A couple more eastern European folk songs I'm interested in knowing more about (provenance, original language, original text, English singing versions); I know them only in Esperanto, but I think the first is Slovak and the second Czech (based on very vague memory). The first is originally titled Tancuj, tancuj!, but I don't have the rest of the lyrics; the second I don't even have the original title for.

The first one says (at least in Esperanto)

Dance, let's dance lightly in a circle!
Don't knock over the stove in the middle!
A good stove is important in winter,
You don't have down, you know.

Tra-la-la etc.

A soldier stands guard covered
With an old torn overcoat,
From evening till early,
Dew covers him down to the shoe.

Tra-la-la etc.

You can copy or just listen to the MIDI here.

The second one says (according to the Esperanto version)

At Levoca the river flows torrentially
At Levoca the river flows torrentially
Girls without lovers should jump into it penitentially
Girls without lovers should jump into it penitentially

Why should I throw myself weeping into the water?
Why should I throw myself weeping into the water?
Verily, a young man is not worth drowning over!
Verily, a young man is not worth drowning over!

Shades of Milosevic, I think the c in Levoca is supposed to have a hacek (inverted circumflex) over it. You can copy or just listen to the MIDI here.

Liland

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