pes mou ena tragoudi akoma - looking for a bit of cultural context ...

In particular, I'm wondering if these lyrics here:

http://www.stixoi.info/stixoi.php?in...s&song_id=8365

(Lots of performances of the song on youtube)

represent a rather dramatic overstatement of love or a really horrible situation ...

I'm gonna say a dramatic overstatement of love.... I gues greeks can be like that in songs.

This song, originally performed by the late great Rita Sakellariou is what they call a "kapsouriko tragoudi" or "vari tragoudi" in Greek-"kapsa" means "intense desire" or "intense love" and "vari" means "heavy" (in case you didn't know!). Kapsourika are mostly about unrequited love, and usually include references to drinking, wanting to die etc. Lyrics in this style are not unusual in Greek laika and the composer Takis Mousafiris was a master of the genre in the 80's and wrote lots of great "varia zeimbekika":

http://youtu.be/8GFQ-3g5d64

http://www.stixoi.info/stixoi.php?in...s&song_id=1186

Another one with Mitropanos:

http://youtu.be/9oY0qz7oisU

http://www.stixoi.info/stixoi.php?in...s&song_id=2772

My guess is that Greeks love these songs because they have been through a lot, WWII, civil war, political repression, poverty....and the way things are going in Greece right now, I guess the "varia" songs will come to the fore again!

Best, Eva

Here are a few more songs in the same style:

http://youtu.be/Lm9MT0EzWL4

http://youtu.be/KuPKxTsIcEk

And some "kopsoflevitikes" ("wrist slashers") from Vassilis Karras:

http://youtu.be/W3Gz43WAlr4

Eva

Thanks very much! That's what I was hoping, & also thank for the links!

Glad to be of help! Now, this is my own impression, but it seems that the zeibekikos rhytm/dance is especially suited for sad or melancholic lyrics, perhaps because it is a "heavy" dance. Songs based on "tsifteteli" or "chassaposerviko" rhytms usually have more upbeat and joyful lyrics- they're about dancing and having fun. Also, "varia" songs are not necessarily about love affairs gone wrong-for example, the two Mitropanos songs are about being all alone in the world and about the unfair life or "society". Others are about immigration (being far away from your loved ones etc.). There is quite a lot of social critique, especially in the songs from the 40's and 50's, but it is kind of "hidden" because of censorship, which was still practiced in the 60's (and even more during the Junta 1967-1974, of course). One famous example of hidden meaning is "Nichtose choris fengari" from 1947, which is really about a political prisoner looking out the window from his cell. In the version that was recorded the composer had to change all the references to prison and replace them with more neutral words-for example, from "keli" (prison cell) to "keri" (candle). Here is a clip with the original words:

http://youtu.be/dxg7QD5BXF8

Eva

So here's what I come up with for a translation, so that people who don't read Greek can know what this is all about. As usual, I might have messed some things up, such as idiomatic expressions that I don't know.

Ένα τραγούδι πες μου ακόμα / sing me another song
και βάψ' τον ήλιο με μαύρο χρώμα / and paint the sun with black
ένα τραγούδι αγαπημένο / a lovely song
απ' την ψυχή σου να 'ναι βγαλμένο / taken from your soul

Σε παρακαλώ απόψε / I beg you tonight
την ψυχή μου βρες και κόψε / find my soul and cut it
πάρε την αναπνοή μου / take away my breath
βάλε τέρμα στη ζωή μου (x2) / put an end to my life

Ένα τραγούδι πες μου ακόμα / sing me another song
και κάν' τα όλα λάσπη και χώμα / and make everthing mud and dirt
ένα τραγούδι το τελευταίο / a final song
μα θέλω να 'ναι το πιο ωραίο / but I want it to be the most beautiful

Σε παρακαλώ απόψε
την ψυχή μου βρες και κόψε
πάρε την αναπνοή μου
βάλε τέρμα στη ζωή μου (x4)

The references to painting the sun black, and mud and dirt, do seem a bit over the top to me for even extreme romantic exaggeration. But I can sort of imagine it, I think, as an expression of feelings after something very bad has happened, combined with a want for consolation. Maybe it's more comprehensible (at least to the emotionally low-wattage-rated Anglo soul) as addressed to an artist/friend about abandonment by a lover than to a lover.