Tune Add: The Wanderer (Greek Folk Song)

Subject: Tune Add: The Wanderer (Greek Folk Song)
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 15 Sep 21 - 04:03 PM

Hello,

As part of my ongoing project of making lead sheets of public songs available, I have now added my first genuine traditional song: It's here, on page 9:
The Wanderer (Greek, from Smyrna)

I've posted about these lead sheets before. Since then, I may have added a couple, but "The Wanderer" is the only new folk or traditional song.

I recently bought a bouzouki (Greek, not Irish) and in honor of the occasion I got out my copy of "Das Lied der Völker, Griechische, Albanische und Rumänische Volkslieder" ("The Song of the Peoples, Greek, Albanian and Rumanian Folksongs"), edited by Heinrich Möller. I particularly liked this song, but I haven't played through them all yet.

There can be no doubt that this song is in the public domain, because Moeller credits the arrangement to L.A. Bourgault-Ducoudray,         
"Trente mélodies populaires de Grece & d'Orient" from 1897 (incorrectly cited as "Mélodies populaires de Grece & d'Orient").
Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray died in 1910. As a traditional song, it _should_ be in the public domain, but it is well-known that many have been copyrighted; unethical, but legal.

The collection "Das Lied der Völker" doesn't seem to be that well-known in the English-speaking world, even though the publisher, Schott, has branches in London, New York and Toronto. I searched for it in the forum but the only reference was a post of mine from a few years back. It is a real treasure-trove. I own all of the volumes that were in print at the time I was buying them. There were originally 13, Russian, Scandinavian, Celtic, etc. Terribly over-arranged, but the arrangements are uniformly of good quality, if you like that sort of thing. It wasn't a scholarly publication.

I wrote to Schott a couple of days ago asking about copyright info for this series. The books contain none whatsoever, not even a date of publication for the books themselves. I found out from Wikipedia that Möller himself died in the '50s, so anything copyrighted by him hasn't gone into the public domain in Europe yet. I haven't received an answer from Schott yet.

Anyway, it's a nice song and if I make any more lead sheets of folk or traditional songs that are in the public domain, I'll post about them.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: The Wanderer (Greek Folk Song)
From: Monique
Date: 15 Sep 21 - 04:36 PM

"Trente mélodies populaires de Grèce et d'Orient" can be found on Archive.org

Subject: RE: Tune Add: The Wanderer (Greek Folk Song)
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 15 Sep 21 - 04:50 PM

Thank you for the reference. I like the Internet Archive very much, but I didn't know they had songbooks. It looks very interesting, if only I could read French.

I suppose it's worth mentioning that my lead sheet differs in that I wrote in the harmonies as chord symbols. Of course, they're the harmonies of the accompaniment, which aren't authentic. On the other hand, they are, from my point of view, better than nothing, unless you like unaccompanied singing. This isn't my favorite kind of performance, but that's just my preference.

Anyway, the harmonies aren't written in stone and can be used as a starting point. I think they're quite good for this song and not fussy or overly fancy and sound Greek to me, although I am admittedly no expert.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: The Wanderer (Greek Folk Song)
From: Monique
Date: 15 Sep 21 - 05:08 PM

You can try to copy stuff from the full text version and paste it in Google Translate or the like but I suspect some will come out quite weird since in the full text versions some characters have been mistaken with others. Well, could be... interesting...!
The original lyrics have been translated into Italian and adapted to match the tune and translated into French so that people who know French can understand what it's all about.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: The Wanderer (Greek Folk Song)
From: Jack Campin
Date: 15 Sep 21 - 08:03 PM

Do you have a title for that in Greek or Turkish?

Subject: RE: Tune Add: The Wanderer (Greek Folk Song)
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 16 Sep 21 - 01:57 AM

I tried typing it in here in lowercase Greek letters, but it's just too difficult.

EI(Sigma) TOY KO(Sigma)OY TO TA(Xi)EI(Delta)I.

It's number 2 of the book Monique referred to, on page 4 = page 28 of the PDF file.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: The Wanderer (Greek Folk Song)
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 16 Sep 21 - 02:03 AM

> KO(Sigma)OY

Sorry, KO(Sigma)MOY.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: The Wanderer (Greek Folk Song)
From: Monique
Date: 16 Sep 21 - 02:45 AM

ΕΙΣ ΤΟΥ ΚΟΣΜΟΥ ΤΟ ΤΑΧΕΙΔΙ = Εις του κοσμου το ταχειδι

Subject: RE: Tune Add: The Wanderer (Greek Folk Song)
From: Monique
Date: 16 Sep 21 - 03:53 AM

Here is the list of the 30 pieces of the book (Greek title + Italian "translation". I found them there:

1. Άιντε κοιμήσου κόρη μου - Dormir se vuoi
2. Εις του κόσμου το ταξείδι - Nel viaggio dela vita
3. Αυτός ο κόσμος είν' Τουρκιά - V'han Turchi sol in questo suol
4. Χαρώ το 'κείν' το στόμα σου - Quel labbro bel vorrei baciar
5. Κλάψετε μάτια, κλάψετε - Piangete pur, tristi occhi miei piangete
6. Άσπρη μου τρανταφυλλίτσα - O fior si bel, bianca rosa
7. Ένα πουλάκι την αυγήν - Un augelin sul primo albor
8. Τα ματάκια σου τα μαύρα - Son si neri gli occhi tuoi
9. Απ' τα μάτια σου τα μαύρα - Dal tuo ciglio score un rio
10. Αν παιθάνω (sic) ρίψετέ με - Se morro gettato io sia
11. Πέντε χρόνια περπατούσα - Per cinque anni cammina
12. Βλαχίτσα εκατέβαινε - La pastorella scende giu
13. Άστραψεν η Ανατολή - Vedi il balen brillare in ciel
14. Ήθελα να σε φιλάω - Io baciare ti vorrei
15. Εις ωραίον περιβόλι - In vago giardin un bel mattin
16. Κλέφταις ήλθαν 'ς τα βουνά - I ladri su me piombar
17. Ανάθεμά τον που 'βαλε - Sia maledetto chi cosi
18. Νύσταξαν τα ματάκια μου - Di sonno l'occhio
19. Όταν μου είπεν - Allor che disse
20. Τα ματάκια σου τα μαύρα - Le tue luei son si belle
21. Απ' το στενό σου να διαβώ - Per tua casa passar iovo
22. Μα τι το θελ' η μάνα σου - Ma perche mai tua madre aver
23. Ποταμέ, τζάνεμ ποταμέ μου - O riviera a me tanto grata
24. 'Σ τα Γιάννινα - Giannina ha la
25. Καράβιν' εν' από τη Χιό - Un brigantin da Scio
26. Σαν παιθάνω (sic) 'ς το καράβι - Se la vita perdo in mare
27. Αυτά τα μάτια σ' τ' άμορφα - O bel mio Dimos
28. Θέ μου και να γενότανε - Ah! se potesse il ciel
29. Που να ήναι - Ov' eglie
30. Μια βοσκοπούλα αγάπησα - Amai capraia candida

Subject: RE: Tune Add: The Wanderer (Greek Folk Song)
From: Monique
Date: 16 Sep 21 - 05:44 AM

Yikes! I typed ταχειδι instead of ταξείδι in my 2:45AM post but you have the right spelling in the list above.