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Πέρσι το καλοκαιράκι
Early last summer
I set my sights on a little bird
But chase as I would, lust as I might,
She’d always take flight.
She spread her wings, prepared to fly up to heaven,
Fetch back an angel and empty the seven…
Empty the seven seas and plant a garden,
With lemon trees and oranges in them.
I plant them on Monday and prune them on Tuesday,
On Wednesday they sprout leaves and apples on Thursday,
On Friday night the thief sneaks in to steal them.
“Hey, thief, don’t steal apples, don’t pinch buds,
My master’s counted them five by five and one by one”.
Translated by Michael Eleftheriou
Πέρσι το- γεια σας, βρε παιδιά,
πέρσι το καλοκαιράκι
κυνηγούσα ένα πουλάκι.
Κυνηγού- γεια σας, βρε παιδιά,
κυνηγούσα, λαχταρούσα,
να το πιάσω δεν μπορούσα.
Έκανε για να πετάξει
και στους ουρανούς να φτάσει,
άγγελο να κατεβάσει
και τη θάλασσα ν’ αδειάσει.
Και τη θάλασσα ν’ αδειάσει,
να την κάνω περιβόλι,
να φυτέψω λεμονίτσες,
λεμονιές, πορτοκαλίτσες.
Τη Δευτέρα τις φυτεύω
και την Τρίτη τις κλαδεύω.
Την Τετάρτη βγάζουν φύλλα
και την Πέμπτη κάνουν μήλα.
Την Παρασκευή το βράδυ
πάει ο κλέφτης να τα πάρει.
- Κλέφτη μου, μην κλέβεις μήλα,
μην κορφολογάς τα φύλλα.
Τα ’χει αφέντης μετρημένα,
πέντε-πέντε κι ένα-ένα.
A charming love song from Moudania, based on a poetic allegory. It is danced to the steps of the fast hasapikos or the ‘three-step hop’ (pidichto sta tria) which was, along with the syrtos, the favoured rhythm of the Greeks around the Sea of Marmaris.
The theme was found in various parts of North-Western Asia Minor and now of Greece, set to different melodies, of course. With real poetic force and beautiful, highly visual imagery, it conveys allegorically the burning passion of the ‘hunter’ as he -in vain, at first- pursues “a little bird”, meaning the girl he loves. In a miraculous way, the ‘little bird’ will make the impossible possible: it flies up to heaven, fetches down an angel, and with its divine assistance drains the sea, only for the hunter to turn her into a lemon and orange grove! Which is to say, the love the young people share thrives and flourishes. Just as miraculously and curiously, the ‘garden’, which is none other than the hunter’s beloved, will grow and bear fruit in just five days, and the ‘master hunter’ no longer permits any ‘thief’ to reap its sweet fruit, which is to say the erotic allures of his fair maid.
The song is structured in pairs of rhyming eight-syllable lines, with the interjection “geia sas, vre children” (or vasta, vre children) sung after the first half of each first line.
Theodor Kondaras (2022)
Live recording from the concert Songs of Asia Minor with Domna Samiou at the Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall, on 8/3/2005.
Singers
Clarinet
Violin
Constantinopolitan lute
Lute
Goblet drum
Tambourine
Dancers
