SON AR CHISTR

Created on 15/07/2002
Latest update on 13/07/2024

Artist: Alan Stivell
Author: Jean Bernard Prima/Jean-Marie Prima
Label: Fontana
Year: 1970

Means Song Of The Cider. On his debut album Reflets and B-side of Brocéliande. Original title in Cornouaille dialect: Ev' chistr 'ta, Laou, first published in 1951 by traditional Breton activist Polig Monjarret. So this is not a Stivell (real name: Cochevelou) original. It was created by two Breton brothers in 1929. Also a soccerfield song in Eindhoven (NL) and in Hoffenheim (GER).

Covers:

1940:

Elen Guychard [oldest recording as Tudjentii Baod in Languidic (Pays vannetais)]

1951:

Jul Gwernig [sacristain (sexton) of Scaër (Pays Vannetais)]

1960:

Korollerien Breiz Izel [dance group from Basse-Bretagne]

1971:

Martin Carthy [as Willie's Lady; lyrics: Ray Fisher; is also Child ballad #6 from Mrs. Brown's collection from Falkland, Aberdeenshire; first copy: 1783]

1974:

Youenn Gwernig [as Son ar Jistr on album Distro ar Gelted (the Return of the Kelts), the version of his dad Jul; Youenn brought Breton folk overseas, even to the coffeehouses in Greenwich Village, NY, where he met up with Jack Kerouac, beat poet with Breton roots; it was Youenn who inspired Jack for a trip to France to check out his family's breeding ground (near Lanmeur, east of Morlaix); see also Kerouac's novel Satori In Paris (1960); as for Youenn Guernig, the cultural center in his native Scaer is named after him]

1976:

Bots [as Zeven Dagen Lang; also sung in German in '80 igniting Scooter in the 90s]

1976:

Frida Boccara [as La Mariée]

1977:

Oktoberklub [as So wollen wir kämpfen]

1978:

Quebreizh [from Quebec]

1980:

Angelo Branduardi [same theme in Gulliver (Italian) and in Sans aucun doute (French)]

1982:

Ray Fisher [as Willy's Lady]

1987:

Chieftains [as Ev' chistr 'ta, Laou on Celtic Wedding: Music of Brittany; learned it from Youenn Gwernig]

1994:

Dieter Troubleyn [as Zeven Dagen Lang]

1998:

Rapalje [as Wat Zullen We Drinken]

1999:

Scooter [same melody in How Much Is The Fish; electro version]

2003:

Blackmore's Night [as All For One]

2013:

Anaïs Mitchell & Jefferson Hamer [as Willie's Lady]

2020:

Like Mike & Dimitri Vegas [as The Chase]

Coauthor Jean-Marie Prima wrote about the origin of Son ar Chistr in the Revue Musique Bretonne in July 1995 (N°132, p 22-24).

Contact


If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:

Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)

info@originals.be

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