Does anyone know where I might find the dots for this (allegedly Breton) tune? It’s not in the usual places (Henrick Norbert, and tunedb… )
Alternatively, does anybody know if Lothlorien and/or Laurence Nugent are playing it in a reasonable whistle key?
I’m lousy at picking up tunes by ear as of yet, but I suppose I could try with this one… dots would be easier though. 
–Chris
Do a search over on the flute board, it’s there somewhere…or at least the basic outline of the tune is.
Loren
Do you mean An Dro perhaps? An Dro is a popular style of Breton dance tunes.
Kenavo!
Aaron
If I recall, a d whistle is perfect for playing along with the tune from either cd. Listen to it a bunch of times until you can hum it all the way through. Then you can figure out the fingering on the whistle.
Tony
What Tony said.
But to help you start - D whistle,
bottom octave…
e,b,b,a,b,c#,b,a,g,a,a,a,b,a,g,f#,e,f#,g,f#
HTH
I have it somewhere on an Alan Stivell songbook - I’ll hunt around for it (currently moving house so it’s in a box somewhere!)
It’s called “An Dro” and is probably the primary dance tune of Brittany, like Hava Nagila is in Israel.
This tune is one of the reasons I took up the whistle in the first place. I can get bits and parts of it, but so far not the whole thing.
On 2002-06-24 23:57, AaronMalcomb wrote:
Do you mean An Dro perhaps? An Dro is a popular style of Breton dance tunes.Kenavo!
Aaron
Absolutely correct. From what I’ve been told most Breton dance tunes do not come equiped with names (Breton musicians must have been too serious about their playing to waste time on making up names 
).
Chris was, I think, looking for this particular Dans en Dro, or this Dans en Dro.
[ This Message was edited by: Mark_J on 2002-06-25 09:52 ]
I spent several months with a Breton community in Le Havre, France and from my experience the reason that they don’t name tunes is that they are too busy dancing. Bretons are more likely to have a dance for a tune than a name. Good music and a little cider make for a great fest noz!
One little note: Si bémol (Bb) and Sol (G) are your standard keys in Breton music though it sounds fine in D too.
Kenavo!
Aaron
[ This Message was edited by: AaronMalcomb on 2002-06-25 11:00 ]
Wow… I had no idea it was such a complicated question! Anyway, many thanks for the notes, tips, links, and history.
AFAIK, the tune that Lothlorien and Laurence Nugent have both billed as ‘Dans En Dro’ is the same tune, but maybe not… they sure -sound- the same, but then… to the uninitiated, all reels sound alike so maybe it’s just that it’s a form I’m not familiar with, but I’d like to think my ear is a little better than that…
They are, at least, I’m sure in the same mode!
What, by the way, makes someone (or some tune) ‘Breton’? I understand that there’s a Cape Breton, but I don’t think it’s in France, so now I’m puzzled…
–Chris
Breton means from Brittany, a region in NW France that has a strong Celtic culture. The Breton language is to Welsh what Gaelic is to Irish.
Cape Breton is part of Nova Scotia. How it got that name, I don’t know. But Cape Breton has a very strong Gaelic tradition, some argue stronger than in Scotland, because many settlers in Cape Breton were from the Highlands and continued their way of life almost exactly as they had in Scotland. In modern times Gaelic was still the mothertongue for many inhabitants. Consequently Cape Breton has a very strong piping, step-dancing and fiddling tradition.
Slainte!
Aaron
To add a bit more to Aaron’s excellent comments, Brittany is the English word for the French Bretagne (which means Britain[!]), and the Breton for it is Breizh. The Breton language is called Brezoneg and is almost identical to ancient Cornish (Kernewek) which is still spoken by a few hundred Cornish. Both Brezoneg and Kernewek are very closely related to Welsh (Cymraig) - I have a Welsh-speaking friend who met some Bretons when travelling and they were able to understand each other.
Hope that helps a bit. BTW, Brittany and Cornwall are both stunningly beautiful, so if you ever get the chance, visit!
There are some similar, but not identical, An Dros to the Lothlorien version at JC’s. I listened to the Lothlorien version at MP3com and copied it but I can’t scan it.
This should get you a similar tune.
http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/findtune?P=An+Dro&F2=find+(wide)
Scroll down the page till you come to 6 in the index column.
Steve
[ This Message was edited by: SteveK on 2002-06-26 07:22 ]
An intersting historical reason as to why Brezhoneg ha Kernewek are so similar is that the Bretons are actually immigrants from Cornwall who fled to Brittany during the various invasions that country has seen. One of the biggest festivals in Brittany is the Festival de Cornouaille in Quimper (Kemper). Cornouaille is French for Cornwall.
Kenavo!
Aaron
And a very long time ago, Cornwall was South Wales. There was also extesive trading between Brittany and Wales.
Jo.
I decided I wanted to learn this last night, and made the dots to help me keep track of the parts I was puzzling out by ear.
If anyone still needs it, let me know, and I’ll be happy to share.
BTW,
I was looking for this tune last summer (also from a result of hearing it on Lothlorien’s album) Someone told me that “An Dro” is a type of Cape Bretton dance. So Dans An Dro is just a generic name for the tune that goes with the dance.
Actually once you get started with any simular version, you can learn the rest by ear from Lothlorien’s recording.
(nod) It was fairly easy to pick out by ear…but I didn’t always have as much skill at that as I’ve got now. Was just offering up the fruits of my labors for anyone who might be interested.
On 2003-01-28 02:43, Wandering_Whistler wrote:
(nod) It was fairly easy to pick out by ear…but I didn’t always have as much skill at that as I’ve got now. Was just offering up the fruits of my labors for anyone who might be interested.
I’m interested, Greg. I have it down except for the last few notes, and nothing I do sounds right. Can you send me a PM if no one else is interested in seeing it in a regular post? And thanks!
To the best of my recollection, Laurence Nugent plays it in E dorian–quite easy on any D whistle.
Jon Michaels