# Areti Ketime lavishes praise on Mikis Theodorakis



## Theseus (Oct 14, 2017)

I'm getting a bit better at understanding many words but it's the general drift I don't get, as in the lead-up to these two songs in the interpretation by Areti Ketime:






As and when someone can...:)


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## SBE (Oct 15, 2017)

The usual generalisations, cliches and self congratulations from both the presenter and the young artist. 
The presenter says that since you are the youngest here, we will listen to you carefully (and a few other words that convey zero additional meaning). 
The singer says that she is too young to be too familiar with all of the work of Theodorakis, that most of the children of her generation don't love Theodorakis, they adore him*. And because she comes from a folk music background (παραδοσιακή μουσική) she says that tradition (παράδοση) is whatever is passed on from one generation to the next and that for them (for her generation) the music of Theodorakis has been passed on from the previous generation, it is therefore tradition**. 

* we call that in Greek λιβάνισμα (flattery)
** yes, this is the kind of tripe that gets you high marks in composition in high school in Greece :scared:


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## Theseus (Oct 15, 2017)

Thanks so much, SBE. I can now go over it again with more confidence. 
BTW, like you , I have had the dubious privilege of marking school homework and exams at all levels, sometimes work extensively indebted to google without the use of quotation marks. In so many cases the days are gone in which the mind was really exercised in an exam. I remember my Ancient History question on the Persian Wars: 'in what way did the weather affect the outcome of the Persian Wars'. Tough but I managed it: no computers then, no google and certainly no flattery of the turgid textbooks which were our diet!


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## Earion (Oct 15, 2017)

Theseus, I suggest you concentrate on the first song that Areti Ketime sings. It’s a poem by the great Yannis Ritsos, from his collection titled «Δεκαοχτώ λιανοτράγουδα της πικρής πατρίδας», put to music by Theodorakis. (Λιανοτράγουδο means a short, easy composition with no pretence on high poetry). Imitating the style of traditional love songs (δίστιχα or τετράστιχα της αγάπης), Ritsos enriched the form with dense imagery and meaning, rising to high poetic ground, while keeping appearance that it’s a product of low-level skill («Τέτοια ποιήματα σου γράφουμε εκατό την ώρα»).

*Κουβέντα με ένα λουλούδι* 
*[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]* Κυκλάμινο, κυκλάμινο στου βράχου τη σχισμάδα
πού βρήκες χρώματα κι ανθείς, πού μίσχο και σαλεύεις;

«Μέσα στο βράχο σύναξα το γαίμα στάλα-στάλα,
μαντήλι ρόδινο έπλεξα, κι ήλιο μαζεύω τώρα».

Note: γαίμα : poetic form for αίμα. Also μαντήλι is old spelling for μαντίλι. You can find the whole collection here.


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## Theseus (Oct 15, 2017)

My translation (some versions have κυκλαδικό, κυκλάμινο, which is clearly wrong, spoils the doublet & and there is then a clash of accentual stress):

Conversation with a flower

"Cyclamen, cyclamen in the crevice of the rock
where did you find colours for flowering, and where a stem for swaying?"

"Inside the rock I have gathered the lifeblood, drop by drop, 
I have woven a rose-red handkerchief and now I'm harvesting sunlight."


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## daeman (Oct 15, 2017)

Earion said:


> ...Also μαντήλι is old spelling for μαντίλι. You can find the whole collection here.



And here: 



daeman said:


> ...in this LP, 18 Λιανοτράγουδα της Πικρής Πατρίδας:



As for μαντήλι / μαντίλι, we've already unraveled a thread for that: *μαντήλι ή μαντίλι — και άλλες απλοποιήσεις*


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## Theseus (Oct 15, 2017)

Thanks, 'Man for the very useful link. Etymologically, the word from which μαντίλι is derived has several different forms: mantēle (mantīle), is, n., and mantēlĭum (mantīlĭum), ii, n. manus and tēla, properly a cloth for the hand, a towel, napkin.


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## Theseus (Oct 15, 2017)

Please emend the last line to: I have gathered the lifeblood, drop by drop....:)


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## daeman (Oct 15, 2017)

Fixed. Έγινε.


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## Theseus (Oct 15, 2017)

Αυγή 

Στίχοι: Γιάννης Ρίτσος

Λιόχαρη μεγαλόχαρη
της άνοιξης αυγούλα
και που ’χει μάτια να σε ιδεί
να σε καλωσορίσει

Δυο κάρβουνα στο θυμιατό
και δυο κουκιά λιβάνι
κι ένας σταυρός από καπνιά
στ’ ανώφλι της πατρίδας



Sun-filled, full of grace, 
Spring Sunrise
and where are the eyes to see you
to welcome you?

Two coals into the thurible
and two grains of incense
and a cross of lampblack
on the lintel of the homeland.

[I know the custom referred to here, so kind fellows your help here (for once!) is not needed.] :)


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## Earion (Oct 15, 2017)

Excellent again! :upz:


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## Theseus (Oct 15, 2017)

I am humbled by your praise, Earion. Thank you.


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## Theseus (Oct 15, 2017)

Another poem:- 

Αναβάφτιση

Renewal-Regeneration

Λόγια φτωχά βαφτίζονται
στην πίκρα και στο κλάιμα
βγάζουν φτερά και πέτονται
πουλιά και κελαηδάνε

Και κειος ο λόγος ο κρυφός
της λευτεριάς ο λόγος
αντίς φτερά βγάζει σπαθιά
και σκίζει τους αγέρες

Poor words are baptised 
In bitterness and weeping:
They put forth wings and fly
Like birds and warble

And that secret word
The word of freedom
Instead of wings puts forth swords
And cleaves the winds.


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## Earion (Oct 16, 2017)

Henry Purcell. Trumpet Tune and Air


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## Theseus (Oct 16, 2017)

An English composer that, like the poet whom we have been considering, opens the gaps between the divine and the human. Both the composer and the poet seem to me to show that our lives become meaningless unless the "mists of contemporary banality" are penetrated and the idea of the sacred is restored. Beneath the dim unknown stands the divine within the shadows, calling us to freedom and leading us beyond the mists to that clarity, characteristic of great poetry and great music. Thanks, Earion.


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