Dear Juha, I really love the poetry of Langston Hughes and this poem in particular, but we should find out if these poems have ever been set to music to be considered as songs.
I understand your concern about songs that are not songs. When I first popped into them here, my question was exactly the same as yours: Where's the music, where's the composition? Then I kept on popping into them and I was confused. Finally, I thought maybe there's a niche for them here, but now I don't know.
So maybe you should consider deleting them altogether.
Dear Juha, I don't like to delete pages from the website, any poem can be set to music and especially the ones of L.H., that are always considered Jazz poetry in the sense that it "demonstrates jazz-like rhythm or the feel of improvisation"
Sans vouloir entrer plus loin dans le débat, je signale que les dénommés Chrétien de Troyes, François Villon, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire, Jacques Prévert, Guillaume Apollinaire, Charles Cros, Pierre Seghers, Pierre de Ronsard, Louis Aragon, Paul Éluard, Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz et mille autres - et je m'en tiens à la langue française - trois exemples allemands : Erich Mühsam, Erich Kästner, Kurt Tucholsky... tous ont écrit des textes - poèmes, ballades sans musique qui ont été musiquées et chantées des années et même quelquefois des siècles après leur écriture.
Ce sont les musiciens et les chanteurs qui sont en retard.
le poche cose da tradurre dal tedesco:
Doichlanda ovviamente è la storpiatura di Deutschland = Germania
Und die Kleine = e la piccola
Und die Spiele = e i giochi
Und die Arbeit = e il lavoro
Und die Sonne = e il sole
Scheint allein = splende solo
Chanson italienne – Il vento del Nord – Tullio Bugari – 2017
Texte de Tullio Bugari
Musique et voix de Silvano Staffolani
Vent du Nord est le nom qu’on lui donna quand il est revenu à Corleone après la guerre partisane en Carnie, pour l’énergie qu’il mettait au service des luttes paysannes de sa terre. J’ai eu l’occasion d’approfondir la figure de Placido Rizzotto précisément durant mon voyage en Carnie il y a trois ans, en marchant dans ces belles montagnes où Placido Rizzotto avait vécu son université.
La Carnie est sur la photo, une photo frioulane pour parler de la Sicile. La veille de mon arrivée en Carnie, j’étais allé au barrage de Vajont pour la veillée nocturne des citadins à la mémoire (des victimes de la catastrophe) du Vajont, à l’occasion du cinquantième anniversaire de ce désastre, et j’étais déjà chargé d’idées concernant les terres et les luttes à ne pas oublier.
En outre,... (Continues)
Pino Caruso, interprete di questa controversa canzone, e che ha interagito personalmente con noi qualche anno fa su questa stessa pagina, con un commento chiarificatore in tono amabile, da signore quale egli era, Pino Caruso, attore palermitano, si è spento ieri sera a Roma. Aveva 84 anni.
B.B. 2019/3/8 - 13:51
Un ricordo commosso anche da parte mia, che a suo tempo gli avevo risposto su questa pagina. Un ricordo lontanissimo dei beceri rumori "social", dalla volgarità chiassosa di questi tempi, e vicino alla semplicità e alla sincerità che ci ostiniamo a perseguire.
Per rispetto all'interprete di questa canzone, scomparso recentemente, ho rimesso a posto il testo seguendo l'incisione originale (l'ordine delle strofe era sbagliato nel testo che riportavamo prima). Una quartina che Pino Caruso non ha cantato l'ho indicata tra parentesi.
D'altra parte la canzone, nella traduzione italiana di Tuminelli, è stata interpetata da molti artisti e anche prima di Milly... Da Iva Zanicchi, da Silvano Pantesco, da Edmonda Aldini, da Ezio Leoni ed Enrico Intra...
Una mujer que sufrió, de niña la represión franquista canta una cancion antifranquista ,.En el acto de homenaje convocado por la Amical de antiguos guerrilleros a los inmolados en la lucha por las libertades durante la dictadura franquista.
I seize the occasion for expressing my best wishes to Mikis Theodorakis, who is currently in hospital (since 26 February) due to a heart attack. Mikis Theodorakis is 93 years old (he was born on 29 July 1925). As for the Finnish song, I thank you for transcribing it so promptly. I hoped it would light sort of a candle in my mind, but I really remain in the darkness. Sadly enough, the only person who could have helped us with his deep knowledge of anything Greek (I mean Gian Piero Testa, of course), is no longer in this world. As far as I remember, he was acquainted with Mikis Theodorakis' daughter. The alleged author of the Finnish lyrics, Tapio Lipponen, passed away in 2017. Just one question: would it be possible to conctact Arja Saijonmaa to ask her if she remembers something about this song and its French or Greek original? This site includes a number of "mysterious" songs that have been elucidated after long years of research, and I think this is another.
Riccardo Venturi 2019/3/8 - 12:41
Actually, I didn't transcribe the lyrics now. Instead, they've been stored on my computer for years waiting for the original song to pop up in order for me to submit it to this website.
One more tiny bit of information I forgot to mention: according to Finnish archive records, both the music and lyrics of the song are attributed to Mikis Theodorakis.
I guess Arja Saijonmaa will remain my last resource.