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[vkioulaphides]

Dear friends,

I debated with myself which thread to put this under (YouTube?), as it is not a video with a mandolin, but about it. Finally, I decided to place it here, in a self-standing thread, for all to enjoy in all its subtle beauty:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KusIg...eature=related

The lyrics go something like this:

Bring me a mandolin,
To see how I suffer.
Afterwards, I will turn into a lily,
And then will perish.

What do I care if I perish,
If I will have turned into a lily?
Bring me a mandolin!

The boy I love keeps asking me
What does Sunday mean?
I wonder why he is asking me
And I'm afraid to think he is forgetting
That I met him on a Sunday.

Bring me a mandolin...

The boy I love keeps asking me
Where do birds go?
But my tears flow
And as he looks,
Kisses cover him.

Bring me a mandolin...

This song is a prime example of what was called New Wave in post-war Greece, i.e. a style moving away from the rebetiko and the bouzouki-culture of WWII. The New Wave was rather brutally suppressed by the dictatorship of 1967-1974 as "un-Greek" (!!!) (Think all the ridiculous accusations that XYZ is "un-American"...) but Hadjidakis emerged unscathed, being apolitical as a person.

His songs are full of this ineffable tenderness and melancholy... While I understand that much of the magic of such cultural icons as Hadjidakis is "lost in the translation", I hope that the artistically sensitive Café-society will enjoy this subtle, little gem.

Cheers,

Victor

[Giannis Tsoulogiannis]

Beautifull as always

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruOSU...eature=related

[vkioulaphides]

Indeed!

The only thing that saddens me, Yanni, is that our compatriots have this incurable tendency to argue about their tastes. No sooner does one person write, "Oh, she sounds great!", the next poster (on YouTube) rushes to write, "Well... she doesn't sound that good", whereupon the first poster returns to call the second one an idiot and an ignoramus, then the second one returns, etc., etc., etc.

Περί ορέξεως ουδείς λόγος. I am not sure whether we owe the Latin version of the same saying (de gustibus non disputandum) to Cicero or Virgil, but I SO wish our compatriots would take it to heart. No one is asking anyone to pass judgement. Just enjoy-- if you can. *sigh*

Cheers,

Victor

[labraid]

I love your commentaries, Victor. Subtleties are lost through the canals of the inter-Net, aren't they.. and where have all the poets gone anyway. You're lucky to get away with your head, posting such bittersweet introspections -- the words have proven neither rude nor humourous, and to anyone who has skimmed a book of poetry in first year English in under ten minutes flat tossing it aside to watch more YouTube videos of old men passing gas, they are also quite cliche.

My grandfather was from Cyprus. His brother bailed him out of the army around the time period of all that unfortunate jazz. His ill-fated "battalion" (I'll use for lack of a better understanding of the Greek army) went down in a helicopter crash, but by that time he was safe in London where he'd just met my grandmother, preparing to come to America. This is the way I heard the story... My mother later brought home a "bouzoukia" they'd picked up at a tourist spot in Cyprus, she was proud to hold that mandolin and bring it home in her lap. It's mine now, as well as Bapou's collection of early bouzouki records. I like to think somewhere somehow all that history had some impact, it's "poetry" to me.

"Bring me a mandolin..."

[labraid]

ps. I'm way off on the dates, but so be it, you started the train rolling... It was during a war with Turkey, maybe during the 20's. (yeah, close, right) Anyway! I'll shut up.

[vkioulaphides]

Originally Posted by labraid

You're lucky to get away with your head, posting such bittersweet introspections...

I barely do, Brian...

P.S. I think your historical context is more or less accurate: you must be speaking of the ill-fated Asia Minor war of 1918 - 1922. My own grandfather was one of those tragically misguided young men, hopelessly stuck deep in Asia Minor, at the location poetically named Afyon Kara-Hisar ("Opium Black-Castle"), the last point of the Greek advance— and, ipso facto, first point of the collapse and mad retreat.

I only doubt the helicopter bit, considering the woefully low-tech equipment of the Greek army at that time. Yet I am sure that SOMEthing must have crashed and burned. SO many things did then..

OK, back to music and the mandolin.

Cheers,

Victor

[labraid]

Ah, well I was a kid with a vivid imagination when the stories were last passed around.. I'm not gifted with dates either. Man, do I just miss those sparks. Where are the gut-wrenching stories of today, like those of yesterday, that do not involve mis-applied wainscotting or a barbecue that won't light. We've just had the poetry ripped out of us entirely. Sorry for the rant, I just... just!
haha, madness...

[vkioulaphides]

That's quite alright, my friend. The GORGEOUS mandolins you build are poetry enough, IMHO.

The New York City subway system had a project called "Poetry in Motion", whereby pithy snippets of poetry were posted inside train-cars, or in various spots in the stations. Similarly, you can justly call your lovely post-Emberghers "Poetry in Plucking", poesia a pizzico, or something of the sort.

Cheers,

Victor

[labraid]

We, hairy gnomes,
slave to shave and froe.
Mere miners of ink!

Write for us, poet,
that we may provide
you with tools to think.

[Giannis Tsoulogiannis]

Brian, the music collection is interesting.
Congratulations for your work.

[JeffD]

Originally Posted by vkioulaphides

is that our compatriots have this incurable tendency to argue about their tastes. No sooner does one person write, "Oh, she sounds great!", the next poster (on YouTube) rushes to write, "Well... she doesn't sound that good", whereupon the first poster returns to call the second one an idiot and an ignoramus, then the second one returns, etc., etc., etc.

Ahhh this is universal. Just look at some of the threads on this on this forum, you would think that arguing and debating about the mandolin is almost as much fun as playing it.


I am sure that there are many, many of us who would be stuck if we had to choose between "enlightenment" on the one hand, and "talking about enlightmenment" on the other.

[vkioulaphides]

Yes, that is probably (and sadly) true... I must admit I have NO interest in arguing about the mandolin. Alternatively, if I wanted to argue, I'd be on one of those innumerable political forums, where otherwise reasonable people spend their days indulging in the most antisocial sort of behavior. *sigh*