Ένα καράβι κρητικό ⬥ – A Cretan ship, nor large nor small, just two and forty cubits long, brought me to strange and unknown lands. – O alien, exiled far from home, you walk in strange and unknown lands. – T’was here what I did take to wife a Frankish [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Σην γέφυραν, σην γέφυραν (Της Τρίχας το γεφύρι) ⬥ At the bridge, at the bridge, at Trichas’ bridge. A thousand builders hard at work, and ten thousand apprentices. They’d build all day long and find it undone in the morning. – What will you give me, master builder to make [...]
Σιμά σα ξημερώματα ⬥ Close to daybreak, dawn’s crack in the East, the Morning Star aloft, first light near at hand. The sun was a- telling, ‘daughter you’re leaving home’. The moon looks on and laughs, the leaves murmur, a breeze blows off the meadow, the fir trees shimmer. Translated [...]
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. [...]
Πασχαλιάτικα δίστιχα ⬥ Easter has come round again, throw out the koukouràs1 and put a red egg laid this year upon the ikon stand2. Glad returns of Easter Day, the day all eat red eggs, glad returns of Easter Day, and all say ‘Christ is Risen’. Easter has come round [...]
Αν αποθάνω, θάψον με ⬥ If I die, bury me on a tall mountain so I can hear the shepherd’s whistle and the pipe’s sweet sound, so I can hear the shepherd’s whistle and the flute’s sweet sound. Mountains of mine, why do you whistle? Rivers why do you murmur? [...]
Κότσαρι ⬥ Dance tune in 2-beat rhythm from Pontus. Live recording from the concert “Songs of Asia Minor with Domna Samiou” at the Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall, on 8/3/2005.
Ο Μάραντον ⬥ Marandon 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 [...]
Ο Μάραντον ⬥ Word came calling Marandon up to fight. He forged horseshoes out of silver and nails out of gold and shoed his horse in the dead of night in the moonlight, his beloved at his side with the nails in her kerchief. – Where to, Marandon my love, [...]
Σερεανίτσα ⬥ Live recording from the concert ‘Songs of Asia Minor with Domna Samiou’ at the Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall, on 2005. On the Pontic lyra, Ilias Yfantidis.
Κάτω σην Άσπρην Θάλασσαν ⬥ Somewhere in the Aegean Sea, oh, my heart, my heart, so distant, so far away, my heart is fit to burst. A vessel richly fitted out, set out for ports in Frankish lands. It was manned by Pontic Greeks, by Greeks from ancient lands, They bent their [...]
