Tri Martolod / 3 Versions - Beginner to intermediate & 27/34 String Harp | McTelenn Harp Center Celtic Harp - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1699093

Tri Martolod — Three Sailors, A Thousand Lives

A traditional Breton song (traced back by some sources to the 18th century, by others to the 19th), Tri Martolod (“Three Sailors”) tells of young seafarers bound for Newfoundland, a romantic encounter, and the promise of return — all sung to the rhythm of a Breton dance tune. Its worldwide fame is largely due to Alan Stivell’s folk-rock arrangement in the early 1970s, which made it one of the anthems of the Celtic revival.

Alan Stivell, the “unifier”
Stivell never deliberately pushed this piece more than others: it was the audience and the strength of the melody that carried it forward. He once said he would never “spit on the unifying power of a song,” and that he could almost have recorded twenty different versions, so eager was he to explore its many moods — with strings, fishing-port accordion, Irish pipes, rock guitar, bagad…

Nolwenn Leroy, passing the torch
In the 2010s, Nolwenn Leroy brought Tri Martolod back into the spotlight with her album Bretonne and through many live performances, sometimes duetting with Alan Stivell (at the Francofolies de La Rochelle in 2011, and at the Olympia in 2012). Stivell openly supported her project, appearing with her on television and defending her work against critics, highlighting the importance of her popularization of Breton songs.

From Stivell to… La Tribu de Dana
The tune also found its way far beyond Celtic folk. The hit “La Tribu de Dana” (Manau, 1998) borrowed the introduction and refrain of Stivell’s arrangement. Initially, Stivell refused to let a direct sample of his harp be used; legal action was even considered, but in the end an amicable settlement was reached. The melody was re-recorded on the biniou (Breton pipes) for the final version.

In short: born from Breton maritime tradition, Tri Martolod found a second life with Stivell, a third with Nolwenn Leroy, and mass exposure through Manau — proof that a simple motif, carried by collective memory, can travel from the gavotte to the pop charts without losing its power to bring people together.

The PDF contains :

Background of the Piece - 3 Versions
Version 1 : Eve McTelenn’s Version with fingerings - Key of Eb - 27 Strings Harp & beginner Friendly - Length: 2 pages

Version 2 : Alan Stivell’s Version with fingerings
Key of Eb - 27 Strings Harp & intermediate Friendly - Length: 3 pages

Version 3 : Nolween Leroy’s Version without fingerings
Key of C - 34 Strings Harp & intermediate Friendly - Length: 5 pages

All Versions - No lever changes.