The Origin Of The World mazurka

This is a mazurka written by the legendary English fiddler Dave Shepherd (of Blowzabella). I have transcribed it as it’s played on Octomento.

Happy droning.

Is this not more of a waltz than a mazurka? Mazurkas usually have a strong emphasis on the upbeat (which this doesn’t) and also usually have some dotted rhythms and/or some triplets.

It’s a lovely tune, though.

Also, the 8th bar of the B section is |FG Bc dc| rather than
|FG AB cf|.

I also thought that it wasn’t particularly mazurka-like, but I think that it’s referred to as a mazurka in the Octomento liner notes. I’ll check that…
I’ve edited the abc according to your corrections.

on the video Dave Shepherd posted on youtube he called it Mazurka, and had the chance to meet him this weekend in France and he confirmed.
this being said, i agree it’s more waltzy that mazurka. very similar situation with Dave’s extremely famous Rose of Raby.
at the end of the day, what counts, an absolutely superb tune, and the dancers will decide!

Chords added (for those guitarists among you). Not exactly as Blowzabella but pretty close.

I talked to Andy Cutting (shameless namedrop…) about this last weekend when he was doing a workshop here - he says he would play it in Amin on a C/F melodeon. Some people on melodeon.net recommend Bmin on a D/G, which I think would be equivalent, although I am trying Amin on my D/G which thankfully has F naturals as accidentals. That is because my friends have all learnt it in Amin… 🙁 An’ I only have one melodeon!

When I get myself a G/C box then I will probably try it in Amin on that too. Good practice for me, I suspect. I think it might even be possible in two different octaves on that? The chords from the sheet music on diatonia.net would make sense on such a box too.

Hello,
I would love to work on this. I do not see chords in the ABC. What is the best way to find the chords as Mr. Cutting plays it?
Thank you!

This is the same as the previous setting, just moved to Aminor and with the chords from the version on diatonia.net added. The version on diatonia.net says that it was transcribed by Angelo Girardi from the CD Octomento by Blowzabella.
I am currently working on learning to play this with (these…) chords, so I cannot yet say if I agree with all the chord choices, but it should make a good starting point.

Happened upon this comment (and the rest) by chance this evening: “Is this not more of a waltz than a mazurka? Mazurkas usually have a strong emphasis on the upbeat …”
To my ears, long adapted to the “neo-trad” style of the continental céilí, this is definitely a mazurka - one of what the French call a “marshmallow” mazurka - much more waltzy in style than the hoppity dance of old. I now have the opposite problem to you above: i.e. my ears hearing tracks labelled “waltz” but my feet hearing “mazurka.” Andy Statman’s Flatbush Waltz would be a perfect example - a great 5-in-the-morning mazurka. 🙂

Duplicate of https://thesession.org/tunes/8237

Oh dear, did u know that Courbet painted a picture called the Origin of the World (a woman’s genitals in photographic detail)? Faceback banned it but relented when informed it was a famous work of art.
(Apologies)

Transcribed from a video by Paul Young and Sarah Loughran.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBX8Jx6tMOM

play video

Paul’s bass line or Sarah’s second voice is basically built from the root notes of the chords.

Flute-friendly version in B minor.

This is all played much too fast. At half the speed you can dance it like a real mazurka.

There is a painting with the name “Origin of the World” (Gustave Courbet). The point is that the world of humans originated with a woman…

Love Andy Cutting’s version and surpised that wasn’t also posted. Playing a lousy 20 button concertina -- so only the version in B min above works -- but WOW that first C# sounds amazing awful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78Nex0PCjPc

play video