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Lyrics
They took the City, they took Salonika
and they took Haghia Sophia along with it.
And they took Haghia Sophia, the Great Monastery
with four hundred semantra, with sixty two bells
and a priest for every bell,
and a deacon for every priest.
And there’s Our Lady the Virgin
going and standing at the door
telling the carpenters, telling the craftsmen:
‘Don’t set to work, carpenters, don’t toil for nought,
for there will be no church here, no Great Monastery;
it will be a Turkish mosque for the thieves to pray in,
for Ali Pasha to worship with his slaves in chains’.
Translated by Michael Eleftheriou
Photo: Mural (1573) from Moldovitsa Monastery depicting the Fall of Constantinople. © The PANORAMA Cultural Association collection.
Original Lyrics
Πήραν την Πόλη, πήρανε
Πήραν την Πόλη, πήρανε, μωρέ πήραν τη Σαλονίκη
πήραν κι την- πήραν κι την Αγια-Σοφιά.
Πήραν κι την Αγια-Σοφιά, το μέγα μαναστήρι,
μι τιτρακόσια σήμαντρα, μ’ ιξήντα δυο καμπάνις
πάσα καμπάνα κι παπάς, [πάσα παπάς κι διάκος.
Να κι η κυρά η Παναγιά, στην πόρτα πάει και στάθη
και στους μαστόρους έλεγε και στους μαστόρους λέει.
Μαστόροι μη δουλεύετε, μη χάνετε τον κόπο
κι εδώ ’κκλησιά δε γίνεται κι μέγα μαναστήρι,
θα γίνει τούρκικο τζαμί να προσκυνούν οι κλέφτις
να προσκυνάει Αλή πασάς με τους σκλάβους δεμένους.]
Φωτ. Η Άλωσης της Πόλης, τοιχογραφία απο την Μονή Μολντοβίτσα (1573). Παραχωρήθηκε απο το Α.ΠΑΝ., Αρχείο της Πολιτιστικής Εταιρείας © The PANORAMA.
Information
- Region: Macedonia
- Area: Chalkidiki, Ierissos
- Type: Table Song
- Categories: Historical Song, National Legends and Laments
- Rhythm: Free rythm
- Duration: 02:04
Collaborators
- Singer: Rina Dimouda
- Informant (source of the song): Rina Dimouda
Albums
Recording information
Domna Samiou taped the song in Ierissos, Chalkidiki, in 1972.
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