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Guckulåt Efter Josefs Lars (continued)


Henk van Aalten

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"7. Guckulåt efter Joseks Lars 2:27

Mats Rehnberg writes "Even in Nås have several pipers existed. Some of them are known to their name. The foremost is without doubt Gucku Olof Olsson with the soldier name Svedman. The brother was a soldier with the name Sommar and like the father, Gucku Anders, a fiddler. He often played with his sons. In general, it was often pointed out in Nås, that the bagpipe was best heard in combination with the fiddle". (Per säckpipa, Ola fiddle)".

 

Still doesn't explain what "Gucku" means. A name - a nickname? My wife shook her head when I asked what a "guckulåt" was - "Some tune from Dalarna".

 

Hey, now finally something makes sense. In Dalarna, where Nås is situated, it is, or was, very common with names of houses and farms. Those names were a part of the persons' names to identify what house or farm someone came from. Gucku is a farm name, as it seems, and Gucku Olof Olsson was simply Olof Olsson from the Gucku farm. So, a Guckulåt must be a tune from the Gucku farm.

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"7. Guckulåt efter Joseks Lars 2:27

Mats Rehnberg writes "Even in Nås have several pipers existed. Some of them are known to their name. The foremost is without doubt Gucku Olof Olsson with the soldier name Svedman. The brother was a soldier with the name Sommar and like the father, Gucku Anders, a fiddler. He often played with his sons. In general, it was often pointed out in Nås, that the bagpipe was best heard in combination with the fiddle". (Per säckpipa, Ola fiddle)".

 

Still doesn't explain what "Gucku" means. A name - a nickname? My wife shook her head when I asked what a "guckulåt" was - "Some tune from Dalarna".

 

Hey, now finally something makes sense. In Dalarna, where Nås is situated, it is, or was, very common with names of houses and farms. Those names were a part of the persons' names to identify what house or farm someone came from. Gucku is a farm name, as it seems, and Gucku Olof Olsson was simply Olof Olsson from the Gucku farm. So, a Guckulåt must be a tune from the Gucku farm.

 

according to this site http://www.xasa.com/wiki/sv/wikipedia/n/ny...ildade_ord.html (for those of you who understand swedish), "gucku" is an old swedish word for "cuckoo"....

 

Charlotte

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Yeah, it does, but it seems from the quotation above, that in this case it's the farm name, that's the only thing so far that makes sense.

Well, is it possible that the farm was named for the bird? And the man for the farm, and...? :unsure:

 

To the tune of "The Rattlin'Bog" (at least until someone comes up with a more appropriate Swedish tune):

 

Chorus:

... Hi ho, the guckulåt, the låt that has a gucku name;

... Hi ho, the guckulåt, the tune that we call "guckulåt".

 

Oh, there is a tune, a fine tune, a tune they call the "guckulåt",

And that's the tune we love to play,

The tune that we call "guckulåt".

 

Chorus

 

In Dalarna there lived a man, a fine man, a fiddlling man;

They called him Gucku Josefs Lars;

He wrote the tune we love to play,

The tune that we call "guckulåt".

 

Chorus

 

In Dalarna there was a farm, a farm they called the Gucku Mark,

And on this farm there lived this man,

This man called Gucku Josefs Lars,

Who wrote the tune we love to play,

The tune that we call "guckulåt".

 

Chorus

 

In Dalarna there was a bird, a fine bird, a "gucku fågel"*;

It gave its name unto the farm,

This farm they called the Gucku Mark,

The farm on which there lived this man,

This man called Gucku Josefs Lars,

Who wrote the tune we love to play,

The tune that we call "guckulåt".

 

Chorus

 

................................ :)

 

* non-Swedes can just say "gucku bird" :)

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Not that I want to destroy the fun, but Josefs is also a farm name...

Yeah, but whose farm was it? Josef's, no?

 

People get their names from farms; farms get their names from people; every once in a while a bird sneaks into the mix.... And what bird would be more appropriate for that than the cuckoo, which lays its eggs in other birds' nests?

 

And the names they grew all around, all around, and the names they grew all around. ;)

 

Edited to add: ET, are you trying to suggest that Gucku Josefs Lars owned more than one farm? :unsure: :)

Edited by JimLucas
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Not that I want to destroy the fun, but Josefs is also a farm name...

Yeah, but whose farm was it? Josef's, no?

 

People get their names from farms; farms get their names from people; every once in a while a bird sneaks into the mix.... And what bird would be more appropriate for that than the cuckoo, which lays its eggs in other birds' nests?

 

And the names they grew all around, all around, and the names they grew all around. ;)

 

Edited to add: ET, are you trying to suggest that Gucku Josefs Lars owned more than one farm? :unsure: :)

 

B) Gucku was one farm, Josefs was another one (probably the one who built it was named Josef). Gucku Josefs Lars doesn't make sense. Either it's Gucku Lars or Josefs Lars. But it seems like the Guckulåt came from the Gucku farm and this certain Josefs Lars played it...anyway, that guy from the Gucku farm in Nås was named Olof Olsson it seems. But I never really understood who actually composed the tune.

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But I never really understood who actually composed the tune.

Maybe nobody knows for sure? And in fact, that turned out to be the name for a tune other than the one Henrik gave us.

 

In any case, I don't think that a fiddler from Josef's Farm would refuse to play a tune simply because it's named for the Gucku Farm. Would he? But maybe the "guckulåt" is actually named for the bird, not the farm? Do Swedes sometimes name tunes that way? (I know they might if it were a song tune.) Ireland certainly has tunes like that, e.g., "Lark in the Morning". Some tunes are actually meant to imitate a bird or animal. The "Chicken Reel" is a famous American one. Or from Northumberland, "The Hen's March to the Midden" (self explanatory) and "Meggy's Foot" (imitating a limping horse).

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But I never really understood who actually composed the tune.

Maybe nobody knows for sure? And in fact, that turned out to be the name for a tune other than the one Henrik gave us.

 

In any case, I don't think that a fiddler from Josef's Farm would refuse to play a tune simply because it's named for the Gucku Farm. Would he? But maybe the "guckulåt" is actually named for the bird, not the farm? Do Swedes sometimes name tunes that way? (I know they might if it were a song tune.) Ireland certainly has tunes like that, e.g., "Lark in the Morning". Some tunes are actually meant to imitate a bird or animal. The "Chicken Reel" is a famous American one. Or from Northumberland, "The Hen's March to the Midden" (self explanatory) and "Meggy's Foot" (imitating a limping horse).

 

No, there weren't wars like that between the farms. The tune can be named for the bird OR the farm. Usually Swedish tunes are named after the composers, though. Like "Polska efter Hakberg" , but also after places, like "Orrängsvalsen" (The Orräng waltz). I guess the question remains unanswered.

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