Μια κόρη από την Εύριπου ⬥ A maid from Evripo sought to set sail, she sought to make passage. She sought to make the passage to the far shore and paid a hundred Venetian sequins, a hundred gold pieces to be taken to her homeland and four hundred and four [...]
Πέρτικαν εμέρωνα ⬥ A partridge I did tame, through April ‘til May came, the tamer she became, the more she did complain. All afire deep inside, I hurled her far and wide, at the mount all rocky, all rock-strewn and stony. Translated by Michael Eleftheriou
Ναυτόπουλο ψυχομαχεί ⬥ I heard the shouting and the cries, they filled the Cyprus straits. I thought they must be slaughtering bulls or taming some wild beasts; I thought the Turks were making war upon the Frankish foe, but they weren’t slaughtering any bulls, nor taming some wild beasts, nor [...]
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 [...]
Τ’ Αντρούτσου η μάνα ⬥ Androutsos’ mother is glad, Androutsos’ mother is glad and Diakos’ proud For they have warriors and captains for sons who set the Turks to flight, spahis1 and janissaries,2 one at the Inn of Graviá, the other at Alamana. Translated by Michael Eleftheriou 1spahis: a cavalryman [...]
Στη βρύση στα Τσερίτσιανα ⬥ At the well of Tserítsiana, in the heart of the land, hail fine fellows, there were Bulubasiades watching. There were Bulubasiades and there were Margaritiotes. And they watched the Souliots waging war [how children fought, and women like their menfolk], how Tzavelas’ wife fought like [...]
Φέξε μου φεγγαράκι μου ⬥ Come on shine, dear moon, beam, moon dear, light the way to my love. Beam high and low, for it's muddy and wet; beam still lower, so I can go still quicker. Translated by Michael Eleftheriou
Καπετάν Λούκας ⬥ Instrumental tune dedicated to the Macedonian fighter Captain Loukas Kokkinos (1878–1913), fellow warrior of Pavlos Melas. Recorded in 2004.
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 [...]
Σαράντα κλέφτες είμαστε ⬥ Forty klephts are we, forty brave young lads and we swore an oath upon the Cross. And we swore an oath upon the Cross and another before the Virgin, if one of us should e’er fall sick, we would all stay at his side. No sooner [...]
Τα τέσσερα, τα πέντε, τα εννιάδερφα ⬥ Four brothers five brothers nine, eighteen cousins, none destined to grow to man’s estate were by royal command to go and fight twelve long years in the wars. When they whet their swords, the sea glistens, when their staffs clash, the mountains tremble. [...]
Ο Γιάννος και η Βαγγελιώ ⬥ Giannos and Vangelio went to the same school, Giannos to learn to read and write, Vangelio to sing. Giannos fell in love and would take her for his wife. – Mother, I have something, something I must share, I love Vangelio and would take [...]
Εσείς βουνά του Γρεβενού ⬥ Hey mountains of Grevená, hey mountain pine of Métsovo, can’t you dip a little lower. Dip two rifle shots so we can see Grevená, and much-lauded Spílio, see how Ziakas is battling the Turks. The shells fall like rain and the bombs like hail, and [...]
Χαρά που το ‘χουν τα βουνά ⬥ Hey, how joyous are the mountains, how joyous the mountains and proud the plains. The Virgin is celebrating today, and the nation with her, at the sight of deacons with swords and priests with muskets, at the sight of Germanós, the bishop of [...]
Σαββάτο μέρα πέρασα ⬥ One Saturday I passed through Mesolonghi, – hail fine fellows, ’twas Palm Saturday I remember. Palm Saturday it was, Saint Lazarus’ day and the air was thick with manly sobs and women’s lamentations. ’Tis not the killing pricked their tears, and ’twas not murder neither; they’re [...]
Να 'σαν τα νιάτα δυο φορές ⬥ Studio recording, 1950s. Released in extended play 78 and 45 rpm discs (Fidelity 77047 και 7047, 1959) supervised by Domna Samiou.
Μέσα σ’ ώριο περιβόλι ⬥ In a fine orchard, laurel and myrtle quarrel. And myrtle, amàn-amàn, myrtle says to laurel… And myrtle says to laurel, -You stole my branch. – No, by Saint John, I did not steal your branch! And if I did, let the river take me and [...]
