Learning Greek with the Help of Greek Music

This page is part of the author’s set of pages on Learning Greek with Music, which in turn is part of the Greek language

If the reader landed on this page directly, and is unfamiliar with the project of learning the Greek language with the help of Greek music, they are advised to follow the previous link first, and learn the general issues (and caveats!) behind this idea.

A note on copyright issues:

To avoid violating copyrights, no whole songs are included, but excerpts only; specifically, only excerpts that contain whole stanzas. You will not be able to reconstruct the songs by stitching end-to-end their pieces — sorry! — due to the way I present the beginning and end of each piece (fade-in, fade-out). I apologize for having to do that, but without such precautions this page would not exist.

Song #3: Young Cypress — Κυπαρισσάκι

Year: 1960 (This rendition: 1987)

Composer (+ lyrics)	Singer
Manos Hadjidakis Μάνος Χατζιδάκις (1925 – 1994)	Ilias Lioungos Ηλίας Λιούγκος (1956 – )

1st stanza

Music:

Lyrics:		*Pronunciation: ()**	Meaning:
Κυπαρισσάκι ειν’ αψηλό	x 2	ciparisáci in apsiló	A tall young cypress is
το παλικάρι π’ αγαπώ	x 2	to paLikári p aγapó	the young man that I love
Κ’ είν’ αψηλό, τόσο αψηλό	x 2	c in apsiló tóso apsiló	and he is tall, so much tall,
που έχει αγκαλιά τον ουρανό	x 2	pu éCi aNgaLá ton uranó	that holds the sky in his hug
το παλικάρι π’ αγαπώ	x 2	to paLikári p aγapó	the young man that I love

2nd stanza

Music:

Lyrics:		*Pronunciation: ()**	Meaning:
Κυπαρισσάκι λυγερό	x 2	ciparisáci LiJeró	A young and slender cypress
ξάφνου πηδά μέσ’ στο χορό	x 2	ksáfnu piδá més sto xoró	suddenly jumps in the dance
Και δεν μπορώ — αχ! δεν μπορώ	x 2	ce δén boró áx δén boró	And I cannot — oh! I cannot
τόσο ψηλά να το θωρώ	x 2	tóso psilá na to θoró	be watching him to be so tall
το παλικάρι π’ αγαπώ	x 2	to paLikári p aγapó	the young man that I love

(*) For an explanation of the pronunciation symbols, see this page. The only deviations, for the sake of avoiding confusion, are:

the symbol L (instead of K) is used for the palatal lateral approximant,
ñ is used instead of #,
δ is used instead of D,
θ is used instead of T,
γ is used instead of +, and
G is used instead of ].

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