Соловейко (Nightingale), March 1st 2022: Footage from the Russian invasion of Ukraine February 24th–28th 2022 and three Ukrainian folk songs.
There is a before and an after; the lives of all Ukrainians have changed. Reminded of the ephemerality of peace, the World watches on as the people of Ukraine unhesitatingly make impossible decisions and inconceivable acts of resistance.
A special thanks to the ones who supported me and helped me translate the lyrics while their family or they themselves where directly influenced by the war:
Maryna Zevako
Orysia Zabeida
Peter Tranelund
Karina Sulim
Misha Davydov
Songs and translations:
1st song: Intro and outro
Women in Zbran'ky
youtube.com/watch?v=R1qqjZF7H0I&t=2s&ab_channel=ElenaFrunt
Ukrainian:
Скаче жабка над річкою, Ходить хлопчинка з гнуздечкою.
– Хочеш, жабко, залізай, Хочеш сєсть і поєхати
Хочеш сєсть і поєхати Мою дєвочку одвідать
Йой, чи жива чи здорова Моя дєвочка чорноброва
English:
The frog jumping under the river
The boy walking with a bridle (it’s meaning for horse)
– Do you wanna come with me, frog
Do you wanna sit and go
Do you wanna sit and go
And meet with (more close for “check”)
my girlfriend
Oh, whether she alive or well My dark eyebrow girl
–––––––––––––––––
2nd song
Соловейко
(Nightingale)
youtube.com/watch?v=nI-AEQSkJXA&ab_channel=MrTahiro
Соловейко
Nightingale
Ой у саду на вишеньці
Oh in the cherry orchard
Соловейко щебетав;
The nightingale chirped;
Під вишнею козаченько
Under the cherry tree a young Cossack
Дівчиноньку улещав:
Courting a young girl:
«Не йди, мила, за другого,
"Don't go, my dear, for another,
Пожди мене, молодого».
wait for me, young man."
Дівчинонька гірко плаче,
The girl crying bitterly,
Соловейко все те баче,
Nightingale sees them all,
Та й щебече:
And chirps:
Тьох, тьох, тьох!.. (Тричі)
Thump, Thump, Thump!.. (three times)
«Чого ж тужиш, чого плачеш,
"Why do you mourn, why do you weep?
Серце розриваєш,
My heart is breaking,
Чи вже ж мене, молодого,
Don't you love me, young man,
Не вірно кохаєш?
Don't you really love me?
Не плач, мила, я вернуся,
Don't cry, darling, I'll be back,
Тоді з тобой одружуся».
Then I will marry you."
Дівчинонька гірко плаче,
The girl crying bitterly,
Соловейко все те баче,
Nightingale sees them all,
Та й щебече:
And chirps:
Тьох, тьох, тьох!.. (Тричі)
Thump, Thump, Thump!.. (three times)
Не вернувся козаченько,
The Kozak did not return,
Помер на чужині,
Died in a foreign land,
Поховали чужі люди,
Buried by strangers,
В чужій домовині.
In someone else's homeland.
А дівчина, як зачула,
And the girl, as she heard,
До вишеньки прилинула,
Embarrassing the cherry tree,
Тужить, в’яне, гірко плаче,
Longing, weeping bitterly,
Соловейко все те баче,
Nightingale sees them all,
Та й щебече:
And chirps:
Тьох, тьох, тьох!.. (Тричі)
Thump, Thump, Thump!.. (three times)
–––––––––––––––––
3rd song
Oi tykhyi Dunai, ta y tykhyi Dunai
(O quiet Danube, dormant Danube)
hhttps://www.polyphonyproject.com/en/song/BMI_UK17050193
Oi tykhyi Dunai, ta y tykhyi Dunai
O quiet Danube, dormant Danube
Oi tykhyi Dunai, ta y tykhyi Dunai, oi berezhky roznosyt.
Ta y molodenkyi kozachenko polkovnyka pro[syt]:
O quiet Danube, dormant Danube, flooding river banks.
There, a young Kozak asks his commander:
—Oi pusty, pusty, ta y polkovnyku, oi z polku dodomu,
Ta y rozplakalas, roztuzhylas divchyna oi za mno[iu].
—O let me, please let me, commander, from the regiment, go home,
To my weeping, saddened lover, she is missing me.
—Oi nekhai plache, ta y nekhai plache, oi shche troshky y potuzhyt,
Ta y nekhai oi zhe kozachenko try hody oi poslu[zhyt].
—O let her weep, let her weep, wait and miss you more,
You, young Kozak, must still serve three years.
Oi sluzhyv sluzhbu ta y voiennuiu ta oi stav pomyraty
A oi stav sobi pered smertiu divchynu oi bazhat.
O it's while serving service that the young fighter started passing
And standing before his imminent death, that he longed to marry.
Oi ne po pravdi, ta y kozachenku, a y v mohylu liahaiesh,
Ta y shcho ty sobi pered smertiu divchynu oi bazha[iesh].
O you do not deserve, young Kozak, to lye in a coffin,
And that standing before death, marrying a lover you desire.
