Traiani and Theodor Pitsanis

Traiani and Theodor Pitsanis were residents of the village of Kitros in Pieria, having settled there as refugees from Bana, Eastern Rumelia (contemporary Bulgaria). In the 1970s, during their stay in Athens in order to make some appearances at the Dora Stratou Theatre, Yiorgos Amarantidis taped them singing twenty-four songs of Eastern Rumelia, and gave the tape to Domna Samiou for inclusion in her archive.

Songs

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  • SongEastern Thrace & RoumeliaFable Song (Ballad), Philosophical Song

I Passed by and Bade Good Day

  • Πέρασα καλημέρισα ⬥ I passed by and bid four black eyes good day, four lips, dear Daphne, four red lips. Four red lips and two lithe, slender frames, I passed them by, dear Daphne, and asked them the way. They didn’t say a word, and I set off anyways along [...]
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  • SongEastern Thrace & RoumeliaFable Song (Ballad), Prison Song

No Father Had I

(The Wine Bearer)

  • Εγώ είμαι ορφανό παιδί ⬥ No father had I, my mother was a widow. My mother was a widow and sold me, sold me into service to a good master. My master was joyful, his son was to wed, and bade me serve his guests from a golden jug. With [...]
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  • SongEastern Thrace & RoumeliaFable Song (Ballad)

The Dead Brother

  • Του νεκρού αδελφού ⬥ What a mother, vai aman aman, what a fine mother, what a mother, ela giareni mou ela, what a fine mother is she with, vai aman aman, with the nine sons and, ela giareni mou ela, the only daughter. Matchmakers came from Babylon to take Areti far away to foreign [...]
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  • SongEastern Thrace & RoumeliaImmigration Song

You Drive Me Mother out from Home

  • Διώχνεις με μάνα, διώχνεις με ⬥ You drive me, mother, out from home, in truth though I’ll be going. I’ll migrate with the little birds and with the long-winged swallows. In time the birds will all return, but I’ll be ever absent. Good mother, you will go to church, to [...]
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Records

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  • AlbumCD, Digital release2008Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

Folk Fables in Song

In fables, fragments of ancient myths are preserved. On this CD, Domna Samiou & her collaborators sing tales of the fabulous and the fantastic combining the real world with the supernatural and narrating stories, often tragic, which might once have occurred – or could do so one day – however […]
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  • AlbumCD, Digital release1992UNHCR – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Songs About Greeks Far From Home

This CD, published by UNHCR with an informative booklet, includes sixteen songs narrating different aspects of migrating to foreign lands: departure and life in foreign lands; the lives of families left behind; death in foreign lands or a return home. It marks a new direction to Domna Samiou’s music publications: […]
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  • AlbumDigital release, LP1989UNHCR – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Songs About Greeks Far From Home (LP)

This LP includes nineteen songs narrating all the different aspects of migrating in foreign lands: the departure and the life to foreign lands, the life of the family left behind, death in these foreign lands or the return home. This publication of the UNHCR, with its informative accompanying booklet, introduces […]
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See also

  • SongEastern Thrace & RoumeliaLove Song

Down at Agia Marini

  • Κάτω στην Αγια-Μαρίνη ⬥ Down at Agia Marini, at Virgin Mary’s monastery a twelve-year-old girl, joined the local nunnery. She doesn’t cross her fingers nor does she say her prayers giggling, she watches the lads go by, only for them she cares. She is standing near the cross-roads, selling wine. [...]
  • SongEastern Thrace & RoumeliaChildren's Song, Lampoon

One Day a Tom Cat

  • Μιαν ημέρα ένας γάτος ⬥ Studio recording, 1980. Domna Samiou taped the song in Agia Eleni, Serres in 1964, by Dimitris Vlaskos (vocals and lyra) accompanied by  Yiorgos Haratsis and a group of locals.
  • SongEastern Thrace & RoumeliaRitual SongInstrumental

Anastenaria

  • Αναστενάρια ⬥ Domna Samiou recorded the tune in 1964, in Agia Eleni, Serres. Every year, on May 21st, the day dedicated to Saints Constantine and Helena, an unusual folk festival takes place in two Macedonian villages: Langada in Thessaloniki and Saint Helena (Agia Eleni) in Serres.
  • SongEastern Thrace & RoumeliaRitual Song, Saturday of Lazarus CarolCarol

Lazarus’s Carol

  • Κάλαντα Λαζάρου ⬥ Domna Samiou taped in Agia Eleni, Serres, in 1964. English translation is not available.
  • SongEastern Thrace & RoumeliaHistorical SongTable Song

Little Birds of the East

  • Πουλάκια της Ανατολής ⬥ English translation is not available. French translation follows: Oiselets du levant et rossignols du couchant, rassemblez-vous en ce lieu pour que je vous dise : ne chantez pas au mois de mai, qu'au mois de mai nul ne vous entende, car la guerre nous accable…