The Ultimate Welsh Legend: Sospan Fach! My intro song's story
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- Опубликовано: 9 сен 2024
- If you like rugby, Howl's Moving Castle (not the Ghibli version), Wales, me, bara brith, dragons, or anything else of any cultural value, you know the song "Sosban Fach"!
The single greatest song ever written. The finest musical piece ever played and performed by mankind.
It's a banger, it slaps, it's a rager, and several of you have asked about it. So let's chat about it briefly and learn the story of this classic Welsh song, and why it's associated with Llanelli Scarlets rugby club (and me, ofc!).
Mwynhewch!
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I won't ask why you are at the top of your mother's staircase but just wishing all good health for you and your mother
A son doesn't need a reason to visit his Muther. She is the reason ❤
I don’t know why I have never seen this video- wishing I could multiply my LIKES. Thanks for this.
What I love about the song is it sounds like a mother with a lot on her plate. Meri Ann’s finger hurts, dafydd isn’t feeling well, the baby won’t stop crying and now the cat has scrammed little Joni! I remember my mum having to deal with a hundred things at once when I was a kid and it must have really stressed her out. And she didn’t have pans boiling on the floor and open fires to deal with. Caru’r cân yma, a dy esboniad yn y fideo hon!
I can understand why people think it’s a hymn, or a battle march, as the tune has such solemnity and gravitas to it - but then we discover that it’s (partly) about a saucepan…love it!
The faster you sing it, the more folk-like it becomes. It's great.
I like trying to sing it as fast as possible XD
I first heard this song because of the "Howl's Moving Castle" book!
I was reading the part where Calcifer was singing it, and I though "... is this a real song?" So I looked it up and found it on youtube. ...And then I might have laughed a bit hysterically 'cause the idea of Calcifer singing that was just SO adorable for some reason... XD
Imagine him just belting it out, hammered on cheap bitter. Excellent.
@@TheWelshViking x) hehe, yes... with some hiccups in the middle XD
... though I have to admit, since I watched the animation first, it has been hard to override the image of a cute fire lump, with Calcifer's true description in the book...^^'
I especially love the fact that Howl doesn't sing well so both of them are probably slurring the words and singing off key.
I was listening to a pre-covid episode of the Motherfoclóir podcast the other day and one of the guys was telling a kind of meta anecdote, about how he was at the 1916 centenary commemorations in Ireland and one of the bishops who was speaking remembered fondly a recent conference visit to Wales where ‘he had come upon two youths vandalising a phonebox in Welsh and had thought to himself how Welsh must be doing really well as a language to have youths committing crimes using it’ 😂
The second narrator then discussed how he’d really feel the Irish language was doing well if he got mugged by someone through Irish…so all the poetry is lovely and all but what you should really be reflecting on with pride is that Dafydd and Catherine Ann are still doing a bit of crime in the old Cymraeg.
Hence forth I will be pausing Howl's Moving Castle during a Calcifer scene to play the song, as is only right. I may need to add a saucepan to my cosplay
Oh this is hysterical! Leave it to the Welsh who have entire choirs sings about saucepans... The Irish equivalent might be singing about cow tipping...Oh, maybe that's Ozarks...:D
I have this song in a folk playlist on spotify, but given the context of its origins i might have to add it to 'socialist bangers' too as an excuse to have it play more often. I know this channel is mostly centered around medieval history and the Norse, but im absolutely fascinated by all the Welsh videos no matter the time period they are about!
I love how often those two boxes coincide. Bread and Roses, A Miner's Life, Sospan Fach
And one day in the future "motorcycle emptiness"
Brilliant video!! I now know why my Grandad (born in Llanelli) had a small red saucepan as Christmas tree ornament he always had to put on the tree himself.
Just to let you know, every Australian town has it’s eisteddfod, which is the bane of every primary school teacher in the country, as we have to teach our class a *poem*, and then lose to the class across the hall, or to a rival school…. There are music, singing and speaking/drama components, and I think dance comes into it somewhere as well. My little country town has an eisteddfod that goes for over a week, with I think 7 schools competing, as well as general community participation.
From a country town in Vic, I've heard the term eisteddfod used almost exclusively for dance competitions, rather than poems or songs. But apparently we do have a local poetry/song/etc competition.
The only eisteddfods I'm familiar with are the Rock Eisteddfods that high schools perform some kind of cross between a play and a dance. It used to be broadcast on mainstream TV, no idea if it still happens or if it's still broadcast or not.
Brisbane here: I don't recall doing a poetry eisteddfod in primary school, but I do remember the Rock Eisteddfod. It's broadcast on TV every year (or at least it was when I was in high school in the mid 2000s) and it's always some snobby private school that wins it
@@DoinItforNewCommTech Hi fellow Brisbanite
@@brissygirl4997 yes, I remember the Rock Eisteddfod. I had friends at Ferny Grove High who came third when we were in yr 12, and Ferny had won a few years before as well. I was at Kelvin Grove at the time (also a past winner), but we didn’t enter that year.
Funnily enough, no one at KG when I went cared that much, even though we were at the Dance School there. Maybe because we were preoccupied with outside competitions? I remember more private ballet comps and competing to be in professional ballet shows with the Queensland Ballet. So that might be why we didn’t do the eisteddfod while I was there?
So glad the Howl's Moving Castle connection got mentioned. Such an absolutely incredible book from a criminally underrated children's writer.
So, next week’s vid - Welsh Christmas Traditions right? 😉
As you’ve brought up Howl’s Moving Castle, maybe an interesting vid for the future could be one about Welsh representation in modern* media/Welsh culture adapted for modern* media/etc; Howl’s Moving Castle, Chronicles of Prydain, etc? (No Arthurian stuff obviously as that would take multiple vids on its own 😝)
*modern her being used rather loosely so say 1900 or so onwards.
Possible of more videos about traditional folk music?
I think yes!
@@TheWelshViking Yes please! :-)
This reminds me so much of that "solemn song" that Greg Davies' father taught him in Welsh, that turned out to be a very ridiculous story about random animals doing things. Thanks for the bit of folklore Jimmy! Hope you're doing alright.
Yes!!😂
Perfect timing for this video!!! My sister teaches English and her class reads Howl’s Moving Castle each year (it’s American 6th grade, 11-12 year olds). She always plays them the song when it comes up in the book and her kids this year are OBSESSED with it. I’m going to send her the link to this! I’m sure they’ll all love to learn more about it ☺️
Your sister sounds like an amazing teacher!
Why does it come up in the book?
@@VantaDraws Howl is Welsh! He just sings it to himself sometimes
Omigosh... I had completely forgotten that Howl was Welsh in the book! I feel like your intro and outro need calcifer animations to match the song now! 💚
I am so delighted to learn what the song is that Calcifer sings in Howl’s Moving Castle. I read that book in middle school, and being an American living in the Seattle area, my knowledge of Welsh songs began and ended with Suo Gan
it's my partner's favourite book, I'm gonna have to ask them about if they know about this song
I always wondered what Calcifer's silly saucepan song was! I read that book for the first time about 35-40 years ago, and read it quite regularly as it's one of my favourite stories. Thank you for telling us about the origin of the song and some of what it says. And how very very sad that it wasn't in the movie (I've refused to watch Howl's Moving Castle because the castle is all wrong and every single thing I've read about the movie makes me adamant I will never watch it! - mind you I felt the same about the movie made from Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising book and watched that movie a few years ago - it's not a bad movie so long as I don't think it has any connection to the book/s)
The best part about this, to me, is that "sospan" is so CLEARLY a loanword, yet I didn't make the connection before it was explicitly pointed out to me
I now cannot stop thinking about "Hywel's moving castle" ;)
It sounds so serious. It does sound like a hymn!
The song at 3:32 reminds me of this little Swedish verse (for most people nowadays probably in connection to Saltkråkan):
Stackars den som liten ä
å gå milla gålan å tulta
händan å fötan ä fulla me snö
å ögan ä fulla mä tårar.
(approximate translation, it's fairly old Swedish:
Poor little one who is so small
and walk between farms and toddle
whose hands and feet are full of snow
and with eyes who are full of tears)
Oh wow, I had no idea that Howls moving castle is Welsh! My daughter Eowyn loves the movie, we might have get the book now… you should have seen her face when I showed her this video.
The book is much better than the film (I am prejudiced!). Diana Wynne Jones was a wonderful writer, one of the best fantasy writers for children, and sadly missed.
Thank for the enlightenment. Many a rugby mad relative has dreamed and a few traveled to see the all blacks play the welsh in wales and hear the singing with their own ears.
Merry Christmas everyone! Or Happy Holidays if you celebrate something else this time of year. 🌟🌈🥂🍾🍻🍷🥃🍸☕🥛🎄🎏🎉🎈🎁🎇🏉⛸️🥌🛷🎿🎷🎺🎸🎻🎹🥁📯🔔❤️❤️❤️❤️🔰🎶🕎✝️☮️☯️☪️☦️🔯
The Welsh urge to airpunch twice and shout “oi oi” upon hearing the words yn gwâs ddim yn iach
I had to fight the urge to do it just reading the words...
The original Howl was Welsh??? I read that book (admittedly like 10 years ago) and I 100% missed that. I think I need to reread...
Same!
Really ? howl is a welsh name
Australian here. We do indeed have eisteddfods (sorry if I got the plural wrong; you don't want to think about hearing us pronounce the word). They're usually performing arts competitions for school-aged children, and can involve individuals or groups.
I love Diane Wynne Jones books! I am not Welsh so I didn’t know the significance of that song…but now I am doubly sad it wasn’t in the movie
Hadn't wondered much about the song, just figured it was Welsh of course. Now I like it even more and the next time I talk about Howl's Moving Castle I have an extra tidbit to throw in. They definitely should have used it in the movie!
Omg, the Calcifer thing is killing me. I have seen the film countless times, and recently read the book and already died laughing learning Howl is Welsh. Sospan Fach is so fitting for Calcifer, I need studio Ghibli's Calcifer singing it now.
I adore the book and film, thank you for enlightening me on this! the book howel and the film one are so different but i loe them both. as a pagan witch I think " may all your bacon burn" is probably one of the best curses I have ever heard.
It is nice to see our Welsh Viking lad looking and sounding a lot better.
The closing photo got a very solid giggle out of me. Thank you.
I had no idea that eisteddfod’s were Welsh. Or that they weren’t common in other countries. We especially see a lot of dance eisteddfods, as well as singing and acting- as you say, it’s an art and culture competition. It is very much a thing here in Australia, especially for those of us who grew up dancing and singing.
That’s so cool to know where it came from. Also, other countries should totally jump on the eisteddfod train, they’re a lot of fun.
Really ? the name alone is welsh Eisteddfod means sit down
Holy hell! How could I possibly guess that this song was connected with Howl's moving castle? That's pretty neat
I always wondered why we have the Eisteddfods here in Australia
I’m a Swansea girl who grew up on the song (and close to Llanelli) Even now, living in England I’ll break out into this song :)
A very interesting video!
Thank you for explaining the sauce pan song. Take care my friend from across the sea. Take care.
Thank you so much for telling us about Sospan Fach! What is the choir that sings this version? I'd love to listen to their other recordings!
I hadn't realised that this was Calcifer's song in Howl's Moving Castle too! It's been a while since I read it, so I'll have to reread it now, so I can properly enjoy Calcifer's artistic expression 😄
Ahhh! I'm not used to being so quick to see a video after it's uploaded... so please excuse my excitement. Undoubtedly I would have heard "Sospan Fach" before, but I tend to repress Rugby related memories, so I strongly associate it with you and your channel. I have lost count of the number of times it's burst into my head unexpectedly! Very metal indeed!
Thank you for sharing the song and it's history!
Meri Kirihimete from Aotearoa (NZ)
Ah! Whakawhetai koe! :D
This explanation of Sospan Fach made my day. It is such a heroic sounding tune that I expected very different lyrics. Thanks Jimmy! I love knowing that there is an anthem celebrating the quiet heroism of keeping the family happy.
Thank you for the background regarding your title music. As partly Welsh on my Mom's side, I am totally proud to learn something new about Wales.
Lovely video, I always forget how random some of the Welsh songs are 😂 always gives me goosebumps when I hear it sung, beautiful song
It’s an awesome song! We sing it all the time when watching the rugby! 🏴
Diolch! Some time, I would love to hear your recommendations for Welsh music. I live in a part of the world where Gaelic music is easy to come by (the east coast of Canada) - part of the reason I started learning Welsh is because it seems like everyone here learns Gaelic (plus Welsh family roots). And so I would love to push back on the Gaelic hegemony with some Welsh music on my playlists!
Music comes from Wales doesn't it?! 🎵🎁🌏 Start with All through the Night.
Maybe Jimmie could have his next guest on to this. 👍❣
Having read Howl's moving castle but a while ago I never made the connection but it delights me!
I would have never guessed that this was what the song was about. I love it even more now!
Yes, now the saucepan song in Howl's moving castle (yes, the book) finally makes sence! Lol XD
"This is something that we Welsh..." *enter heavy Welsh accent *
I will never forget you and your videos for introducing this song to me many months back...I like it so much I've incorporated it into my D&D games, in which I am running a Welsh-related homebrew campaign world, and the kitchen hands sing this song for the dinner guests on some occasions! Welsh is metal when sung, absolutely! ;)
My grandpa grew up in a town in Ohio (don't remember the name) with a lot of Welsh immigrants, so he grew up really loving Welsh music because it's what he grew up with. I was never really close to him since I live half the country away in Minnesota, but whenever I listen to Welsh music I feel a little closer to him!
Great video Jimmy. I love the song and how it sounds, and I like that it's not religious too! Hope you have a lovely Christmas - I'll be having my Christmas in Wales too! Heading to my Dad's house in Anglesey, so likely no snow for us. But it will be much more peaceful than the Lancshire town I'm in now!
Enjoy Ynys Môn! I wave energetically to you from Bangor!
Thanks for explaining the song, grandad ( Powell) and uncles played rugged in their young days. Even in his 80s grandad had a deep and fruity bass voice and was very fond of singing " Guide me oh thou Great Jehovah".
Growing up in a small valley outside Llanelli, Sosban fach was almost a second national anthem, every morning we would sing Hen wlad' followed by Sosban fach
You are the one person who is able to ware a saucepan quite gracefully
Well, it appears I need to re-read Howl's Moving Castle. This is very cool.
Thanks for making this video! I was always driving myself nuts hearing that song at the start of every video, trying to remember where I heard it because I couldn't remember the name, and I'm pretty sure my parents had it on vinyl or tape or something. It's nice to finally know the name so I can look it up and hear it in its entirety!
Lol, ive been waiting for this kind of video eversince i started hearing the song myself, because i love the intro everytime!
Wait, it's in Howl's Moving Castle?? I need to reread/watch it. It's clearly been years.
After I realized the lyrics of this Welsh song were about (or at least involved) a saucepan, I DID think, "OMG, is that Calcifer's saucepan song from the book??" So I actually googled "Calcifer's saucepan song" and found that it was! And then my next thought was to wonder if you'd read the book and knew that Calcifer sings this, so this was great to see!
I love looking at the auto generated subtitles for your videos; the number of times they just give up rather than guessing what you're saying. And the varied spelling of the same word/name on each utterance.
This selection is worthy of becoming a Holiday Classic!! It certainly has an interesting melodic structure superior to many “commercial” holiday tunes.
Season’s Greetings to Jimmy and all the great folks supporting these wonderful and entertaining historical presentations. 🎄
As a Scottish Rus who lives in Russia, I always found the song to sound SO similar to the Red Army Choir.
Without doubt, inspiration was taken from it. And when I hear it, the power of it, my heart skips. It's beautiful. I've taken various DNA tests and some show that I have a very small amount of Welsh blood as well. Overwhelmingly Celto-Germanic, Scottish. But I'm just so damn proud regardless to either have some of your peoples blood or to call you cousin.
The people of the Red Dragon, may your culture be immortalized. Mine were the Gallowglass of the Hebrides, their legends almost forgotten.. But not by me!
I always remember when my classmates would look at me when the live about dafydd came up. It's not a common name but I'm proud to be one.
Thanks Jimmy I now have an earworm that I dont know how to pronounce the words BUT I do have the words now 😂
Love Sosban Fach, I always enjoy hearing it in your intros and I enjoyed this little history video on it. I learned some new things about the history of the song today--and I didn't know it was in the book of Howl's Moving Castle.
As a Jenkins, this made me proud!
Well that was a surprise! The music has so much more of an "International " vibe then a domestic catastrophe vibe.
Bruthaman, I freakin' love you so fecking much! LOL This totally ROCKS!! I live here in Nagoya, Japan (I dare say I'm the only mix of Norse and Indigenous American here in this country - my blood is from Canada, and Norway/Sweden), and I'm often trying to get my daughter here (Japanese mother) to appreciate her Old Norse blood - and we both love anime, Hayao Miyazaki-san's included... and now I can verify this piece of anime-related minutia to her for a super-pleasant, historical example! THANK YOU! :)
I love me a good rugby song 🏉 the howls moving castle connection is cool.
Thank you for that. I shall die old and disappointed that I cannot join you in that chorus and sing along.
The first time I had heard of this song existing was when I read Dianna Wynne Jones 'Howl's Moving Castle' as he is a Welshman. Had to look it up and truly enjoyed it. loved this vid. :}
My parents are Welsh. My Mum used to sing Sospan Fach to us when we were little, along with another Welsh song that was apparently about a blackbird in a tree or something
I think it's adorable that a legendary Welsh song is called "Little saucepan". 😊
I'm still at a loss at what this song is about tho.
There is an eisteddfod in a town about 30 minutes from where I live. They have a church that still sings some songs in Welsh. I am from Upstate
Yay, Howl. Calcifer is one of my favourite characters. Of course he would sing such a great song. Thanks, Jimmy. Take care.
1) holy heck! mind blowing right now... >M> damn...
2) the music and the voices makes it sound SOOO epic I thought it was something about war or something alike xD
3) finally but not less important, great picture at the end xDDDDD lovely
I didn't know that about Howl's Moving Castle (I haven't read the book)! But now I wish they'd kept that in, that would've been so cute.
So cool! 😍 I had no idea your intro song was Howl's silly saucepan song 😀
Have a lovely Christmas.
Love It! Gonna be singing that for week now, thanks
Aelwyd as Hearth/Household is also true for Spanish 'Casa' !
Edit: Also for anyone here in the comments wanting to know about why Rugby gets/got called football in the places of the world that play Rugby primarily (most of Wales, Fife, The Scottish Borders, Australia & New Zealand). It's just like why americans call American Football, 'Football'. Everywhere else 'Rugby' is called 'Rugby' it's short for 'Rugby Football' so named because the sport is believed to come from the town of Rugby. So, in places where Soccer wasn't played they chopped the front off 'Rugby Football' and called it 'football', in places where Soccer was popular, they chopped the end off and called it 'Rugby'.
(Soccer is a shortening of Association Football, once rendered as Assoc. Football, hence the c became a /k/, and the on the front got left out !)
A fascinating little peak into Welsh folklore. Hope all is well with you and yours and that you’re having a wonderful holiday season. Thank you for sharing!
And now it'll be in my head all day, Thank you, I guess : p
I'd always thought that this was some deep preliteral reference to the times of viking raiders siezing cookware.
Hope you have a nice fry up anyway. And hope your sudden southward journey isn't too significant.
Those pants at the end were incredible
I know this video is two years old but as I've been *actively looking* for this song, I wanted to say how delighted I am to have found it 😄. I last heard Sospan fach sung by Dai in the Camlann podcast. I thought "but he's humming the Welsh Viking song?! What IS this?" So - yeah, delighted to have found out, and now I can look it up and listen to it on repeat!
Wizard Howl who eats maiden's hearts turning out to be just... a guy. A Welsh guy who ran away from his master's thesis and occasionally pops back in to give his nephew a video game and check in on his niece and get berated by his sister... it's probably the funniest reveal in the book, and it does make me sad they took it out, especially Calcifer's song.
This brings me great joy.
This is literally one of my favorite songs at this point. In my American English speaking way in my head it is saucepan-far but i love it so much. Welsh heritage so perhaps that? Love it.
Thank you! This is the video I've been waiting for since I discoverd your channel! :D :D :D
waaayyyy big up Bangor University
Hooray Welsh knowledge!
This made my day, thank you!! Although, I'll have this stuck in my head for days (yet again) 😅
Thank you a million times over! I've been wondering about this music - so beautifully sung at each end of your videos. Doesn't sound a bit like a bunch of drunk rugby fans at all!
I have that Bryn Terfel CD! It's such a good album overall!
The version of Sosban Fach you use is just the best!
Yes! Finally! The answer!
This song is a child of many fathers, let's lea sit at that!