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 | The first words - 2433 Αναγνώσεις   | | | |    |  |
Στίχοι: Μάνος Ελευθερίου
Μουσική: Παραδοσιακό
Πρώτη εκτέλεση: Γιώργος Νταλάρας
Τα πρώτα λόγια του Χριστού
κοντά στον Ιορδάνη
σου φόρεσα στεφάνι
κι αγγέλοι τα κρατούν
Σε πήρα μια σε πήραν δυο
και με δεμένα μάτια
μα εγώ στα σκαλοπάτια
του κόσμου σε ζητώ
Κι ο κόσμος ήταν το κερί
κι οι τέσσερις ανέμοι
εγώ το φως που τρέμει
και συ ροδιά μικρή
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Lyrics: Manos Eleftheriou
Music: Paradosiako
First version: Yioryos Dalaras
The first words of Christ
on the banks of Jordan,
I made you wear them for a crown
with angels holding them up.
They took you once, they took you twice
and blindfolded your eyes,
but I, on the staircase
of the world, I am asking, searching for you.
And if the world is the wax candle
and the four winds blowing,
I am the flame that trembles
and you, a little pomegranate-tree.
| | | | The lyrics of this song are pure Manos Eleftheriou - modern, often obscure.
The melody on the other hand is very old. It originates in the Sephardic Jewish communities of the East, descended from Jews driven from Spain by the Reconquista of the Very Catholic Kings, after 1492, who found refuge under Islamic rule (at that particular time, Turkey was showing the rest of Europe a model of religious tolerance - that's History: "to each in turn their turn comes").
Thessaloniki, where Kougioumtzis was born and grew up, used to have a huge Sephardic Jewish community. It was destroyed by the Nazis.
But songs can be very tough.
This one was rescued from oblivion first by Kougioumtzis, on this 1974 record.
It came into the limelight once again, this time with a traditional orchestration and the Sephardic "Spanish" lyrics, when Savina Yannatou sang it on her internationally acclaimed 1995 record "Primavera en Saloniko" (Spring in Salonika), when it reached a new, international audience. The song's title is then "Los bilbilicos", meaning "the little nightingales" - a local word, derived from the Turkish name of the bird, bόlbόl. It is a love song.
Dalaras has another version of "Ta prota logia": with symphony orchestra. It was recorded live in concert in Israel in 1997 and released on his "live at the Mann auditorium" cd.
In this recording, Dalaras sings the last verse in Hebrew, with the lyrics of an old Hebrew prayer. This prayer is part of the Saturday ritual, a thanksgiving said after the meal. It is sung to a dozen different tunes, of which this is the most popular. It is not unusual in Jewish music for a melody to migrate from folksong into prayer)
Looking for a meaning behind the words, one may consider that in the Bible, Jesus comes to be baptized and John the Baptist hesitates: "Who I am to baptize the Son of God?". Here Jesus responds with words that can be understood as "We all have to fulfil our purpose". Both John the Baptist, with his smaller mission (baptizing Jesus, being beheaded) and Jesus himself, whose "mission" starts at that point. One may consider, too, that the album is from 1974 (= fall of the junta), and how this reflects on "they took you away blindfolded" and on people with a mission, feeling like they may be "blown out" any moment, and on the pomegranate (Persefone) a symbol of rebirth.
(Many thanks to fadi and Marina for the research they contributed.) |  Geeske © 03-03-2006 @ 06:20 |
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