• Increase font size
  • Decrease font size
  • Ελληνικά
  • English

Καλλιτεχνικός Σύλλογος Δημοτικής Μουσικής Δόμνα Σαμίου

Menu
  • Domna Samiou
    • Domna Samiou
    • Contents
      • Domna Samiou
      • Biography
      • A Tale of a Life
      • Others on Domna
    • richmenu_01
      A tale of a life
      Homeless During the Civil War
      richmenu
      richmenu_02
      A tale of a life
      Next to Her Mentor Simon Karas
      richmenu_03
      Socrates Sinopoulos
      A Teacher-Student Relationship
  • Her Work
    • Her Work
    • Contents
      • Her Work
      • Discography
      • List of Songs
      • Concerts
      • "Musical Travelogue"
      • Press Clippings and Interviews
      • Collaborators
      • Domna Samiou Archives
      • Selections
    • richmenu_kalanta
      Musical Selections
      Christmas, New Year & Epiphany Carols
      richmenu
      richmenu_ton_akriton--3
      New release
      Epic Songs of Warriors and Heroes
      richmenu
      richmenu_nikos_papavramidis
      Collaborators
      Nikos Papavramidis
      pa623_main_nikos_stefanidis--2
      Collaborators
      Nikos Stefanidis (1890-1983)
      richmenu
  • The Association
    • The Association
    • Contents
      • The Association
      • About Us
      • Activities
      • The Association's Releases
      • Events
      • Sponsors and Donors
      • Web Links
    • association_richmenu_en_v3
      Activities
      Domna Samiou Archives
      richmenu
      association_richmenu_en_v3
      The Association
      The Board and the Members
      richmenu
  • The Choir
    • The Choir
    • The Lessons
    • The Teachers
    • Contact the Choir
  • Translator's Notes
    • Translator's Notes
    • Musical Instruments
    • Pronunciation Notes
  • Contact
Sign in Show/Hide Search Form

You are at: Home page Her Work List of Songs Today, Despo

d20_cover
Listen to Spotify Listen to Google Play Listen toiTunes Listen toAmazon
Today, Despo
d20_cover
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Send with e-mail

Easter Dance Song

Σήμερα Δέσπω μ’ Πασχαλιά

Listen

Lyrics

– Today, Despo, ’tis Easter Day, today’s a day of gladness,
the married girls have joined the dance, young girls are promenading,
and you, Despo, don’t appear among the living people.
Despo, it’s your child that cries, it cries and will not settle.
– Remember, mother, when it cries, there stands beside the cottage,
outside your door, an apple tree, a quince tree in the vineyard.
Go fetch an apple from the tree and give it some to calm it,
and if it doesn’t settle then, just dig a hole and bury it,
work with your nails as pick-axes, your palms as sturdy shovels.

Translated by John Leatham

Original Lyrics

Σήμερα Δέσπω μ’ Πασχαλιά

– Σήμερα Δέσπω μ’ Πασχαλιά,
σήμερα Δέσπω μ’ Πασχαλιά, σήμερα ’ν’ άσπρη μέρα,
βγήκαν οι νύφες στο χορό, κοράσια στο σεργιάν’
και συ Δέσπω μ’ δε φαίνεσαι μες στον απάνω κόσμο.
Δέσπω μου κλαίγειν το παιδί, κλαίγειν και δε μερώνει.
– Μάνα μ’ σαν κλαίγειν το παιδί, έχεις μηλιά στην πόρτα σου
έχεις μηλιά στην πόρτα σου και κυδωνιά στ’ αμπέλι
κόψε μήλο ’πό τη μηλιά και δώσ’ το να μερώσει
κι αν δε μερώσειν κι απ’ αυτό, σκάψε παράχωσέ το,
φκιάσε τα νύχια σου τσαπί, κι τσ’ απαλάμες φτυάρι.

Information

  • Region: Macedonia
  • Area: Grevena, Sarakina
  • Categories: Easter Song, Lament, Ritual Song
  • Duration: 05:32

Collaborators

  • Singer: Vassiliki Danga

Albums

  • Easter Songs

Notes

‘Despo’, one of the better known and indispensable Easter dance-songs, with an enigmatic and apotropaic content, is often the first song to be sung. It illustrates how deeply rooted is the element of worship of the dead, as well as the social significance of the feast of Easter. In their symbolic utterances -not only in this song, but in a whole series of others- the celebrants of the sacred dance turn their attention to individual dead persons, to familiar infernal demons calling upon them to rise up and in doing so magically to have all Nature follow them. At the same time they express the fervent wish of the community that without exception all its members, both near and distant, both living and dead, may participate in this greatest of all festivals. Miranda Tezopoulou (1998)

Recording information

Recorded in April 1996 at Sarakina, Grevena.

Member Comments

0 Comments

Post a comment


up to 2000
Login to post a comment

See also

d20_badge
Album
Easter Songs
CD
d08_badge
Song
Forty Five Craftsmen
Arta’s Βridge
d20_badge
Song
Now Hear Me,…
Easter Dance Song Now hear me, you who leads the dance and you who twists and tangles direct the dance along a course resembling reeds a-swayi...
d20_badge
Song
Why, It Was Easter Day
Easter Dance Song Why, it was Easter Day, good George, t’was Easter, the day of happy tidings, my good George, a day of happy tidings, dear D...
d25_badge
Song
Captain Loukas
dvd2_badge
Song
Full Forty Cunts Encircled Me (Explicit)
Full forty cunts bre, bre, bre, full forty cunts encircled me, full forty cunts encircled me to gobble up my cock. Whereon ...
970_badge_rmp45_051_2
Song
Gaida
d25_badge
Song
Girls of Kastoria
d20_badge
Song
It’s Eastertime
Easter Dance It’s Eastertime, my lithe and lissome one, my lithe and lissome one, the greatest of all feasts, you fair-haired ones, you ...
d16_badge
Song
My Love Is Getting Married
d18_badge
Song
Old Grandfather Rangavelas (Explicit)
Old grandfather1 bre, bre, bre, old grandfather Rangavélas, old grandfather Rangavélas had an ass that limped along; dummy ...
eleutherotypia_badge--2
Singing Spring
7 April 1998 Newspaper Eleftherotypia
d23_04_badge_stayri_stayri
Song
Sweet Basil of the Holy Cross
Sweet basil of the Holy Cross and royal flower of Christ, I strolled around your garden and round your flower-beds. I pic...
dvd2_badge
Song
The Poor Girls (Explicit)
  • Home page
  • Disclaimer
  • Contact
  • Sitemap
Follow us
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
Subscribe to Newsletter
To Top
© 2010-2014 Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association
Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Powered by TOOLIP Web Content Management Designed & developed by EWORX S.A.