[MGSA-L] "The songs of oppressed peoples—Greeks and Armenians"

[George Baloglou]

How often do you buy a book simply because of its appendix? That is
what happened with me and "French Diction Songs" (Anne L. Leyerle &
William D. Leyerle, 1990): the appendix contains musical notes and
text (in Greek, transliterated Greek, English) for Maurice Ravel's
"Five Greek Songs" ("Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques"). [As it turns
out, these songs are also the sole subject of another book (which also
contains the Greek text, *apparently* not available on the internet),
see http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/Five-Greek-Folk-Songs/4317607#product_reviews
].

The somewhat complete story of how and why Ravel wrote the music for
these songs (after their translation by his friend Michel-Dimitri
Calvocoressi) in relation to a 1904 public lecture (with the title of
this message) is revealed in the left column of
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/tw.asp?w=W4912 -- although nothing
is mentioned about the lecture's other half and/or any Armenian songs
by Ravel. The songs are widely available on youtube, see for example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWbpjSe2HX0 , even in Greek --
beautiful rendering by Irma Kolassi in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxTIl2kP0vs .

Back to the roots, I offer below the lyrics in Greek as I found them
in the Leyerle book:

(1) ΞΥΠΝΗΣΕ ΠΕΤΡΟΠΕΡΔΙΚΑ

Ξύπνησε, ξύπνησε πετροπέρδικα,
τίναξε τα φτερά σου,
τρεις ελιές και μια βαμένη,
την καρδιά μου χεις καμένη.

Χρυσή κορδέλα σούφερα,
να πλέξεις τα μαλλιά σου.
Βρ' έλα να γινούμεν ταίρια,
κ' οι γονιοί μας συμπεθέρια.

(2) ΚΑΤΩ ΣΤΟΝ ΑΓΙΟ ΣΙΔΕΡΟ

Κάτω στον Άγιο Σίδερο,
στον Άγιο, Παναγιά μου,
στον Άγιο Κωνσταντίνο,
μαζεύγουνται, σωριάζονται,
του κόσμου γοι αντριωμένοι.

(3) ΠΟΙΟΣ ΑΣΙΚΗΣ ΣΑΝ Κ' ΕΜΕΝΑ

Ποιος ασίκης σαν κ' εμένα,
στο μπαζάρι περπατεί...
καπετάν Βασιλιχή;

Με κουμπούρια δυο στη μέση
και με δίκανο σπαθί...
Για σ' αγάπη μου χρυσή.

(4) Ω, Ν' ΑΝΤΖΕΛΟΣ ΕΙΣΑΙ

Ω ν' άντζελος είσαι, μάτια μου,
ω, τσ' αντζελικά φορένεις.
Ε τσ' αντζελικά πατείς τη γη,
η κι όλες τας νιες μαραίνεις.

(5) ΓΙΑΡΟΥΜΠΙ

Γιαρούμπι , έχεις γάμπα,
τικ ε τικ ε σπάστα,
τα ποτήρια σπάστα, βάι να μα.

Of these five songs the fifth is well known in Greece in several
extended versions, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzw3ntExn-8 .
The first one is also available in beautiful renderings like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CRJJZgPaNM (missing the last two
lines!) or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNrcrRvAppk . An extended
version of the third song, in a different tune, may be found in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_-sHk5r-Xs . The second song is of
Acritic origins, see for example
http://www.dance-pandect.gr/pds_cosmos/pop/pop_lhmma_gr.php?oid=E-D457F&ActionP=Play&mode=Med&Obj=T&eid=E-D457F&aa=1
(Oinousses). An echo of the fourth song is found in
http://ellinwnparadosi.blogspot.com/2011/02/blog-post_17.html
(Skyros).


-- 

Γιώργος Μπαλόγλου -- Θεσσαλονίκη

http://www.oswego.edu/~baloglou (1988 - 2008)

http://crystallomath.wordpress.com (2009 - )