Transcription: Stephane Wrembel “Bistro Fada”
I’ve been home all weekend with a cold so last night I watched Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” (highly recommended movie by the way!). All through the movie they used this wonderful Gypsy guitar piece by the great Manouche player Stephane Wrembel. I woke up this morning with this haunting melody still in my ears, so I headed over to eMusic and bought a copy! Then since I wasn’t feeling well enough to go anywhere today, I decided to transcribe it. The song is called “Bistra Fada” and it can be purchased from emusic and iTunes. Get your copy and start shedding today! Fun stuff!
Bistro Fada – as played by Stephane Wrembel with tab
Bistro Fada – as played by Stephane Wrembel no tab
Some notes about the piece: Following an 8-bar chordal intro, this song consists of 3 basic melodic sections:
A – The main theme is 32-bars long in E minor. It’s repeated the first time through (for a total of 64-bars).
B – Serves as a “Bridge” and is 16-bars long and starts on the B7. It is also repeated for a total of 32 bars.
C – is 32 bars long in the key of G Major and serves as new contrasting material.
This song follows a “Rondo” form AA BB A C A. Notice that each section internally consists of two halfs with a first and second ending (in other words, the 32 bar A and C sections are divided into two 16-bar halfs, while the 16-bar B section consists of two 8-bar halfs). Breaking the form down in this way makes learning and memorizing a new song much easier.
