Yiannis Kotsiras / Γιάννης Κότσιρας

Look around
How the world has shrunk
How the eyes became fierce
Charged loneliness
Look around
How much more ugly the city became
How much more expensive the truth became
Only ironic laughter

See well
the children who have nothing to eat
The illnesses that terror buys for us
The dogs that watch with fear
Because some kill horrifically

That’s why I call out
For you whom I embrace
To the future which I frighten
that we may become fire
To burn all the hands
That hide the stars
So that the doves come out
White like the children
That we become children

Look around
How many lies are you used to in a day
How many corpses were washed up on the shore
How many mouths they silence guiltily
Look around
The girls who are afraid to laugh
The boys who hesitate to cry
The screens that took away our speech
See well
The old ones who are extinguished alone
Like the trees to which they gave a contest
And afterwards they threw into the fire
with ironic laughter

That’s why I call out
For you whom I embrace
To the future which I frighten
that we may become fire
To burn all the hands
Which bloodied knives
So that the doves come out
White like the children
That’s why I call out
For you, whom I love

(spoken word)
“I am somewhere in the middle of the sea
The salt burns my vision
And I wish I could make it across
But my body is only staying afloat by force
Hold on…
What are you seeking, yourself?
Where do you want the blind to drive you?
The earth is groaning. For cash? Immeasurable.
Never some kind of change, no one is moving
On the cellphones, the only mission
Where is the inspiration for the development of pity
They see love and they all step back in retraction
Parodies of human beings on parade, desire is captive.
I have dreams about deportation
I want to be the exception, the one that is different
the black sheep that has the wolf as a close friend.
The world beneath it is not possible for me to fear.
But here I fear myself, my bad side.
For a homeland I want humanity.
I want smiles and places where children are playing.
Because it turns out I don’t have a root
I am a leaf of a thousand trees that flies wherever it blows.”

Look around
at the different people
they turned them into targets
out of hatred and fear

That’s why I call out
Excuse me if I upset you
I look you in the eyes
That we become a fire
to throw out all those
whose generation are beasts
so that we don’t hear the mourning songs
written for children
That’s why I call out
for us to become children.

(translation: Eva Johanos
from the notes of the video, Yiannis Kotsiras explains: “This particular piece was written during a time of anxiety about everything that is happening around us. The floods in Mandra, the forest fires in Mati, in Kineta, in Keratea, in Agious Theodorous, the violence towards people and animals. The death of Vangelis Yiakoumaki, the murders of Zak Kostopoulos, of Eleni Topaloudi and also the recent events of the murder of George Floyd and the lockdown. ..
It was necessary for me to say some things to my children in case I might not be able to tell them in person. Having always in my mind the innocent gaze of Nicholas and Konstantinos and also the wonderful melody of Christoforos Germenis.
The basic melody of the introduction was an idea of Apostolos Rizos in the first live performance of the song in the production “Roadtrip” of Christos Papamichalis and Thodoris Mavroyiorgis on October 19th, 2018 at the Star of the South (a performance space. . .
“In the beginning is heard an excerpt from the speech of Martin Luther King at the granting of the Nobel Peave Prize which was awarded to him in Oslo on December 10th, 1964 for his struggles for human rights.” )

You look from the window
At the stars you did not drink
The garbage trucks pass, the peoples are hungry
And inside in the dog yards* the times are made of patent leather
Homelands decorate themselves
And the prophets laugh

Greece, you whose cheek they rouged
But whose mind dreams of blue seas
Greece of the poor, of past greatness
The blues you sing, the blues you sing
The blues of the Balkans . . .

My heart, rock and rare
Our blues in the Balkans
We call zeimbekika.**

You watch from your balcony
the world which becomes night
In bars and on sidewalks the silences are regulars
The memorials to hunger, cheap signatures
And you will resemble Medea
Who kills what she gave birth to. . .

Greece, you whose cheek they rouged
But whose mind dreams of blue seas
Greece of the poor, of past greatness
The blues you sing, the blues you sing
The blues of the Balkans . . .

My heart, rock and rare
Our blues in the Balkans
We call zeimbekika.

My heart, rock and rare
Our blues in the Balkans
We call zeimbekika.

(translation: Eva Johanos
*dog yards- “skyladika”- popular music centers where people usually spend a lot of money
**zeimbekika- music [songs] to accompany a popular dance style, performed solo, which expresses the dancer’s emotions)

A beautiful and strange country
like the one that luck gave me, I’ve never seen

He throws the net to catch fish. he catches birds,
he sets a boat on the ground, a garden in the water,
he cries, kisses the dirt, goes to live abroad,
lives on the five roads, he becomes a man

A beautiful and strange country
like the one that luck gave me, I’ve never seen

He goes to take a stone, he throws it away
he goes to carve it, he makes miracles
he takes a little boat, he reaches the oceans
he seeks uprising, he seeks tyrants

A beautiful and strange country
like the one that luck gave me, I’ve never seen

Όμορφη και παράξενη πατρίδα
ω σαν αυτή που μου ‘λαχε δεν είδα

I am a wild blossom
And I bloom in the snow
I am passion in eros
And a thorn that pricks.

I make my honey bitter
I make the need a seed-bud
And I have my little leaf-stalk
And a fortune-telling mother.

I am a wild blossom
Alone in the plain
And when I sigh
I make the world fragrant

And you suck up my color
Like a black butterfly
And you kiss me on the mouth
Timidly, like Judas

In the daytime I become a god
Hidden, and I grow
And when they take from me the light
At night I wilt

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Την μέρα γίνομαι Θεός
Κρυφά και μεγαλώνω
Κι όταν μου παίρνουνε το φως
Τη νύχτα μαραζώνω

Blood of love turned me all crimson
And happiness unseen obscured me
I rusted in the humidity of people
Oh distant mother, my rose unfading

In the open sea they awaited me
With three-sailed bombarding ships, and opened fire
My sin, if only I had a love
Oh distant mother, my rose unfading

Sometime in July, they were half-opened,
her big eyes in my loins
for a moment to enlighten the virgin life
Oh distant mother, my rose unfading

Τον Ιούλιο κάποτε μισανοίξανε
τα μεγάλα μάτια της μες στα σπλάχνα μου
την παρθένα ζωή μια στιγμή να φωτίσουν
μακρινή μητέρα ρόδο μου αμάραντο.

I open my mouth and the sea rejoices
and takes my words into its dark caves
and whispers them to its young seals
on nights when they cry for the suffering of man

I slit my veins and my dreams grow red
and become a hoop in the world of children
and bedclothes of young girls who stay awake
hidden to hear the miracles of love.

With the shimmer of the star I went out to the skies
to the hoarfrost of the prairie, to the only shore of the world
Where may I find my soul, the four-leafed teardrop!

My girls are in mourning for the centuries
my boys bear rifles and do not know
Where may I find my soul, the four-leafed teardrop!

When you feel lonely
when the house will be empty
you’ll have my company
and I will give you courage

When the sky gets black
when your arms freeze
and when you’re sad
I will be coming to you

As long as you’re well
I want to see no tears in your eyes
we may live apart
but then we lived a love

May you my girl be well
and when you ask for your man
I will be there
your guardian angel

If he breaks your heart
and wants to leave you alone
tell him someone once
really loved you

As long as you’re well
I want to see no tears in your eyes
we may live apart
but then we lived a love

May you my girl be well
and when you ask for your man
I will be there
your guardian angel

Να ‘σαι κορίτσι μου καλά
κι όταν ζητάς τον άνθρωπό σου
θα είμαι κάπου εκεί κοντά
ο φύλακας ο άγγελός σου

Partway inside the sea I sail with longing for my bow
and I’ve got love for the stern and separation for the masts

Sea, don’t push me far away
Separation, you make my heart bleed

The peak of the mountain (Mt. Psiloritis of Crete) with longing I perceive
and with tears I leave Crete and bid it farewell

Sea, you send me far away into exile
Separation, you’ve burned my heart

Dark fate wrote it, that I would get further away, lost
and that I life far from my island (Crete) and from her that I love

Sea, don’t push me far away
Separation, you have burned my heart

Θάλασσα, μη με διώχνεις μακριά
Χωρισμέ, μου ‘χεις κάψει την καρδιά

Come, lie next to me,
The night has nailed a row of stars in the sky
Close your eyes and let yourself smoothly
And allow your dreams to guide you
Laugh a bit
I open for you my life and my arms
Dry your eyes of tears and just listen
What your heart tells you.
Our star is falling
Make a wish
For our soul to be free
And everything we have got on before in life
Let it be our secret power.
Don’t be scared
Don’t think negatively again
My love is enough, I am enough
And all is yours.
Our star is falling
Make a wish
For our soul to be free
And everything we have got on before in life
Let it be our secret power.

Πέφτει τ’ αστέρι μας
κάνε μια ευχή
ελεύθερη να ‘ναι η ψυχή μας
κι ό,τι περάσαμε πριν στη ζωή
να’ ναι η κρυφή δύναμή μας (*2)

We were resurrected
on the night it rained light,
from our cave we emerged
and we declared that God exists.

The great discovery
don’t tell anyone
is love in the spring
when it trembles anew.

The falling star flashed
fast as a viper;
it nourished all the lies
and the world changed course.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

There are times, god as my witness
That I need you so
that I cry
seas and open seas

Send me a letter,a single syllable
If you believe in god!
for I hang from your lips
and I am at your mercy

Curse you, you have no sympathy for me
that I am burning and melting away
for you have made me love you
and now I wither away

My thoughts have been locked
in the cellars of my mind
oh! I want to tell you so many things
but there are no words left for me to speak

Curse you, you have no sympathy for me
that I am burning and melting away
for you have made me love you
and now I wither away

1) 00:03 “Tramp from Peraia,” Yiannis Kotsiras
2) 03:35 “Your jealous eyes,” Yiannis Kotsiras
3) 06:09 “They baptized me Yiannis,” Yiannis Kotsiras
4) 09:55 “The Unspoken things,” Yiannis Kotsiras
5) 19:43 “Deck of cards,” Yiannis Kotsiras & Miltos Paschalidis
6) 24:13 “I have a cafe,” Yiannis Kotsiras & Miltos Paschalidis
7) 27:25 Always smiling,” Yiannis Kotsiras & Miltos Paschalidis
8 ) 38:13 “The ship,” Yiota (Negka) & Yiannis Kotsiras
9) 41:48 “My righteousness,” Yiota (Negka)
10) 45:23 “Lasting one lifetime,” Yiota (Negka)
11) 59:10 “Efapax,” Dramamine, Haris & Yiannis Michaelidis
12) 1:04:34 “I remain without,” Yiannis Kotsiras
13) 1:08:14 “A knot my joy,” Yiannis Kotsiras
14) 1:12:22 “Alexandria,” Yiannis Kotsiras
15) 1:16:59 “A cheap love affair,” Paulina Voulgaraki
16) 1:20:50 “Labyrinths,” Paulina Voulgaraki
17) 1:25:30 “A minute,” Dimitris (Basis)
18) 1:29:30 “I look for you in Salonica,” Dimitris (Basis)
19) 1:33:00 “The song of the foreign lands,” Yiannis Kotsiras & Dimitris (Basis)
20) 1:35:00 “Ederlezi,” Yiannis Kotsiras, Yiannis Diskos (sax)
21) 1:45:45 “My sin I call her,” Yiannis Kotsiras
22) 1:50:14 “My heart,” Yiannis Kotsiras
23) 1:54:14 “The opposites,” Dimitra Boulouzou
24) 1:57:37 “In the thought of the madwoman,” Yiannis Kotsiras, Vangelis (Korakakis) (bouzouki)
25) 2:01:21″Bitter kiss,” Yiannis Kotsiras, Vangelis (Korakakis) (bouzouki)
26) 2:05:50 “Little fatherland,” Yiannis Kotsiras, Yiorgos (Andreou) (piano)
27) 2:10:29 “Somewhere night is falling,” Yiannis Kotsiras, Yiorgos (Andreou) (piano)
28) 2:14:47 “A girl and her father,” Korina (Legaki) , (Andreou) (piano)
29) 2:19:40 “I am looking for a few crumbs of love,” Korina (Legaki)
30) 2:22:55 “Our first time,” Myrto Vassileiou
31) 2:28:05 “My country,” Myrto Vassileiou, Yiannis Kotsiras
32) 2:33:07 “Delicious crazy little girl of mine,” Yiannis Kotsiras, Constantinos Kazakos
33) 2:36:01 “The chosen kids,” Yiannis Kotsiras, Constantinos Kazakos
34) 2:48:39 “Come and cut me in two,” Yiannis Kotsiras
35) 2:51:40 “Somewhere we will get together,” Yiannis Kotsiras

[1,2,32 ~ composer and lyricist Markos Vamvakaris
3 ~ composer and lyricist Yiannis Kotsiras & Stavros Stavrou
4 ~ composer and lyricist Dimitris (Zervoudakis)
5 ~ composer Miltos Paschalidis, lyricist Odysseas Ioannou
6 ~ composer Manos Loizos, lyricist Lefteris Papadopoulos
7 ~ composer Thanos Mikroutsikos, lyricist Alkis Alkaios
8 ~ composer Vassilis (Tsitsanis), lyricist Kostas Virvos
9 ~ composer Themis Karamouratidis, lyricist Odysseas Ioannou
10 ~ composer Nikos Mertzanos, lyricist Nikos Moraitis
11 ~ composer Laurentis (Mahairitsas), lyricist Isaac Sousis
12 ~ composer and lyricist Ara Dinkjian, Greek lyrics Lina Nikolakopoulou
13,27 ~ composer & lyricist Stavros (Kouyioumtzis)
14,15 ~ composer Evanthia Remboutsika, lyricist Ares Davarakis
16 ~ composer and lyricist Paulina Voulgaraki
17 ~ composer Nikolas Mavresis, lyricist Nikos Moraitis
18 ~ composer Marios Tokas, lyricist Filippos Grapsas
19 ~ composer Mikis (Theodorakis), lyricist Erikos Thalassinos
20 ~ composer Goran Bregovic, lyrics Rom traditional
21 ~ composer Andreas Katsiyiannis, lyricist Eleni Yiannatsoulia
22 ~ composer Manolis Androulidakis, lyricist Dimitris Lentzos
23 ~ composer Vangelis Mahairas, lyricist Stamatis Hatzievstathiou
24,25 ~ composer and lyricist Vangelis (Korakakis)
26 ~ composer Yiorgos (Andreou), lyricist Paraskevas Karasoulas
28 ~ composer & lyricist Yiorgos (Andreou)
29 ~ composer Stavros Tzouanakos, lyricist Kostas Virvos
30 ~ composer Antonis Mitzelos, lyricist Eleni Zioga
31 ~ composer & lyricist Kostas Tsirkas
33 ~ composer & lyricist Vassilis (Tsitsanis)
34 ~ composer Christoforos Germenis, lyricists Basilis Makrimichalas & Yiannis Kotsiras
35 ~ composer Vangelis Mahairas, lyricist Vicky Gerothodorou