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Lyrics
- A Cretan ship, nor large nor small,
just two and forty cubits long,
brought me to strange and unknown lands.
- O alien, exiled far from home,
you walk in strange and unknown lands.
- T’was here what I did take to wife
a Frankish wench – a witch was she:
she cast a spell on ships and sea,
she cast a spell on alien me.
Original Lyrics
Ένα καράβι κρητικό
Η μάγισσα
- Ένα καράβι κρητικό μηδέ τρανό μηδέ μικρό,
μόνο σαρανταδυό πηχώ
και μ’ έφερε στα ξένα στ’ ανεγνώριμα.
- Ξένε μ’, ξενιτεμένε μ’ κι ανεγνώριμε,
που περπατείς στα ξένα σ’ ανεγνώριμα.
- Εγώ σ’ αυτόν τον κόσμον ηπαντρεύτηκα
και πήρα Φραγκοπούλα που ήταν μάγισσα.
Μαγεύει τα καράβια και τη θάλασσα,
εμάγεψεν κι εμένα, τον ξένο, τον αλλόξενο...
Information
- Region: Pontus
- Categories: Immigration Song, Wedding Song
- Rhythm: 7 beats
- Dance style: Kotsangél
- Duration: 03:02
Collaborators
- Singer: Yiorgos Amarantidis
- Pontic lyra: Yiorgos Amarantidis
- Daouli (davul): Yiorgos Gevgelis
Albums
Notes
Pontic song about life away from home, known as kotsangell' it is sung and danced at weddings at the moment when the mother-in-law ritually introduces the bride to her new home.
The departure of a family member, whether through marriage, migration or death, was always a traumatic occasion within the close-knit unit of a traditional Greek family. Lambros Liavas (1989)
(From the introductory text in the LP and CD Songs about greeks far from home)
Recording information
Studio recording, 1989.
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