Csárdás

The Boat: Csárdás is a Hanse 371. She was commissioned in October 2003, hull number 173. Details on the Hanse 371 can be found here. Csardas is a very capable yacht. In 2004 we took her across Biscay and down the coast of Portugal to the Algarve before returning home via Spain and France, covering around 4000 miles that year. She is currently berthed in Poole.

The Meaning: Csárdás (pronounced [ˈt͡ʃaːrdaːʃ], “char-dash”) is a traditional Hungarian folk dance. It originated in Hungary and was popularized by Roma music bands in Hungary and neighboring lands of Vojvodina, Slovakia, Slovenia , Croatia, Carpathian Ruthenia, Transylvania and Moravia, as well as among the Banat Bulgarians, including those in Bulgaria.

Its origins can be traced back to the 18th century Hungarian verbunkos, used as a recruiting dance by the Hungarian army.

Csárdás is characterized by a variation in tempo: it starts out slowly (lassú) and ends in a very fast tempo (friss, literally “fresh”). There are other tempo variations, called ritka csárdás, sűrű csárdás and szökős csárdás. The music is in 2/4 or 4/4 time. The dancers are both male and female, with the women dressed in traditional wide skirts, usually colored red, which form a distinctive shape when they whirl.

Classical composers who have used csárdás themes in their work include Emmerich Kálmán, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss, Pablo de Sarasate, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and others. Probably the best-known csardas is the eponymous composition by Vittorio Monti written for violin and piano. This virtuosic piece has 5 tempo variations.

[Taken from Wikipedia]

Why Csárdás?: The name was chosen after remembering a great week spent aboard my last boat, Dot Calm, with Jonni Fulcher playing a guitar arrangement of the Csárdás. Jonni tought me the second guitar part and by the end of the week we were able to play it all the way through together. We played the arrangement that appears on Antonio Forciene’s album Talking Hands. Shortly after that trip I placed an order for the Hanse 371 and so memories of that week were still fresh in my mind while I was thinking of names. The steadily quickening tempo somehow seemed appropriate. The only problem with the name is it is not meant to be pronounced phonetically but I have taken to doing so when talking to officials to avoid confusion.