Album lyric translations

All lyric translations (C) Eugenia Georgieva

GYUL DEVOYCHE/ A MAIDEN LIKE A ROSE (Shopluk)

A maiden lovely as a rose fell asleep under a rose bush,

The blooms fell into her mouth

And the maiden gently sang:

‘Rose bush, don’t drop the green blooms on me

 

Don’t drop them on me

For I can’t pick them while they’re still green.

I have worries of my own:

A young man desires me while an old one picks a posy to win my heart.

 

If I knew the old man was coming

I would go into my tiny garden,

I’d pick a bunch of bitter wormwood

And rub it on my fair face.

 

So when the old man arrives for kisses

My cheek would be bitter as the wormwood wine.

 

But if I knew it was the young man

I would go into my tiny garden,

I’d pick a bunch of basil

And I would rub it on my fair face.

 

So when the young man arrives for kisses

My cheek will be as sweet as basil.”

 

DENO, SREBURNO VRETENO/ DENA, YOU SILVER SPINDLE (Northern Bulgaria)

People are saying

That my beloved is beautiful

That she dresses in style

 

And she is the girl who lives next door

When I walk into the courtyard – I see her

When I step on the porch – I say to her:

Oh, Dena, Dena, you silver spindle

 

Your posy fell, Dena, your posy fell

From the high balcony

Onto the marble tiles

 

A young madcap found it,

A young madcap, unmarried

And he put it on his chest, close to the heart

Oh, Dena, Dena, you silver spindle

 

PO DRUM MOME/ A GIRL ON THE ROAD (Pirin Macedonia)

A girl ran on the road

A black seed she sowed

It sprouted green

And budded yellow

It burst open purple

And bloomed bright scarlet

 

PODZIM SUM, MALE, LEGNALA/ IN THE AUTUMN I HAVE TAKEN TO MY BED (Rhodope Mountains)

In the late autumn I have taken to my bed

In the spring I will die, mother,

As the forest is leafing.

 

“My beloved daughter, what is it

That is dearest to your heart,

Most dearest, most precious?”

 

My dearest and most precious

Is my firstborn son

And my first love.

 

“I will raise your child,

Your first love will marry again,

Yet it is such a pity for you,

My child.”

 

BRAYNE LE IVANE/ HEY, BROTHER IVAN (Dobrudzha)

Hey, brother Ivan

Don’t look at the young woman

When she is beautifully dressed

Her hair finely plaited

 

Don’t look at the young woman

When she is beautifully dressed –

Her mother washes her white clothes

Her sister-in-law finely plaits

 

But look at her when she is harvesting

Working on the field –

Is she lagging behind

Or leading the way?

 

If she is lagging behind

Don’t take her, brother

If she is leading the way

Brother, do take her

 

SAMA LI SI DEN ZHUNALA/ HAVE YOU BEEN HARVESTING ALONE (Thrace)

Have you been out reaping wheat all by yourself

All day, on your own, Petrunka?

 

Alone, all by myself, Ivan,

I have been harvesting all day

 

If I had known, I would have come, Petrunka,

If I had known, I would have come

 

To cast a shade with a tree branch, Petrunka

To pick your wisps

 

To tie your wheat sheaves, Petrunka,

To tie your sheaves

 

BUENEK/ LAZAR AT THE GATES (Northern Bulgaria)

Hey, Neva, young bride

You have been saying

At the village well

Morning and evening

 

That you have a male child

Dress him in scarlet

Cover him with silk

Put an apple in his hand

 

Take him outside the gates

To behold the Lazarki girls

How beautifully they dance

The lively rachenitsa

 

Their white skirts are whirling

And scarlet socks are burning

Their yellow slippers

Are beating the ground

With colourful soles

 

ZMEY LYUBI MOMA/ DRAGON IN LOVE WITH A MAIDEN (Shopluk)

Oh, beautiful young Ela,

A dragon is lurking around

 

He whispers to Ela:

“Grow up, Ela, grow big,

And we shall become lovers.”

 

And Ela gently uttered:

“Oh, you dragon from the mountains,

I daren’t look into your eyes,

Let alone become your lover!

 

Your eyes shed blinding sparkles,

Your mouth roars with fire

The horse you ride is like a mountain,

The clothes you wear are like scorching flames.”

 

And the dragon whispered:

Grow up, Ela, grow big,

And we shall become lovers

Do not be afraid of me.”

 

IVAN BULYA SI DUMASHE/ IVAN SPOKE TO HIS SISTER-IN-LAW (Dobrudzha)

Ivan spoke to his sister-in-law:

Sister, my brother’s wife,

I told you, I begged you

To tell uncle’s Yanka

 

When we have guests

Not to come into our house

Not to sit opposite me

Not to look into my eyes

 

She gives me no peace

Day and night, sister,

Day and night

 

TRUGNALA RADA/ RADA AND THE NIGHTINGALE (Dobrudzha)

Nine years after leaving to marry Rada set off to visit her dear mother.

They walked a while, crossed a broad field and went into a green forest.

In the forest stood a tall tree, with a clear well underneath.

Rada said to Stoyan: “Let’s drink this cold water”.

 

A nightingale sang from the top of the tree:

“Do not drink from this water, last night poison was thrown into it

To poison the haiduks, Stefan Karadzha and Hadzhi Dimitar”.

 

OY, TOYNE, TOYNE/ OY TOYNA, TOYNA (Strandzha)

Oy, Toyna, beautiful Toyna,

Pass me the curved bangles,

The bangles and the silver yoke pegs

 

Let us put them on the oxen

For I will be going on a long trip

On a long trip to sell copper,

I shall be passing through Karabunar

 

Toyna gently said to Nikola:

“Take me with you, my beloved Nikola

And when we pass through Karabunar

 

And the girls from Karabunar see us together

They will exclaim: “Oh, how blessed,

How blessed are these two young people

For they’re in love and will marry each other.”