Category: Music

Language quiz

By Simon

Here’s a recording of a song in a mystery language. Any ideas which language it is and where it’s spoken?

[Update] Here are the lyrics of the song:

Ferðist eg í millum landa
Síggi gleði sorg og stríð
Men ein myndin bjørt man standa
Minnir meg um bestu tíð
Ja har heima í tí dali
Har alt grønt og vakurt er
Eg í huga kátur spæli
Meðan skip um sjógvin fer

and here’s a translation:

??? in the midst of bright stars
In the midst of the sound of waves and lambs
Where harsh storms blow
Where no strings tie
Where I’m always free
Where the ocean is a friend
Where I’m free to go somewhere distant
Where fresh ???

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi

By Simon

Neithiwr canodd y Côr Meibion Cymraeg Brighton mewn cyngerdd yn Lindfield ger Haywards Heath i ddathlu Dydd Gŵyl Dewi. Roedd tua 150 o bobl yn y cynulleidfa, yn gynnwys cryn dipyn o Gymry, a gwerthfawrogon nhw ein canu a’r gerddoriaeth a ganodd un o’r telynoresau arferol yn fawr. Codon dros mil o bunnau ar gyfer hosbis leol hefyd.

Lá Naomh David

Aréir sheinn an Cór Breatnach Brighton i gceolchoirm i Lindfield in aice le Haywards Heath, Lá Naomh David a cheiliúradh. Bhí 150 de de lucht féachana ann, lena n-áirítear cuid mhaith Breatnaigh, agus bhain siad an-sult as ár amhránaíocht agus ceol na cláirseiche a sheinn aon de ár cláirseachaí féiltiúil. Bhailigh muid níos mó na míle punt ar mhaithe le hospice áitiúla.

St. David’s Day

The Brighton Welsh Male Voice Choir gave a concert last night at Lindfield near Haywards Heath to celebrate St. David’s Day. The audience of 150 or so, which included quite a few Welsh people, seemed to really appreciate our singing, and also the harp playing of one of our regular harpists. We also raised over £1000 for a local hospice.

Language quiz

By Simon

This is a song that I learnt this week at one of the choirs I go to. Does anyone know what language it’s in and what it means? We were told that it’s a “gypsy song from Czechoslovakia” and that it’s a counting song. The words look like a mixture of Romany and Spanish – possibly Caló.

Dui, duj, duj, dui desu duj,
Te comida, te comida,
Par no muj

O kalo muj na kamar,
Dere kostat kikana,
Saj Iago, say Iago,
Romnake

I don’t know the answers this time. All I’ve been able to find out is that there are recordings of the song on some albums of Hungarian gypsy songs, or at least a song with the same first line, and that the final word, Romnake, appears to be associated with the Hungarian-Carpathian gypsies.

Newyddion

By Simon

Es i i’r côr meibion am y drydedd tro yr wythnos hon. Yn raddol dw i’n mynd yn fwy cyfarwydd gyda geiriau ac alawon y caneuon ac gyda chleff y bas. Gartref dw i’n ymarfer chwarae’r alawon ar y gitâr ac yn canu ar y un pryd. Bydd y côr yn perfformio mewn llawer o gyngherddau eleni – o leiaf unwaith y mis – ac bydd ein cyngerdd cyntaf ar yr 2 Chwefror yn Seaford. Ddydd Mercher mi brynais siwt ginio, crys gwisg a thei cwlwm coch fel y ddraig ar y fanner Cymru i wisgo yn y cyngherddau. Mi ges i ostyngiad mawr ar y preis – pumdeg y cant – oherwydd y seliau mis Ionawr.

Ddydd Iau ymunais â’r Gerddorfa Werin Sussex, grŵp o gerddorion gwerin sy’n chwarae cerddoriaeth o bob cwr Brydain ac Iwerddon dwywaith y mis yn Worthing. Maen nhw’n chwarae ar gyfer dawnsiau sgubor a digwyddiadau tebyg o bryd yw gilydd hefyd. Er enghraifft, neithiwr chwaraeon nhw yn nghinio Burns, ond chwaraeais i ddim achos dim ond newydd ymunais â nhw yw i.

Nuacht

Chuaigh mé chuig an cór ar an tríú uair an seachtaine seo. De réir a chéile tá mé ag éirí níos aithnidiúil leis foclaí agus foinn na hamhráin, agus ar an dord-eochair. Sa bhaile bím ag cleachtadh na foinn ar an giotár agus ag canadh ag an am ceanna. Beidh an cór ag seinn i go leor ceolchoirmeacha i mbliana – uair amháin gach mí ar a laghad – agus beidh an chéad cheolchoirm ar an 2 de Mhí Feabhra i Seaford. Dé Céadaoin cheannaigh mé culaith dinnéir, léine feisteas agus carbhat cuachóige dearg mar an dragan ar bhratach na Breataine Bige, agus caithfidh mé iad ag na ceolchoirmeacha. Fuair mé lascaine mhór – caoga faoin gcead – de bharr díolacháin Eanáir.

Déardaoin chuaigh mé chuig Ceolfhoireann na nDaoine Sussex, grúpa daoine a bhíonn ag seinn ceol as gach coirnéal Breataine agus na hÉireann dhá uair sa mhí i Worthing. Bíonn siad ag seinn ag damhsaí scioból agus gníomhaíochtaí cosúla ó am go ham fosta. Mar shampla, sheinn siad ag dinnéar Burns aréir, ach ní sheinn mise mar ní mo ná go bhfuil mé téigh iontu agam.

News

This week I went to the Welsh choir for the third time. I’m gradually becoming more familiar with the words and tunes of the song, and with the bass clef. I practise the tunes on the guitar at home and try to sing them as well. The choir will be performing in quite a few concerts this year – at least one a month – and the first one will be on 2nd February in Seaford. On Thursday I bought a dinner suit to wear at the concerts. It came with a dress shirt and bow tie that’s red like the dragon on the Welsh flag and I got a big discount – 50% – thanks to the January sales.

On Thursday I joined the Sussex Folk Orchestra, a bunch of people who play folk music from every corner of Britain and Ireland a couple of times a month in Worthing. The also play at barn dances and for similar occasions from time to time. Last night, for example, they played at a Burns Night dinner, though I didn’t play as I’ve only just joined them.

Word of the day – luthier

By Simon

A luthier is someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments. The word comes from the French luth (lute). Luthiers are often divided into two categories: those who deal with plucked or strummed instruments, such as guitars, banjos, mandolins, etc, and those who devote themselves to bowed instruments, such as violin, violas and cellos. The latter are also known as archetiers, from the French arch (bow).

Do you know if there are special names for makers or repairers of others kinds of musical instruments?

Musicians’ brains are different

By Simon

Brain scans have found that the corpus callosum, the contection but the two halves of musicians’ brains tends to be significant enlarged in comparison the corpus callosum found in the brains of the non-musicans. A number of other differences between the brains of musicians and non-musicians have been found, including enlargements to the cortex, auditory and motor parts of the brain. Another finding was that music tends to be processed in the left hemisphere of musician’s brains in the same areas as language, whereas the right hemisphere tends to be responsible for this task in the brains of non-musicians.

Oliver Sacks’ book, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain discusses these findings, and other music and language-related cases, including one of a man who after being struck by lightening, developed an overwhelming urge to play the piano and to compose music, and felt that he was actually tuning in to the music of heaven.

Corau

By Simon

Yr wythnos hon, ymunais â’r Côr Meibion Cymraeg Brighton. Maen nhw’n ymarfer bob Nos Lun yn Eglwys Sant Leonard yn Hove, taith weddol fyr ar y bws o fan hyn, ac maen nhw’n perfformio mewn cyngherddau bob ail mis ar gyfer elusen. Torf o hogiau diddorol ydyn nhw, a mwynhaf canu gyda nhw, dw i’n meddwl. Darganfodais llais bas sy ‘da fi ac felly mae rhaid i mi ailddysgu y clef bas nawr.

O’n i’n bwriadu ymuno â côr cymunedol lleol hefyd, ond maen nhw’n chwilio am arweinydd newydd ar hyn o bryd a dydyn nhw ddim yn ymarfer. Gobeithio bydden nhw’n ailddechrau cyn bo hir. Beth bynnag, chwiliais am gorau lleol eraill y gallwn ymuno amdanynt, a dw i wedi synnu bod cymaint o gorau yn yr ardal hon – corau proffesiynol, corau cymunedol, corau siambr a hyd yn oed côr Iddeweg.

Coir

An seachtain seo, chuaigh mé i gCór Breatnach Brighton. Bíonn siad ag cleachtadh achan Oíche Luan in Eaglais Niamh Leonard i Hove, turas measartha gearr ar an mbus ó anseo, agus bíonn siad ag seinn i gceolchoirm achan dara mí ar mhaithe le carthanacht. Grúpa fir suimiúla atá siad, agus sílim go bhainfidh mé sult as a bheith ag canadh leo. Aníos tá fhios agam go bhfuil dordghuth agam, agus dá bhrí sin, tá orm an dord-eochair a fhoghlaim arís.

Bhí rún agam téigh i gcór pobail áitiúla freisin, ach tá siad ag lorg stiúrthóir nua ar faoi láthair agus ní bhíonn siad ag cleachtadh. Tá súil agam go mbeidh siad ag tosú arís go luath. Ar aon nós, bhí mé ag lorg cóir áitiúla eile go bhíodh mé in ann téigh iontu, agus tá iontais orm go bhfuil an oiread sin cóir san áit seo – cóir gairmiúil, cóir pobail, cóir seomra agus fiú cór Giúdais.

Choirs

This week I joined the Brighton Welsh Male Voice Choir. They practise every Monday evening in St Leonard’s Church in Hove, a shortish bus ride from here, and give concerts for charity every other month. They seem like an interesting bunch of blokes and I’m sure I’m going to enjoy singing with them. I discovered that I’m a bass, as I suspected, so I have to relearn the bass clef, something I haven’t needed to read for a long time.

I was planning to join a local community choir as well, but they are currently looking for a new conductor and are not practising. I hope they’ll start again soon. Anyway, I’ve been looking for other local choirs I could join and have been surprised how many there are – professional choirs, community choirs, chamber choirs and even a Yiddish choir.

Gwynt a glaw

By Simon

Mwynheuais Nadolig – bwytais lawer o fwyd blasus (cogyddes ardderchog yw fy mam), ac ymlacais o blaen y tân a’r teledu. Ddydd Mercher, aethon ni am dro o amgylch yr Ardal Lluniau a bwyton ni ginio mewn tafarn ger tŷ Beatrix Potter (Hill Top). Nos Iau daeth fy chwaer ac ei chariad, ac aethon ni i dafarn gyda’n gilydd. Yn anffodus, roedd hi’n bwrw glaw trwm ac roedd y gwynt yn chwythu pan o’n ni’n adael y tafarn, ond yn ffodus cawson ni lifft gyda chyfaill fy chwaer.

Cyrhaeddais ‘nôl yn Brighton Nos Wener ar ôl taith hir iawn ar y trên. Achos roedd gorsaf Euston yn cau, o’n i’n gorfod y “llwybr golygfaol” trwy Birmingham a Basingstoke, yn hytrach na mynd yn syth o Lancaster i Lundain.

Gaoth agus báisteach

Bhain mé sult as an Nollaig – d’ith mé go leor bia blasta (is cócaire iontach í mo mháthair), agus ghlac mé mo shuaimhneas ar aghaidh an thine agus an teilifís. Dé Céadaoin chuaigh muid ar turas timpeall Ceantar na Lochanna agus d’ith muid lón i dteach tábhairne in aice tí Beatrix Potter (Hill Top). Oíche Déardaoin tháinig mo dheirfiúr agus a fiancé, agus chuaigh go dtí an teach tábhairne le cheile. Ar an drochuair, bhí báisteach trom agus gaoth láidir ann nuair a thosaigh muid abhaile, ach ar an dea-uair dúinn fuair muid síob le cara mo dheirfiúr.

Tháinig mé ar ais i mBrighton oíche Aoine i ndiaidh turas an fhada ar an traein. Bhí stáisiún Euston dúnta agus dá bhrí sin, bhí orm bealach eile a thógáil trí Birmingham and Basingstoke, in áit ag dhol díreach o Lancaster i Londain.

Wind and rain

Christmas was good – I eat lots of lovely food (my mum is a great cook), and relaxed in front of the fire and the telly. On Wednesday we went on a drive around the Lake District and had lunch in a pub next to Beatrix Potter’s house (Hill Top). My sister and her fiancé arrived on Thursday evening and we went out to one of the local pubs – the slightly spooky one up in the woods. It was tipping it down and blowing a gale when we left the pub, which kept the vampires away, but fortunately we got a lift home with one of my sister’s friends.

I got back to Brighton on Friday evening after a seemingly interminable journey. Euston station was closed, so instead of going directly from Lancaster to London, I had to take the “scenic route” via Birmingham and Basingstoke.

Partis a chyngherddau

By Simon

Nos Mercher, es i barti yn y Canolfan Iwerddon Hammersmith. Canais dair gân gyda’r grŵp canu ac roedd grwpiau eraill yn dawnsio neu yn chwarae cerddoriaeth. Naethon y plant drama bach ac roedd Siôn Corn yn y man hefyd. Mwynheuais fy hunan yn fawr.

Roedd parti Nadolig yn y swyddfa Nos Wener. Roedd y thema eleni “iâ” ac roedd addurniadau yn cysylltiedig ag iâ ac eira ymhobman, yn gynnwys pluen eira enfawr wedi cael ei cherflunio yn iâ. Ar ôl cinio bwffe, roedd band jazz yn chwarae a roedd disgo.

Neithiwr, es i i weld Kate Rusby, cantores gwerin o Sir Efrog, yn y Brighton Dome. Mae llais hyfryd ‘da hi, mae hi’n chwarae’r gitâr yn dda iawn, ac roedd cerddorion talentog iawn yn perfformio gyda hi hefyd. Roedd y gyngerdd yn anffurfiol ac roedd Kate yn sgwrsio am y caneuon, ei fywyd ac y band fel bydden ni mewn tafarn. Canodd hi rhai o garolau o Sir Efrog a chalonogodd hi i bawb canu gyda’n gilydd. Roedd hi’n wych!

Cóisir agus ceolchoirm

Oíche Mháirt chuaigh chuig cóisir i Lárionad na hÉireann Hammersmith. Chan mé cúpla amhráin le grúpa amhránaíocht, agus bhí grúpa eile ag damhsa agus ag seinn ceól. Rinne na páiste dráma beag agus bhí Daidí na Nollag ann san áit fosta. Bhain mé an-sult as.

Bhí cóisir Nollag ann san oifig oíche Aoine. I mbliana bhí an téama “oighear” agus bhí maisiúcháin ann a raibh bhaint acu le oighear agus sneachta i ngach áit. I ndiaidh dinnéar buifé, sheinn banna snagcheol agus bhí dioscó ann.

Aréir chuaigh mé chuig ceolchoirm Kate Rusby, amhránaí ceol tíre as Yorkshire sa Brighton Dome. Tá guth álainn léi, tá sí ag seinn an giotár go han mhaith, agus sheinn ceoltóirí den chéad scoth léi fosta. Bhí an ceolchoirm an neamhfhoirmiúil agus labhair Kate linn faoi na hamhráin, a beatha agus an banna mar a raibh muid i dteach tábhairne. Chan sí cuid caruil na Nollag as Yorkshire spreag sí gach duine ag canadh le chéile. Bhí an ceolchoirm go hiontach!

Parties and concerts

On Tuesday night I went to a party at the Irish Centre in Hammersmith during which I sang a few songs with the singing group. Other groups danced, sang or played music as well, and the kids put on a short play involved Father Christmas and some dwarves. It was a great night.

On Friday night we had the office Christmas party at the office. The theme this year was ice and there were clouds of dry ice and lots of ice and snow-related decorations around the place, including an impressive ice sculpture of a snowflake. After a buffet dinner, which was quite tasty, there was a disco with a live jazz band.

Last night I went to see Kate Rusby, a folk singer from Yorkshire, at the Brighton Dome. She has a lovely voice, plays a mean guitar and sings a mixture of traditional folk songs and ones she’s written herself. Last night she was accompanied by some very talented musicians, including Anna Massie, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo, and also has her own band.

It was an informal affair with Kate chatting to us about the songs, her life and the band between numbers as if we were in the pub. As well as folk songs, she also sang Yorkshire versions of some Christmas carols. We were all given song sheets with the words for the carols on the way in and were encouraged to join in. It was excellent.