Illusionen — chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
Illusionen by Friedrich Meyer & Fritz Rotter — key of F (manouche), form A. Below is the full chord grid; on Haute Gitanerie you can play along with a scrolling chord ribbon, transpose to any key, set the tempo, and switch on a rhythm backing (la pompe) to practise your solos over the changes.
About
A 1952 German song by composer Friedrich Meyer and lyricist Fritz Rotter, first sung by Hildegard Knef for the film Illusion in Moll. Sinti musicians adopted it into the manouche repertoire — the Häns'che Weiss Quintett recorded it in 1973.
The sound — wistful and slow, hovering between F major and its relative D minor, with an aching A7 and a warm Gm6 lending that bittersweet manouche-ballad glow.
Practising it — play it rubato and singing. Work the D minor and A7 arpeggios, and lean on the Gm6 colour. Let each phrase breathe; this one lives on tone, not speed.
Illusionen chords — the grille
A : | Dm | Dm | A7 | A7 | D7 | D7 | Gm | Gm | Gm | Gm | C7 | C7 | F | F | E7 | A7 | Dm | Dm | A7 | A7 | D7 | D7 | Gm | Gm | Gm6 | Gm6 | Dm | Dm | E7 | A7 | B♭7 A7 | Dm |
Chords used
Dm · A7 · D7 · Gm · C7 · F · E7 · Gm6 · B♭7
Play along
Open the interactive grille for Illusionen: loop any section, transpose to any key, set the tempo, and play over a rhythm accompaniment — with a real recorded pompe on featured tunes. In the browser, free.