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Breton tune from Alain Stivell
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Subject: Alain Stivell From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 19 Apr 00 - 01:09 PM I'll try again. My last thread just died! I'm trying to find words or music for a lovely Breton tune Stivell recorded in the 70's or late 60's. I believe it was on an album called "Live at Dublin" and the tune was something like "Spered holl-vedel". It's gorgeous and I want to know more! Please????????? |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Crowhugger Date: 19 Apr 00 - 01:13 PM I'll check a tape I have of various cuts mainly from the 70s and lechha know, probably not till this evening. |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: GUEST,bigJ Date: 19 Apr 00 - 01:33 PM The track you're looking for, I think, is 'Spered Hollvedel' (Universal Spirit). It appeared on Stivell's 'Deliverance' LP of 1975 (Fontana 9299 547) which was recorded in the National Stadium, Dublin. I'll have a listen to it later today. |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Helen Date: 19 Apr 00 - 07:59 PM Animaterra, I have two books of Stivell sheet music but unfortunately this one is not in either. I do have a copy of the Live in Dublin album though - by copy, I mean tape - no longer have the album cover. Helen |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Crowhugger Date: 19 Apr 00 - 08:13 PM Animaterra, sorry, I don't have it. I haven't listed to Stivell for a while. Thank you for mentioning him. CH |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Helen Date: 19 Apr 00 - 08:24 PM Found this site from Ceolas listing all the Stivell albums, including a few 45's under his real name. Helen |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 20 Apr 00 - 08:37 AM Thanks- Helen, that web page is interesting. I wonder if I can find one of the recordings now? And it's interesting that "Spered hollvedel" means "Universal spirit"- I want to find those words!!!! |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: GUEST,bigJ Date: 20 Apr 00 - 05:58 PM Hi Animaterra, sorry I haven't come back to you before now but I've been putting up yet more shelves. Well, I've just listened to the first couple of tracks on the LP, and Spered Hollvedel is an INSTRUMENTAL (in 3/4 time). However it does segue into the second track which is a poem by Stivell called 'Delivrance' (Deliverance - unsurprisingly). He sings it in Breton, but the words in English are published on the sleeve, do you want those? Regards. |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 20 Apr 00 - 06:59 PM Sure, thanks bj- I'd love the words. I still think the tune must have been a song once- it sounds so lyrically voiced. |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: GUEST,bigJ Date: 20 Apr 00 - 07:58 PM OK here you go - a literal translation of Alan Stivell's poem Deliverance: The time for deliverance has come, Yet all thoughts of revenge are far away from our minds We shall keep our friendship with the people of France But we shall break down those shameful barriers Which prevent us from looking across the sea Those boundaries which keep us away from our closest brothers In Wales, Scotland and Ireland And we, whose name is known by the birds of Brittany Which has been banished from all of the human languages From all the libraries and from all the maps of the world We, the peasants and fishermen shall open our hearts To all the peoples of the planet Earth And we will present our eyes to the world Is it pretentious to believe that we are equal? Is it asking too much to want to live? We will make the rain fall on this devastated world And cleanse the thick blood which feeds those Whom these very same powers feed upon And give satisfaction to those who thirst for justice And the leaves will grow again in Brittany and in Spain From Mali to Chili, from Indo China to Palestine Brittany centre of the inhabited world you will be A refuge for the hunted and poisoned birds For the tortured women in prison For the world weary old ones Celtia from the meeting place of the peoples of the north And of the south to the borders of the old world And of the new world to the frontiers of the earth And of the sea to the limits of this world And the next ......... |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: GUEST, A.C. Date: 20 Apr 00 - 08:08 PM Nice one, bigJ. This one should be added to the DT, really |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Helen Date: 20 Apr 00 - 09:52 PM Animaterra, The tune of Spered Hollvedel sounds fairly simple, and a tip someone gave me about Alan Stivell's compositions is that he often uses the pentatonic scale which limits the notes to 5 rather than 8. On the Celtic harp I can make a pentatonic scale by using the sharping levers - it ends up with 2 pairs of repeated notes soit isn't easy to play melodies but it makes it sound wonderful for glissandos. The notes are: D-flat, E-flat(x2) G-flat A-flat(x2) and B-flat. If you try the tune out on these notes or on a transposing of these notes to an easier to play scale you might find the tune is really easy to pick out yourself. I'll give it a go, probably this weekend and if I can work it out I'll put it into a Midi file. Some of Stivell's recordings are still available but I'm not sure about this one. I'll see what I can find out but if all else fails I can copy the tape (for serious study purposes only of course :-) ) and tie it to the back of a sea-going snail - scuba diving gear and all - and send it over to you. Helen |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 21 Apr 00 - 03:28 PM Oh, Helen, that's great! I can pretty easily figure out the actual tune, it's the arrangement and of course, any words to this tune I seek. If Stivell wrote it and it's not medieval Breton as I thought, that changes things a little- I would be more likely to want to do it his way, rather than re-arranging it my way. What's he up to these days, anyway? And Helen, if you can find a sea-going snail-scuba-diver heading my way, I'd gladly find something to send back with him to share with you, if it means I finally get to hear Stivell's version of the song! I've been listening to a Revels recording circa 1983, and they tend to pasteurize and homogenize much of the music they record! |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Helen Date: 21 Apr 00 - 09:22 PM Ok Animaterra, I just looked up CD Universe from the Support the Mudcat page and Live in Dublin, plus about 30 other CD's etc are available for Stivell. http://www.cduniverse.com/asp/exactartist.asp?style=audio&afl=&cart=92080954&style=audioafl&type=Artist&frm=&search=Stivell%2C+Alan&tries=4&qs=artist So maybe you want to check that option out first. CDNow is also on the Support MC page - I didn't check their listings. I haven't heard anything about what Stivell is up to lately but according to the list of available albums he must still be performing. I wanted to buy a couple of CD's to replacd my vinyl copies but the two I wanted aren't listed: Renaissance of the Celtic Harp, and Reflections. Helen
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Eluned Date: 30 Apr 00 - 12:06 PM Helen, according to the discography on the Stivell site you posted a while back, "Renaissance de l'harpe celtique" IS available. It's the first thing I looked up. I really, really hope it is!! Tell me the discography is'nt wrong!! |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Helen Date: 01 May 00 - 09:07 AM Eluned, I think that was a list of albums he has made, not a list of available albums. It's worth searching all the CD sites - one of them might have it. Helen |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: GUEST,Anbreen Date: 22 Aug 09 - 11:36 PM I wish that Journee a la Maison was available. |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Jack Blandiver Date: 23 Aug 09 - 03:57 AM Journee a la Maison A fine album, all the more so for being totally acoustic! I have this on Rounder, but not on CD. His other acoustic albums are very fine too: E Langonned (1974) and Trema'n inis (1976); the first is very traditional, the second being voice & harp, poetry settings, featuring the sublime Stok Ouzh An Enez which he featured a lot in his concerts during the 80s. That said, I'm a sucker for his Celtic Symphony (1979), though some editions are very badly edited (CD included) and the darkly brooding funk-disco of Terre de Vivants (1981) is a favourite too, featuring as it does both Klaus Blazquiz and Jannick Topp! Didn't hear anything he did after the lack-lustre Harps of the New Age (1985) until the execrable Again (1993) after which I gave up! |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Suegorgeous Date: 23 Aug 09 - 06:26 AM So maybe he did too! perhaps he ran out of creative juice (or something)? I love his recorded music, but found I could never enjoy him playing live, for some reason... Sue |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Les in Chorlton Date: 23 Aug 09 - 06:29 AM How bonkers is he? L in C |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Jack Blandiver Date: 23 Aug 09 - 06:40 AM Bonkers or not, he brought Gabriel Yacoub to the fore, and Gabriel gave us Malicorne, for which we must be truly thankful. And Gabriel is cool solo too... I do have various soft spots for Stivell as I say, in fact I'm just off to spin my old Journee a la Maison vinyl right now. It's meant to translate as The Homecoming but doesn't sound quite right somehow. |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Les in Chorlton Date: 23 Aug 09 - 06:46 AM Hi Sean, I have no doubts what so ever about his music ro many of the good things he has done. we went to Lorient a long time ago and it was brilliant but some of his ideas about Pan-Celtism seem a bit short on evidence L in C |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Jack Blandiver Date: 23 Aug 09 - 02:15 PM Mad as a bag of spanners indeed, but once upon a time I was into all that stuff too... And Journee a la Maison is still a very fine record! |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: melodeonboy Date: 23 Aug 09 - 06:29 PM Yes, some of his ideas were fanciful, but I applauded his brave attempt (which never stood a chance against the power of American monoculture) to start a movement whereby Europeans in general, and the Celtic nations in particular, would develop their own popular music based on their own roots, rather than rolling on their backs with their legs in the air and swallowing everything that America fed them. I remember, at the Kemper festival in Brittany some ten years ago, seeing young Breton bands playing modern Breton music, sung in Breton, with terrific energy and vitality, to a huge, enthusiastic audience of young local people. Not only was it thrilling stuff to watch, but while I was watching it, it occured to me that without Stivell and his associates, it's unlikely that that kind of event would ever have happened. I picked up a replacement copy of his Live in Dublin CD at the Lorient festival this year. Well worth it. "From Celtic Roots" is also worth a listen. |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Les in Chorlton Date: 24 Aug 09 - 06:27 AM A bit like the Fairport / Steeleye / Albion thing |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: nickp Date: 24 Aug 09 - 08:00 AM Ah yes, the wonderful Gabriel Yacoub - and Malicorne. |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 25 Aug 17 - 10:31 AM Reviving this ancient thread because the tune kept me awake into the night. |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: gillymor Date: 25 Aug 17 - 10:47 AM What a lovely tune, glad I opened this thread. Spered Hollvedel by Stivell |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: gillymor Date: 25 Aug 17 - 10:51 AM any one got the dots for it? |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: punkfolkrocker Date: 25 Aug 17 - 11:01 AM I remember him being concert on the telly [maybe the BBC] a fair bit when I was a kid in the early 70s...??? He would have been one of my earliest folkie influences, but I've not listened to him since... |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 25 Aug 17 - 04:24 PM Thanks, gillymor- I agree. I may well do the dots pretty soon, especially if it keeps me up another night! If I do, I'll post a link. |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: JHW Date: 25 Aug 17 - 04:47 PM Grateful for the reminder; Went to see him in a solo concert in Edinburgh last century. Can't say I like the linked melody though or maybe just that performance. |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: gillymor Date: 25 Aug 17 - 06:29 PM I would appreciate that, AA. |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Helen Date: 25 Aug 17 - 06:58 PM Allison (Animaterra), Did I ever send you the cassette tape or did you find the CD to buy? I don't even know if I still have the cassette now. I feel this terrible sense of guilt that I made an offer and didn't make good on it. I still listen fairly often to my two Stivell CD faves, Renaissance de l'harpe celtique and Reflets. I think someone gave me the vinyl album of Live in Dublin a few years ago. I'll have to check my collection. I just listened to the track on the video link and I have that on one of my CD's but I can't figure out which one. I have listened to it fairly recently. Now I'll have to hunt it down. I'm not getting much joy out of Google on this either in trying to identify which CD I have heard it on. Helen |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: Helen Date: 25 Aug 17 - 07:02 PM I did find this in my Googling around: Spered Hollvedel - lyrics from the Again album Tan ho kalon 'zo evidomp holl Paganiz pe gristen Diboe ganedigezh Er Spered Hollvedel Mammig gozh ar gristenion C'hwi 'zo hon Intron E kreiz hor bed ken don Hiriv ha d'an dazont Tan ho kalon 'zo evidomp holl Paganiz pe gristen Diboe ganedigezh Er Spered Hollvedel Intron Santez Dana Hon dishualet Aman war an Douar Ha du-hont er Bed all |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: GUEST Date: 26 Aug 17 - 02:24 AM Regarding Spered Hollvedel, I am not one to write down a tune like that but armed with a Bflat whistle I could play it second time around. It's not hard. Cminor, give it a go and surprise yourself. |
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Subject: RE: Alain Stivell From: gillymor Date: 26 Aug 17 - 06:59 AM Learning by ear is my preferred method, GUEST, but I play with some folks who will probably never hear a recording of this particular tune but are very adept at reading standard musical notation. |
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Subject: RE: Breton tune from Alain Stivell From: Joe Offer Date: 26 Aug 17 - 10:00 PM Allison, I changed the thread title to make it more specific. Does that help, or would Spered Hollvedel from Alain Stivell be better? Here's a Spotify Link to a Revels performance of the song, and a YouTube link to a performance by Alain Stivell. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: Breton tune from Alain Stivell From: Monique Date: 27 Aug 17 - 02:21 AM The song was recorded in E Dulenn (In Dublin) album. From there, switch to the much longer French entry and put the whole thing in a translator if you don't know French. You have a Wiki article in French that Google translator translates rather well. The first paragraph translates as "Spered hollvedel ("Universal Spirit") is the arrangement of a traditional Breton song by Alan Stivell. The music comes from a tune to hymns among which are the one for Holy Mary of Rostrenen (Itron Varia Rostren) and for Sainte-Anne by Jeff Le Penven (Kantig Santez Anna)." On this Spered hollevedel Wiki page, scroll down to the notes and links, the note 1 leads you to this page then click on the link "sellet gwerhiez vari", there's a sheet music. The note 5 leads you to this page, click on the "Itron Varia Rostren" link, there's a sheet music. |
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Subject: RE: Breton tune from Alain Stivell From: Helen Date: 27 Aug 17 - 02:38 AM While looking for a different Alan Stivell piece (which I will have to go and find in one of the two Stivell sheet music books that I own - I was just being lazy!) I found this: Spered Hollvedel I'm not sure how close to the Stivell version it is. Helen |
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Subject: RE: Breton tune from Alain Stivell From: Helen Date: 27 Aug 17 - 02:13 PM Thanks for all the information, Monique. It answers all our questions, I think. Excellent research! :-) Helen |
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Subject: RE: Breton tune from Alain Stivell From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 31 Oct 17 - 06:55 PM That's what I get for not checking in more often. Helen, you did send me the cassette long ago, and I subsequently found it on cd. Joe, good change, and you may be interested to know that I was in that Revels production that featured the tune, which is where I heard it in the first place! Still one of my favorites. |
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