Καλογριά γκαστρώθηκε ⬥ A nun swelled up with child and bore a manly boy. Within a month he was carrying a sword, within a year a musket and at three or four he set off to war. His mother told him, she advised him thus: – Kostantis, do as the [...]
Ο σκλάβος αναστέναξε ⬥ Studio recording, 2001. This Byzantine ballad was sung in Sinasós, but probably originated in Constantinople. In this version the hero, a slave in a galley dreams that his wife is being married to another man and sighs in distress. Thereupon the galley comes to a hault. [...]
Χήρα παιδίν εγέννησε ⬥ Studio recording, 2001. Porphiris the hero of this Byzantine ballad has superhuman powers. One day he boasts that he is not afraid of anybody, not even the king himself. The king orders his arrest. He is found asleep and bound in chains. In this particular variant [...]
Χήρα-ν παιδίν εγέννησε ⬥ A widow bore a child and called him Prosfylis, she bore him behind bars, she suckled him in a prison. Aged one, he took up a sword, aged two his spear, at three and four he leapt upon his mount, he leapt upon his mount and [...]
Ένας άγουρος κι ένας καλός στρατιώτης ⬥ A young and gallant soldier Sought a citadel, a citadel. He sought a citadel, a village to stop at. He found none, no citadel. He found neither citadel nor village to stop at; He found, he found a tree. He found a tree, [...]
Στρατιώτης και δεντρί ⬥ A young man, a fine young lad went off in search of a castle, Greek lass of mine. And though he found no castles and no villages to stay in, he found a tree, Greek lass of mine. – Oh, tree of mine, dear cypress so [...]
Ακρίτας πάει και σο κυνήγ' ⬥ Out hunting, on the way to the hunting grounds, Akritas met Charon at a crossroads. – Charon, what've you got against me that you'll always following me? They call me Akritas, and God have mercy on your warrior's soul. – Hush thy boasting, my [...]
Ο Μάραντον ⬥ Amarandos has received the order to go to war. He forges horseshoes of silver and nails of gold, He shoes his black steed by the light of the moon. His beloved beside him holds the nails in her kerchief: – Where are you going, where are you [...]
Αϊτέντς επαραπέτανεν ⬥ An eagle soared high in the sky, high in the heavens with its bloody red jaws and its soot black crown and clutching a brave lad’s arm in its talons. – Hey, eagle, give me what you’re clutching, tell me where you got it. – I’ll not [...]
Άρκοντες τρων και πίνουσι ⬥ The nobles sit to eat and drink around a marble table, a marble and a silver table, around a golden table, and all do only drink and eat, no word by them is spoken. Oh, let young Constantine just hum a melody that pleases to [...]
Ο Ανδρόνικος και η ρήγισσα ⬥ Famed Andronikos, who was born and raised in riches, started school on the 6th of the month and could read by the 7th. By the 8th and 9th he could write and add and take away, by the 10th and the 12th he could [...]
Ακρίτας όνταν έλαμνεν ⬥ As Akritas was ploughing near the river, back and forth he went and ploughed five furrows a day, back and forth he went and sowed nine bushels of seed a day. A bird came and perched on the edge of the yoke, then sat smack bang [...]
Ο βασιλιάς διάταξε ⬥ The king commanded every fair maid and every brave lad in every vilayet to gather before him. And when the fair maids and brave lads heard the news they gathered before the king, who said: – Who is worthy and strong enough to capture Kostantis? Not [...]
Ο Χάροντας και οι αντρειωμένοι ⬥ My friends, what happened to all the brave men in the world? They're not on the mountains and they're not in the passes. They're down at the edge of the sky, at the end of the world, building a castle to hide from Charon. [...]
Ο Χάρος μαύρα φόρησεν ⬥ Charon wore black and rode his black horse, he donned his scary black garments and set out for the feast. At the edge of the feast, he found people celebrating, in amidst the feast, he found people eating and drinking. – Charon, you are welcome [...]
Ο Διγενής ψυχομαχάει ⬥ Digenes, Digenes is giving up the ghost, my eyes, Digenes is dying my eyes are black, Digenes is dying. All the lords on learning of it, all hasten by. with apples and with plums, with fresh grapes. To his fair one he speaks, to his fair one he says: [...]
Ακρίτας όνταν έλαμνεν ⬥ Akritas laboured down by the river, Coming and going he laboured, tracing five furrows, Coming and going he sowed nine measures of grain. A bird came and perched on the end of the yoke, And suddenly rose and settled right in the middle of the yoke. [...]
Ο Διγενής ψυχομαχάει ⬥ Digenis is dying and the mountains are trembling, and all the lords that heard it set out to visit him, they set out, bringing apples, plums and sweet grapes. And Digenis spoke and said to his beloved: – Lay out the carpets, my dearest, for the [...]
Άρκοντες τρων και πίνουσι ⬥ Some lords are eating and drinking at a marble table, a table of marble, silver and gold, they are all eating and drinking without saying a word. And young Kostantinos started singing quietly about his comrade Andronikos, a much-praised young man. – You're black, you [...]
Μαύρο καπνό είδα κι έβγαινε ⬥ I saw some black smoke rise up out of the reeds; The reeds are numberless and a monster hides in them. Three huntsmen have decided to go and kill it. On the way they talk about it: When we have killed the monster in [...]
Ο Καλομοίρης και ο Σαρακηνός ⬥ Kalomoiris’ youngest boy was born at night, in the night before the cock crowed. On the very same night that he was born, he asked for bread to eat, and ate nine ovens full and nine gallons of milk, and a deer and a [...]
Ο Κωσταντής κι ο Κωσταντάς ⬥ Oh, Kostantis, oh, Kostantas, oh, young Kostantinos, for three long years wandered looking for a good wife to wed, [to find a tall maid, a slender maid with proud eyebrows.] When he found a tall maid, a slender maid he liked, a little bird [...]
Ο Κωσταντής κι ο Κάουρας ⬥ Down at the barren field, near the reed beds, a crab has become a dragon and is devouring the bravest men. He ate Phokas' black steed, he ate Nikiphoros, he ate Ephtatrachilos, the man whom everybody feared. When the king heard that, he was [...]
Μοναχογιός ο Κωσταντής ⬥ Kostantis the only son, young and cosseted, his mother’s only son, her precious darling. She’d scrub him, comb his hair and send him off to school and the teacher would teach him, teach him to read and write. Kostantis grew up into a man, into a [...]
