Sun Giant

This song is by the Oregon-based band Fleetfoxes, from their 2008 EP Sun Giant.

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Lyrics: 

What a life I lead in the summer, what a life I lead in the spring,

What a life I lead when the wind, it breaths, 

What a life I lead in the spring.

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What a life I lead when the sun breaks free,

As a giant torn from the clouds,

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What a life indeed when that ancient seed 

is a buried watered and plowed.

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Jamata​

Jamata is an antiphonal song from the mountainous region of Rach'a in north-central Georgia. The song regales the inglorious end of the famous Svanetian robber, Jamata, who raided the village Ghebi and started a blood-feud. Rach'a is a beautiful, more sparsely populated region known for its isolated mountain villages and breathtaking views of Caucusus peaks. 

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Translation​

Poor Jamata,
Ghebi follows you and your band.
The weapon struck you in the back,
Blood runs from you in streams.

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Visoko drvo lad nema

Visoko Drvo Lad Nema is a traditional folk song, credited by some as a Bosnian song associated with the Bosnian genocide of the 1990s, and in other places as a traditional Serbian Putnička pesma (traveller's song).

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Translation​

The tall tree has no shade.

The wide field has no end.

The small pebbles have no count.

The deep water has no bottom.

The beautiful girl has no kin.

 

Zeskvi

Zeskvi is a classical 3-part Georgian song in the Megrelian  / Mingrelian language, a dialect native to the Samegrelo region of northwest Georgia. This arrangement and the learning sheet attached below are as presented by the Zedashe Ensemble of Khakheti, Georgia, led by Ketevan Mindorashvili.

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Translation​

Blackbird don't worry
the spring is coming soon with butterflies.​

I know that you don't love me anymore
but I would really like a handwritten letter from you.

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Nero’s Expedition

Nero's Expedition is an original composition by Louis Hardin (1916 - 1999), known more famously as "Moondog". Blind from the age of 16, Moondog was an iconic American composer, musician, and inventor of musical instruments who was widely known as the Viking of 6th Avenue in New York City, where he spent the majority of his time in public as a street performer, dressed as a Viking. In Nero's Expedition, Moondog blends fact with imagination as he recounts the tale of the Roman emperor Nero, who famously failed in an expansionist trip up the Nile River in 61 AD.

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Easter Tree

Easter Tree is an English folk song written by David Goulder in 1984, famously sung by June 

Tabor and other prominent folks singers.  Performance by soloist Hannah Kruse of Soldier's Grove.

 

Babylon

By the Waters of Babylon is a traditional 18th Century canon originally composed by Philip Hayes with words taken from Psalms. Our arrangement is from the American folk trio Mountain Man.

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Aeolian Harp

Aeolian Harp is an American Shapenote song with music written by Seth Houston. Sacred Harp, or Shapenote, is a rich polyphonic folk tradition with American colonial roots. Notes being written as shapes and transferred into solfege were an attempt to teach the common folk to read sheet music, and are a carry-over from the mostly English reduction of solmization (the transferring of musical notes into solfege - fa, so, re, me, do, etc) into just the syllabols mi, fa, sol, and la. 

 

Peia

Peia is a traditional one-voice Bulgarian folk song that demonstrates very classical Bulgarian ornamentation.  It details the story of a young bachelor named Stoyan, who hides in the bushes waiting for a maiden called Milca.  When she arrived he comes out, takes her by the hand and brings her home to his mom to marry her. Songs that regale bridal captures represent a very common theme throughout Balkan and Eastern European music.  Solo by Anni Zylstra.

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Translation​

Is that the first sounds of the cockerel or not?
The young maidens are going for water.
Milca speaks to her mother and says I hope Stoyan Popov sees me.
Stoyan heard Milca when she was speaking to her young mother and went before Milca,
Then he hid in the nearby plants and waited for her.
When she came for water he came out, got her by the hand and took her to his mother.

 

Ko gervinas

Ko Gervinas, Daututo (Crane, where did you fly?) is a traditional Sutartine from northeast Lithuania, as presented by Vaiva Aglinskas.  Sutartines are a very old, Pre-Christian style of circular polyphonic folk singing traditionally sung while working, at social events, or for ritual occasions. They have simple melodies, usually comprised of just a handful of pitches, and are sung in parallel seconds or as a canon sung at staggered intervals.

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Translation​

Crane, where did you fly? Along the barley.

What were you searching for? A barley grain.

 

Lem Pero

Lem Pero is a folk song from the Shoppe Region of Bulgaria, known for its extremely strident, face-paced polyphonic folk songs. This arrangement was learned from the Bulgarka Quartet and reworked for our choir's purposes by Anni.  The song is about a young maiden, who always seems to be sleeping!  Perhaps she is sleeping to avoid some young bachelors.

 

Translation​

Who is that, who sleeps

and still does not have enough sleep?

 Beautiful girl, my dear Jano.

 It is Rada who sleeps

and still does not have enough sleep?

Beautiful girl, my dear Jano.

Two or three people went to talk to her.

They have not succeeded to keep her awake. 

Then young Nikola went to talk to her.

 

Lazarke

This Lazarke from the Shoppe folklore region of Bulgaria is a traditional 2-voice song for Saint Lazarus Day.  Saint Lazarus Day, the Saturday before Palm Sunday, is filled with vibrant folk traditions across Bulgaria, mostly surrounding themes of the coming of spring, fertility, and new life.  On this special day, young girls dress festively, including covering themselves in willow and flowers other foliage in order to look like a bush, and wander the villages together, singing, sending out blessings, joking, and sharing news. This song is an example of something these young girls, the Lazarki, would sing on this day as they roamed arm in arm in the village, largely joking around and gossiping about their neighbors.  This song was learned from the Bulgarka Quartet.

 

Translation​

Eh, I shall go, I shall lead, eh, 

Lazare, a horse to the water 

Eh, my horse started to rear and run away

Eh, I shall go, I shall lead, eh, 

Lazare, a horse to water

The sun was trembling, young Jovane,

It was trembling and then it has set, young Jovane

Done picked herbs in the field

In the field of Uruchko she picked herbs in the field. 

Two young people agreed, Mitre and Dimitre, and you should come too.

 They agreed to run away. Mitre and Dimitre, and you should come too.

 

Patskha

Patskha is a a Mingrelian language song from the Samegrelo region of Republic of Georgia.  A patskha is a traditional Mingrelian dwelling, a circular or rectangular hut made from hazel and willow branches with a conical thatched roof.   Patskha, a love song, would traditionally be sung at a wedding Supra table in Samegrelo to celebrate the bride and the act of her moving into her new home.

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Translation​

I love a little Megrelian hut which is well-kept,

neither too high nor too low, made of strong, thin branches.

There you will find a beautiful Megrelian girl.

Let’s get the bride and drink wine from the wine cellar.

 

Krist'e Aghsdga

Krist'e Aghsdga is a traditional Georgian sacred folk-style chants from the mountainous Svaneti region of Georgia.  Svaneti is known for its heavy, circular singing whose sound matches the rugged landscape it emerges from.  This style of singing came about after Christianity was introduced into the area and blends imagery and oration from the Christian tradition with pre-Christian folk musical scales and other attributes.

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Translation​

The Holy one has risen from the dead,
trampled death by death, and given eternal life.

 

Tsangala

Tsangala da gogona is a playful dance song from the Kakheti region first recorded in 1964 in Soviet Georgia. Kakheti is the arid southwestern part of Georgia, known for its famous winemakers and highly ornamental singing styles.  The song is about a young girl and a lazy young boy named Tsangala, who brings the girl to the city and causes them both a lot of trouble.

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Translation​

Tsangala and the girl​. girl, girl, girl, little girl, girly girly, girl.

Tsangala went to the city, he stole some grapes, he dug our grave.​

The guy is a player! He plays well. He ended up hurting his foot, then blamed the girl.​

 

Tebe Poem

Tebe Poem is an ancient text is from the Orthodox Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. It is a song of praise and gratitude and translates roughly to, "we sing to you, we praise you, we thank you."  This version was composed by Dmitry Bortniansky (1751 - 1825) who was a "Russian" composer of Ukrainian Cossack descent.

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