• 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 Akritas Goes Hunting

d32_cover--3
Listen to Spotify Listen to YouTube Music Listen toiTunes Listen toAmazon
Akritas Goes Hunting
d32_cover--3
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Send with e-mail

The Death of Digenis

Ακρίτας πάει και σο κυνήγ'

Listen

Lyrics

Out hunting, on the way to the hunting grounds,
Akritas met Charon at a crossroads.
- Charon, what've you got against me that you'll always following me?
They call me Akritas, and God have mercy on your warrior's soul.
- Hush thy boasting, my dear Akritas!
Come, let's wrestle on the silver threshing floor.
- If l should win, your black steed is mine,
but if you should win, take my soul and be gone.
They went and fought, and Charon won.
Akritas mounted his horse and rode to his beloved.
- Come, my dearest, come and make up my deathbed.
Put flowers by my head, flowers picked from a forest glade. 

Translated by Michael Eleftheriou

Original Lyrics

Ακρίτας πάει και σο κυνήγ'

Ο θάνατος του Διγενή

Ακρίτας πάει και σο κυνήγ' και σα κυνηγοτόπεα,
τον Χάρον ατ' επάντεσεν άπαν' σο σταυροδρόμιν.
- Χάρε μ', ντό έχ'ς και με τ' εμέν και πάντα ν-ακ'λουθάς με;
Εμέν Ακρίτα λέγ'νε με, αϊλί και σον Ακρίταν.
- Για σους1, για σους Ακρίτα μου, βαρέα μην καυχάσαι,
παρ' έλα ν-ας παλεύγομεν πάν' σ' ασημένι' αλώνι.
- Αν ίσως και νικώ σε 'γώ, θα παίρω και το μαύρο σ',
αν ίσως και νικάς με 'συ, έπαρ' την ψη2 μ' και δέβα.
Εσκώθεσαν και πάλεψαν και νίκεσεν ο Χάρον.
Ακρίτας εκαβάλκεψεν, σην κάλην ατ' επήεν.
- Έβγα, καλή μ', και στρώσον με θανατικόν κρεβάτιν,
θέσον μ' άνθεα σην κεφαλήν και παρχαρί3 τσιτσέκια4.


1για σους: σώπασε! μη μιλάς!
2ψη: ψυχή
3παρχάριν: χλοερός βοσκότοπος
4τσιτσέκιν: άνθος, τουρκ. çiçek

Information

  • Region: Pontus
  • Categories: Acritic Song
  • Rhythm: 9 beats
  • Dance style: Omal
  • Duration: 03:45

Collaborators

  • Singer: Ilias Yfantidis
  • Pontic lyra: Ilias Yfantidis
  • Daouli (davul): Vangelis Karipis

Albums

  • Epic Songs of Warriors and Heroes

Notes

Songs on the death of Brave men

Of all the songs in the Digenis cycle, the best and most widely known - including the very few that researchers now recognize as properly ‘akritic’ - are those that relate to the death of the never-defeated hero. Βλ. τραγούδια Kostantis and Kostantas, Charon and the brave men, Last night I crossed rivers. Akritas goes hunting', Charon wore black, Digenis is dying.

In the popular imagination, it is unthinkable that such a hero should be subject to the common fate of common folk and be allowed to die. And, truth be told, there was little that was philosophical or meditative about the heroic mindset. A slave to his impulses and his strength, the hero will once again square up against an opponent and challenge him, even if he is Death himself. And the hero will throw himself into battle once again, the latest in an endless string of feats; this time, though, he will be defeated.

As a theme, Digenis’ death belongs to the older, rich oral narrative tradition which centred on the personality, life and achievements of the akritic heroes so beloved by the populace. However, the fact that the struggle with Charon is absent from all the variants of the written epic led a number of researchers to conclude that this theme is also absent from the popular imagination during the akritic era. It was also used to argue that the written epic pre-dated the songs.

The oldest and richest song-type, the one Nikolaos Politis considered a recap of Digenis Akritas’ feats and the type closest to the written epic, is represented in this collection by a Cypriot variation (see Charon wore black).

Some of the other songs included here are loosely linked to the traditions relating to the death of Digenis or with the epic cycle more generally (e.g. Kostantis and Kostantas). They include however names, verses and concepts linked to the Akritic cycle and besides the central theme of death, they also refer to other aspects of the hero’s everyday life, work, family and loves. Miranda Terzopoulou (2017)

Recording information

Studio recording, 2004.

Member Comments

0 Comments

Post a comment


up to 2000
Login to post a comment

See also

d13_badge
Song
Amarandos Goes to War (Marandon)
Amarandos has received the order to go to war. He forges horseshoes of silver and nails of gold, He shoes his black steed b...
d32_badge--3
Song
An Eagle Soared
An eagle soared high in the sky, high in the heavens with its bloody red jaws and its soot black crown and clutching a brav...
d32_badge--3
Song
As Akritas Was Ploughing
The Abduction of Akritas’ Wife As Akritas was ploughing near the river, back and forth he went and ploughed five furrows a day, back and forth he went and...
d13_badge
Song
Digenes Rescues His Beloved
Akritas laboured down by the river, Coming and going he laboured, tracing five furrows, Coming and going he sowed nine meas...
d08_badge
Song
Marandon
Marandon has received the order to go to war. He forges horseshoes of silver and nails of gold, He shoes his black steed by...
d32_badge--3
Song
Marandon
The Evil Mother-In-Law Word came calling Marandon up to fight. He forged horseshoes out of silver and nails out of gold and shoed his horse in the...
d32_badge--3
Song
Andronikos and the Princess
Famed Andronikos, who was born and raised in riches, started school on the 6th of the month and could read by the 7th. By t...
d21_badge
Song
Andrónikos and His Black Steed
The nobles sit to eat and drink around a marble table, a marble and a silver table, around a golden table, and all do only ...
d27_badge
Song
At Trichas’ Bridge
At the bridge, at the bridge, at Trichas’ bridge. A thousand builders hard at work, and ten thousand apprentices. They’d ...
d32_badge--3
Song
Kostantis and the Crab
Down at the barren field, near the reed beds, a crab has become a dragon and is devouring the bravest men. He ate Phokas' b...
d01_badge
Song
Kótsari
d35_badge
Song
Lassie, Leave Your Mother
d34_badge
Song
The Abduction of Levandis’ Daughter by Digenis
– Wait one moment, Digenis, and I’ll tell you what to do. If you understand what I tell you, go abduct the bride. Take this...
d32_badge--3
Song
Young Kostantakis
The Evil Mother-In-Law Young Kostantakis married young, he married young and took a young wife, and he was young, too, when he was called up to wa...
d32_badge--3
Song
Young Kostantinos
The Evil Mother-In-Law Young Kostantinos, young Konstantinos, his mother had him young and betrothed him young and he was young when he was called...
  • 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.