not sure this worked first time, so forgive me if this is a repeat:
Hello Everyone
Thank you Alan for all the years I have enjoyed your music! Big fan am I!
but on the reflets cd, there is a song called tenval an deiz, which i think is wonderful, but of course i dont understand it…can anyone show me the lyrics, best in English, but I can make out French slowly, or at least tell me what the song is about!
merci
saku
Hello,
I will give you this as soon as I can; if somebody else does it before, it’s cool;
best wishes,
alan
It’s something like that :
The days are dark, now, in my home,
Because my darling is not in here.
Napoleon is not very happy to see
That there are some girls in his army…
hmmm, it’s quite difficult to explain what there is behind this song. Do you know Saku Koivu, the hockey player ?
4x9nu3ndthanks! this is a good indication of what it is about. thank you.
saku koivu comes from my home town of turku, and he played for the local team, TPS, back in the old days when we were the best in finland…but no, i never met him…saku is a common name in finland, but in estonia, is famous for being the name of a beer!
best wishes
saku
should have added, that it seems like it is one of the many stories of a young girl who runs away to joint the army in search of her lover, perhaps?
saku
Effectively, it starts like these songs.. but in breton « an hini a garan » means « the person (boy or girl) I love », so at the end of the song I don’t know if « the girls at the army » represent the girl who comes to see the soldier she loves… or if the soldier who left his (in fact, « her ») home is not finally a girl ! It’s a funny song 🙂
Bertuuald speaks of « An hani a garan » or « an hini a garan » (the person I love) ; there somebody speaks of his or her love gone in a foreign country in search of work;
« Teñval an de » or « Teñval an deiz » (Dark is the day), is about a girl who dresses up as a man to go to the war in search of her love;
I have to say that as singing often a small part of the traditionnal songs, it is a « photograph » in place of a « film »; the purpose never was to sing all the verses to people who don’t understand one word; I ever felt better to give the desire to know more, as you do here.
Best wishes,
alan
Thanks to both of you, for increasing my knowledge and my pleasure in this song!
all the best
saku
where can I find the entire breton text of tenval an deiz and the entire translation?
Hello.
There is a tradition of similar songs in folk music. The english one « High Germany » could be compared to that. It happened in History, as some true examples have been apparently recorded. In the same way, some girls managed to hide their gender to join the navy, and more strangely, to become an executioner! The novelist Nicole Avril has written a novel inspired by this last one: « Monsieur de Lyon ». But this is another story…