"La Tribu de Dana" is a 1998 song recorded by the French hip hop band Manau, available on their debut album, Panique celtique, on which it features as second track. Released as first single in July 1998, it hit a huge success, particularly in France, topping the singles chart for many months and becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time in that country.
Lyrics and music
In France, this song created a new style of music, combining Frenchrap and Breton melodies. Verses have hip hop sonorities, while the refrain, very catchy, uses the Breton traditional melody line from Alan Stivell's famous 1970s folk hit "Tri Martolod". Stivell sued the group, but Manau maintained that the song was simply a baseline, and was modified enough to not be considered plagiarism. Distributed by Polydor, the song was composed by the members of the band : Martial Tricoche, Cédric Soubiron and Hervé Lardic. Lyrics are about the Armorican Bretontribe of Dana — which refers to the name of the Dagna god's daughter — narrating an epic war carried out by this tribe. The story is told by the only survivor of this war, who becomes thus the tribe's king. The tribe of Dana is a group of figures in Irish mythology, also described in L'épopée Celte. See also Danu. In 2006, the song was covered by Catherine Lara, Jean-Baptiste Maunier, Natasha St-Pier, Francis Cabrel and Zazie. This version features as 13th track on the album2006: Le Village des Enfoirés, released on 7 April 2006 by Les Enfoirés.
Chart performances
On the French Singles Chart, the song has the characteristic of having remained for 23 weeks in the top three, while it featured on the chart for 27 weeks. It went straight to number three on 9 May 1998, reached the top in its seventh week and stayed there for 12 consecutive weeks. Then it was number two for five weeks, then dropped very quickly. It was certified Diamond disc by the SNEP, the French certifier, and was ranked at number two on the 1998 Year-End Chart. According to Infodisc website, the song was sold about 1,415,000 copies in France, thus being the 19th best-selling single of all time in that country. In Belgium, the song charted for 39 weeks on the Ultratop 40. It debuted at the bottom of the chart and managed to reach number one top from its 9th to its 16th week, before dropping slowly. It totaled 25 weeks in the top ten and featured at number three on the Annual Chart. To date, it is the fourth biggest hit since 1995 in Belgium. In Belgium, "La Tribu de Dana" entered the chart on 26 September, and reached a peak of number four for four weeks. After that, it almost did not stop to drop and fell off the chart after 18 weeks. The song was the 26th best-selling single of the year. The song also featured for 21 weeks on the Dutch Singles Chart from 12 September 1998. It started at number 70 and steadily climbed on the chart until hitting number three for four weeks, then began to drop. "La Tribu de Dana" was charted in December 1999 in Germany, but achieved a very small success, peaking at number 89.
