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Έρχομαι κι εσύ κοιμάσαι
I come and you are asleep amid the white jasmine;
Wake up, wherever you might live and be, my bushy lemon tree.
My partridge from Livissi,
I am entangled in your nets.
The keys of my heart — take them and open;
there are rose gardens within — enter and walk about.
Come, and don’t think troublesome
the road to come and find me.
Translated by Mania Seferiades
Έρχομαι κι εσύ κοιμάσι μέσα στ’ άσπρα γιασιμιά·
ξύπνα, που να ζεις κι να ’σι, φουντουτή μου λιμουνιά.
Λιβισιανή μου πέρδικα,
στα δίχτυα σου μπερδεύτηκα.
Της καρτιάς μου τα κλειδάκια, πάρι τα κι άνοιξι,
κι έχει μέσα γκιούλ μπαξέδους,* κι έμπα κι σιργιάνισι.
Έλα, κι μην τη βαριθείς
τη στράτα να ’ρτεις να μι βρεις.
*γκιούλ μπαξέδους: πληθυντικός του γκιούλ μπαξές, τριανταφυλλόκηπος (από το τουρκικό gül bahçe)
A patinada (serenade) still sung today (as of 1984) at engagements, weddings, and festive gatherings. In old Makri and Livissi, it was sung by craftsmen (carpenters, builders, tinners) as they returned home —just before Christmas— riding horses or walking back from the Turkish villages where they had gone to work right after Easter.
Studio recording (1984). Based on Nikos Karageorgiou’s 1982 field recording of the song in Nea Makri, Attica.
Choir
Violin
Goblet drum
Informant (source of the song)
