Domna Samiou & Dionysis Savvopoulos / Δόμνα Σαμίου & Διονύσης Σαββόπουλος

The kids with the hair and the black clothes
bring messages about a love that I had
and in my veins a deep black sea like blood
says words of bitterness

No creature of God lives at such a depth
where I loved you so much and ended up alone
Black sea closed and my soul given
to whoever wants you more

To say wild, strange, solid words
shrouds and earth in her hollow face
her hard voice melts like a large body
inside my own mouth

His songs are to blame, the lyra player is to blame
but his own people is to blame because they are wistful
Closed Black Sea, my faraway plains
beyond the Sympligades*

In magic and in dreams, church bells and oil lamp
[Constantinople] City, Varna, Odessa, Costanza and Braila
and in secret time like a volcano of Emmos
legions of war

[Sympligades*: mythical stones which opened and closed in the straits of the sea, associated with Skylla and Charybdis in Homer- thought to be near Sicily- and with an area in the passage to the Black Sea]
(translation: Eva Johanos)

Στα μάγια και στα όνειρα, καμπάνα και καντήλα
Πόλη, Βάρνα, Οδησσός, Κωστάντζα και Μπραΐλα
και σε χρόνο μυστικό σαν ηφαίστειο του Αίμου
λεγεώνες του πολέμου

What can I do with your songs
They never tell the truth
People are suffering and in pain
And you tell the same old fairytales

What can I do with your songs
They are sugar-coated
They are well-suited for children who love chocolate
But they do not suit me

(translation: Eva Johanos)