Writing a song is not always an easy task… especially on topics like day-to-day life in a 1940s Nazi death-camp. The Greek poet Iakovos Kambanellis was there as a prisoner (in Mauthausen concentration camp); the Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis was there as a prisoner (in German, Italian and Greek fascist prisons). They survived, if only to remind us of the importance of music and poetry (Know any good tunes and songs, especially your own? – It’s important…) Kambanellis has been described as one of the most prominent Greek artists of the 20th Century (poet, playwright, screenwriter, lyricist, novelist), Theodorakis as Europe’s greatest living composer (symphonies, operas, ballets, cantatas, films, theater, etc...) Don’t let their success, however, dissuade you from your own efforts… This tune, “Adonis” (Kambanellis/Theodorakis), is from the “Mauthausen Cantata” (the singer is Maria Farantouri…) Adonis Upon the wide and endless staircase On the vast staircase of tears So dark is the sentry of death Quarry of deep lamentation Where Jews and partisans march Jews and partisans they are falling They carry rocks on their backs Each rock, a cross of dying And there Adonis hears a voice A voice so plain, so beseeching Oh comrade, oh comrade Help me climb up the staircase But there on the wide and endless staircase On the vast staircase of tears Help is an insult to the soul A Jew has faltered on the stair Staircase of tears turns to crimson And you my boy, you come this way Take up a rock and a second I’ll lift two rocks and I’ll lift three I Sir, my name is Adonis And if you truly are a man This marble treshing floor (far below) will greet thee https://youtube/watch?v=SgUPq3TvtcQ
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 07:23:34 +0000
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