhash, can you please give us some more information on how/where you heard the tune? In isolation, it is difficult to identify the tune but some background information might help.

Who performed it? Was it on a recording or on the radio or TV? etc etc

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: GUEST,minhash
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 07:53 PM

thanks helen,

the thing is, im a bit of a song writer myself,
and one day this melody suddenly popped up in my head.
but it sounds so traditional i must have heard it
somewhere but i just cant recall where.
but it sounds so familiar, i am afraid to call it my own.
i know its a needle in a hay stack, but appreciate
all the help i can get.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: gillymor
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 09:17 PM

I made a midi of it, it's kind of familiar but I can't place it. Sounds a bit like Klezmer.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: GUEST,minhash
Date: 20 Sep 18 - 07:38 AM

thanks gilmor,

i guess that the significance of this melody is the b->f or a-e
drop in the beginning. which can be found in number of tunes.
folk tune finder gave me nearly 20k results in minor tune alone.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Sep 18 - 10:19 PM

i think i found it! its in 6/8 but if you transcribe it into 8/8 its the same melody.

X: 11
T:Le roi a fait battre tambour
T:La marquise empoisonne
C:Paroles et musique traditionnelle
Z:Transcrit et/ou corrig par Michel BELLON - 2006-04-28
Z:Pour toute observation mailto:[e-mail]
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:C
z3 "Am" aef | "C"e3 "Dm"dcd | "Am"e3 aef | "C"e3 "Dm"dcd | "Am"e3 "G"def |
"C"g2a (g>fe) | "G"d2z "E"eef | e3 dcB | "Am"A3 cBc | "Dm"d2e (A>Gc/2B/2) | "Am"A3- Az2 |]
%%footer $D   Galouvielle-MBe 2006 \n-- (--)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: Zhenya
Date: 23 Sep 18 - 02:40 AM

I can't read abc, so I can't get the melody from that, but I recognized the tune title "Le roi a fait battre tambour" in the last post. If that's the tune the OP is looking for, it's an old French ballad, and I know it originally from an LP by the Quebecois group Éritage. It was also recorded by Cindy Mangsen. A beautiful melody, with a sad story in the lyrics.

Here's a youtube audio posting of the version by Éritage:


Éritage (1982) - Le roi a fait battre tambour

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 23 Sep 18 - 06:05 AM

[there is probably a thread with a better description but here's what I do...
To hear a tune which is provided in "abc notation"

copy all the text (from the X to the end - no more, no less)
open http://www.mandolintab.net/abcconverter.php 
click the big white box
paste what I copied
click "submit"
click "midi"
then open the download
(I think most modern computers will then play the tune automatically?)]

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: GUEST,minhash
Date: 23 Sep 18 - 06:13 AM

thank you for your info Zhenya,
very helpful!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: GUEST,minhash
Date: 23 Sep 18 - 06:53 AM

i just posted on to my soundcloud.

https://soundcloud.com/minor-hash/russian-folk-song-or-polka

please give it a listen and tell me what you think!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: Zhenya
Date: 24 Sep 18 - 12:18 AM

Freddy - Thank you! Your instructions worked perfectly to see the sheet music. I'm on an iPad right now, so the midi wouldn't play, but I'll try it this week on my laptop. I did play the notes on a piano app and I can see it's the tune I know for Le Roi a Fait. I'm keeping your instructions for future reference.

minhash- I listened to the SoundCloud link. It does sound like the same notes as Le Roi, but with a different time signature. And I also thought your clip sounded Russian! I don't know of any Russian song by this tune, though.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: title of this folk song
From: GUEST,minhash
Date: 24 Sep 18 - 01:39 PM

dear zhenya,


thanks for writing! yes, it does seem bit russian.