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- 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.

Translated by John Leatham

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...

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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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