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La Gitane Intro Origins
DoubleWhisky
Upper FranconiaNew Vit Cach, Dupont MD60, 1940s Castelluccia
Hello,
I'm sure all of you are familiar with the intro that is usually played for "La Gitane" nowadays and kind of became part of the song. For example:
On the famous 1960 version of the original by Tchan Tchou Vidal however this intro is completly absent:
On this live version from 1989 he plays something very similar as intro: https://www.djangobooks.com/archives/tchan_tchou_la_gitane.mp3
The earliest recorded occurance of it I know of however is not in a "La Gitane" version, but in "Valse á Schnuckenack" from 1970:
Now my question to the historian experts at djangobooks:
Do you know the origins of that intro? Was Tchan Tchou Vidal paying homage to Häns’che Weiss when using a similar intro in the 1989 version? Or did Angelo Debarre hear Tchan Tchou playing a similar intro and went on to pay homage to Häns’che Weiss by using his intro instead? Can it even be attributed to someone specific or is it more of a "traditional intro you can use for any song you like"- thing? In the DC music school course of Tchavolo Schmitt in one episode he shows some intros he likes to use and they do not seem to be attached to a specific song, so is this the traditional way of doing it in the style with a "pool" of traditional intros one uses just how he feels for whatever song?
Comments
Wow Diknu! Never heard that version before. Nice.
Sounds like a traditional intro to me, probably from long before gypsy jazz, right?
To my ears La Gitane was codified by Angelo. Most modern players are covering his version, not Tchan-Tchou, and even if they pull from Tchan-Tchou they still use the Angelo intro (similar to how everyone smashes together the two versions of Troublant Bolero).
Where Angelo got it? No clue.
The intro is really for the band’s benefit to give them a tempo and a cue. It would be tricky to come in all together without it, which makes me wonder if Tchan-Tchou did play it in the studio but edited it out for the release.