canasg choral music publishing

SG1518

Hé mandu

traditional Gaelic words and tune

arranged by Peter Hill
for soprano and alto chorus
with soprano/alto soli

SSAA performance time approx 1m 45s

Arranger's note

This piece is based on a traditional Gaelic waulking song - a highly rhythmic song mainly performed by women, that would accompany the waulking (beating and finishing, or fulling) of woollen cloth. The performance should have a heavy, steady, stamping quality.

Traditionally, waulking songs and other Gaelic puirt-a-beul (mouth music) songs would have been sung unaccompanied and in unison but they are great to arrange for chorus. Frequently they are sung in sequences of three or four, each song leading without a break into the next. Hé mandu works well as the third song in the following set of three: Bodachan ar-i-ar-o; Na'm biodh trì sgillinn agam; Hé mandu (all published by Canasg).

A recording (of the SATB version) by Rudsambee company of singers is available on their album bottled at source (RUBEECD003).

Music

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Hear a MIDI file of the song

Words

Hé mandu

'S truagh nach tigeadh
siud gam' iarraidh
gille 's litir
each is diollaid

Hé mandu hì ri oró hó ro hù o

'S mise dh'fhalbhadh
null thar sàile
le mo leannan
's cha bhiodh dàil ann

Nam biodh agam
sgiath a'ghlaisein
iteag an eòin
spòg na lachainn

Shnàmhainn na caoil
air an tarsainn
An cuan Ileach
's an caol Arcach

Rachainn a-steach
chun a' chaisteil
's bheirinn a-mach
as mo leannan

traditional Gaelic song

Translation

It's a pity that what I want isn't on its way - a lad and a letter, a horse and a saddle.
I would go across the sea with my lover, without delay.
If I had the wing of a finch, the flight of a bird, the webbed foot of a duck,
I would swim the narrows, right across the Sound of Islay and the Orkney Sound.
I would go out into the castle and bring out my lover.

Canasg editors

Full pronunciation guide provided

Price per copy £1.00 ($1.50)

Companion pieces

Browse the Scots and Gaelic section of the Canasg catalogue for more songs like this one. To go there now, click on the 'catalogue' box to the right.

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Hé mandu

Arranger's note

Music

Words

Companion pieces

Canasg Music