Jillian Chantal

The book I have coming out in January,  2011 is called Solo Honeymoon and the heroine’s father is a one named folk singer from the 1960s- inspired by Donovan Leitch- otherwise known as Donovan- I have been listening to his music this last few days to get in the groove of this story again so I can be ready for the edits. As I listened on Thursday, Sept 23, I realized I needed a Friday Fact and decided to talk a bit about the instrument called a hurd-gurdy. Donovan has a song called The Hurdy-Gurdy Man.

The Hurdy-Gurdy has a long history. It is actually a sort of combination of a guitar and a piano.  Not really a piano but it does have a keyboard element.  The Hurdy-Gurdy was earliest known to exist in the 11th Century.  The instrument was played in medievel times and into the Renaissance. It has a sound similar to bagpipes.

The shape of the instrument changed a bit in the later years of the Renaissance. The French version looked more like a lyre (more round)  and the other versions had the guitar look to them. The instrument became the instrument of the lower classes for a time after music tastes changed. There was  a resurgance in the upper classes in the 18th Century when famous composers wrote some songs for it.

Donovan’s  arrangement of the song didn’t have a hurdy-gurdy in it at all. But in the liner notes of the album, I found this interesting tidbit: Donovan wanted the song for Jimi Hendrix and his producer told him it was to  be his own next single. He couldn’t get Hendrix to play on the record as Jimi was on tour so he got Jimmy Page on electric guitar, John Paul Jones on bass and John Bonham on drums- how cool is that- three future members of Led Zepplin playing for Donovan!