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Αν θέλεις για να παντρευτείς
If you want to marry, to take a wife
Come ask me do, I'll tell you who's good for you.
Don't take a white woman, no sack of flower,
For a sack of flower will always be dour.
Don't take a black women, no fried cuttlefish
For a cuttlefish fried won’t do for a bride.
Don't take a short woman, no tavern cask
For a tavern cask won’t let you drink whenever you ask.
Don't take a tall woman, no uprooted tree
For an uprooted tree always seems withered to me.
She should be lovely and dark with eyes black as night
For if she loses her looks, those eyes will still shine bright.
Translated by Michael Eleftheriou
Αν θέλεις για να παντρευτείς
γυναίκα για να πάρεις
έλα ρώτησε και μένα
να σε πω ποια είναι για σένα.
Άσπρη γυναίκα μην πάρεις
σακί αλευρωμένο.
Το σακί τ’ αλευρωμένο
πάντα θα ‘ναι σκονισμένο.
Μαύρη γυναίκα μην πάρεις
σουπιά τηγανισμένη.
Η σουπιά τηγανισμένη
πάντα θα ‘ναι μαυρισμένη.
Κοντή γυναίκα μην πάρεις
βουτσί του ταβερνιάρη.
Το βουτσί του ταβερνιάρη
τους μπεκρήδες κουμαντάρει.
Ψηλή γυναίκα μην πάρεις
δεντρί ξεριζωμένο.
Το δεντρί ξεριζωμένο
πάντα θα ‘ναι μαραμένο.
Μελαχρινή και νόστιμη
και μαύρα μάτια να ‘χει
κι αν γεράσει κι αν χαλάσει
πάλι μαύρα μάτια θα ‘χει.
A carnival song that gives sung advice to a bachelor, so he can find a bride that makes a good match for him. In a suitably satirical and amusing Carnival manner, a "specialist" in women rules most of the women out due to natural imperfections that render them ‘defective’. For him, any choice must be made on appearance alone, with no reference to any intellectual or other gifts. The popular poet's ingenious comparisons provoke laughter and amusement: the wan woman is like a sack of flour, the swarthy one like a fried cuttlefish, the short one like a tavern cask, and the tall one like an uprooted tree. While the would-be brides will be blighted by these flaws their whole lives long, a dark-haired, dark-eyed beauty will always bewitch with her bright black eyes, even when old age has robbed her of her beauty. Which makes the raven-haired maiden the perfect bride.
The song's proverbial subject-matter is well-known, primarily on the islands and in maritime communities, and features in numerous folk song collections (e.g. Dimitris Petropoulou, Greek Folk Songs II, “Choosing a bride”, p. 188).
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.
The song was recorded in Nea Makri, Attiki, by Nikos Karageorgiou, a local, in 1982. He calls the song “marriage guidance”.
Nikos Karageorgiou. Nea Makri, Attiki, 1982.
© Domna Samiou Archive
Singers
Clarinet
Violin
Constantinopolitan lute
Lute
Bendir (frame drum)
Bendir (frame drum)
Informant (source of the song)
