Dashenka

[fpb]

I know nothing whatsoever about this song, except that it is for male choir and piano, and that it is unbelievably lovely. Indeed, it seems to be almost unknown, which I find tragic for such a lovely piece of music.

Comments

[mentalguy.livejournal.com]

The song is "Dashenka (The Gypsy)" and is often part of the repertoire of Welsh choral groups. The song appears to be commonly attributed to Welsh author/composer Islwyn Ffowc Elis (in which case the original language would almost certainly have been Welsh), though I have also seen it cataloged as folk song on two occasions (once as a Welsh folk song, once as a Hungarian folk song). Noel Davies' arrangement of the song seems to be the most popular.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I am familiar with Welsh choirs, and while this is certainly good enough for them, it does not sound naturally Welsh. I would think that it is either an East European folksong adapted for their use, or a Welsh composer's successful attempt at ethnic colour. I'll look up Islwyn Ffowc Elis.

[mentalguy.livejournal.com]

Either seems plausible to me; I'm curious what you can find. English web-biographies of Elis do not mention him as a composer of any note, but he is frequently listed as the song's composer in catalogs. There may be some significant information on the Welsh-language Internet (the Welsh title is "Dashenka (Y Sipsiwn)"), but my Welsh is too poor to get very far.

In case they may be of help as a jumping-off point, here are a couple of the more interesting links I dug up while I was searching:

• a mailing list post describing Dashenka as a popular Welsh folk song romanticising the Gypsy lifestyle
• A Welsh choral group's "song of the month" page which includes an English recording of the song with much clearer lyrics

[mentalguy.livejournal.com]

Er, also meant to include this catalog entry; the sheet music collection it appears in looks available for roughly £7.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

My Welsh is pretty bad too, but I can tell you that "Y Sipsiwn" means nothing else than "the Gypsy", both the English and the Welsh coming from the mistaken notion that Gypsies came from Egypt. By the way, if you like vocal music, you might look upthread, where I have posted three or four Italian mountain songs for thefish30. Aside from my own love for all things Alpine, I have her word for it that they amount to an "Epic Voice Win".

[mentalguy.livejournal.com]

My Welsh is pretty bad too, but I can tell you that "Y Sipsiwn" means nothing else than "the Gypsy", both the English and the Welsh coming from the mistaken notion that Gypsies came from Egypt.

Ah! I ought to have noticed the phonetic similarity. Welsh consonants hurt my brain.