“Όταν θα γεννηθεί ο γιος σου” του ντουέτου Λήδα-Σπύρος, άλμπουμ: “Χαμένο τίποτα δεν πάει” “When your son will be born” by Leda-Spyros (duet) (1974)

Όταν θα γεννηθεί ο γιος σου
θα 'ναι μια μέρα σαν τις άλλες,
νοικοκυρές θα πλένουν ρούχα
παιδιά θα παίζουν στις τραμπάλες.

Θα ταξιδεύουν μ' αεροπλάνα
θα πλημμυρίζουν τα γραφεία,
άλλοι θ' αφήνουν το φεγγάρι
θα ψάχνουν σ' άλλο γαλαξία.

Όταν θα γεννηθεί ο γιος σου
πες του την πρώτη σου ιστορία
για την αλήθεια που λυτρώνει
και πολεμάει την αδικία.

Μην τον βυζάξεις με το ψέμα
μακρύς ο δρόμος που θα πάρει,
θα μετανοιώσει και θα κλάψει
κι όλο στα ίδια θα γυρνάει.

Όταν θα γεννηθεί ο γιος σου
τα εργοστάσια θα μας πνίγουν,
φύλλα στα δέντρα δεν θα υπάρχουν
μαύροι καπνοί θα μας τυλίγουν.

Τότε πες του να δει τον ήλιο
ύστερα απ' τη νεροποντή,
είν' δικός του ο κόσμος όλος
να τονε φτιάξει απ' την αρχή.

Όταν θα γεννηθεί ο γιος σου...

translation:

When your son will be born
It will be a common day like all others
Women will do the household
Children will play in playgrounds

They’ll travel with planes
They’ll crowd offices
Some others will leave Moon
And will explore other galaxies

When your son will be born
Tell him your first tale
About the truth that liberates
And fights injustice

Don’t nurse him in lies
He has a long way to go
He will regret and will cry
And he’ll meet the same old story

When your son will be born
Industries will surround us
Trees will lost their leaves forever
Black smokes will wrap us

That time tell him to see the sun
After a rainfall
The world all is his own
To make it from the start again
When your son will be born…

A beautiful old Greek song from mid 70s about the uncertain social and environmental future of next generations and the parental duty to show their kids the right way.

You can hear this song in youtube

Βαθιά πληγή (Gash), by Κίτρινα ποδήλατα (Yellow Bicycles) , Album: Ανάδυση (Emergence)(2009)

Έγινε η γη βαθιά πληγή δώστε της ξανά ζωή
Για να μπορέσω να μεγαλώσω
Αυτόν τον κόσμο που αγαπώ να τον γλιτώσω

Τέρμα τα μίση, τέρμα οι φόνοι
Τεχνολογίες που η φύση τις πληρώνει
Τέρμα ο κόσμος των ταχυτήτων
Το νερό, ο αέρας δεν είναι η άνεση των λίγων
Οι αντιθέσεις δεν είναι λύση
Τέρμα οι μεγάλοι ευεργέτες απ’ τη φύση
Τέρμα οι σπατάλες για τη μαγκιά μας
Τα ‘χουμε όλα δανειστεί απ’ τα παιδιά μας

Έγινε η γη βαθιά πληγή δώστε της ξανά ζωή
Για να μπορέσω να μεγαλώσω
Αυτόν τον κόσμο που αγαπώ να τον γλιτώσω

Μια στιγμή, κλείσε τα μάτια κι άφησε να περάσει από μπροστά σου
αυτός ο κόσμος που θες κι ονειρεύεσαι.
Κλείσε τα μάτια και θα δεις πως είμαι εγώ εκεί μπροστά που θες να φτάσεις.
Άσε την αγάπη να υψωθεί στον ουρανό.
Άσε την αγάπη να ξεκλειδώσει την καρδιά σου.
Είναι απλό. Τόσο απλό. Άφησε εμένα να γίνω οδηγός.
Άφησε εμένα.

Translation:

Earth became a gash, give her life again
In order to be able to grow up myself
To save this world I love
Give an end to hate, give an end to kill
To technology nature pays the toll
Give an end to the world of speed
The water, the air are not comforts for the few
Conflicts are not the solution
Stop the great supporters
Stop the expenses for our arrogance
All are borrowed from our children
Earth became a gash, give her life again
In order to be able to grow up
To save this world I love
Just close your eyes for a moment
and let the world you dream pass before you
Close your eyes and you’ll see that I am standing where you want to go
Let love reach out the sky
Let love unlock your heart
I’s simple, quite so simple. Let me be your leader
Let me…

The song starts and ends with audio fragments from radio or TV news about climate changing and ecological destructions. Also children voices sing the chorus and parts of the lyrics. A song that is an appeal from those who will suffer a lot in the future from our today’s improvident actions.

You can hear this song in youtube

Greece was bunt out again!

A ska song by ska-bungies written for this new tragedy. It calls us to take resposibility and action against corrupted governments that have yield forests to building societies and promote antiforest laws serving certain private interests

Artemis-Euthymis & Eutychia sing for ecological awareness

We present an interesting performance in a Greek concert, a combination of three songs, one classic greek by Hatzidakis/Gatsos “Persephone’s Nightmare” (having been presented a year ago by us) performed by “Eutychia” and two hip-hop songs by the hip-hop duet “Artemis/Euthimis” (ex-Terror X Crew), “Scientific Certainty” and “Solar Nature”. We present only the parts of lyrics that performed in the concert and include ecological messages.

We must notify that this hip hop duet was originally anarchist concerning their political orientation, but today they seem to adopt nationalistic views of the extreme left in Greece. No matter this unpleasant turn they keep on being considered as one of the most prominent hip hop performers in our country.


(Εφιάλτης της Περσεφόνης)
Εκεί που φύτρωνε φλισκούνι κι άγρια μέντα
κι έβγαζε η γη το πρώτο της κυκλάμινο
τώρα χωριάτες παζαρεύουν τα τσιμέντα
και τα πουλιά πέφτουν νεκρά στην υψικάμινο.

(Επιστημονική πραγματικότητα)
Λοιπόν στη Νέα Εποχή μας περιμένει μια νέα έκπληξη:
ταύτιση του πολιτισμού με την τεχνολογική εξέλιξη.
Μονόφθαλμη η ανθρωπότητα βαδίζει στον νέο αιώνα
χτίζοντας κτήρια υβριστικά ψηλά στη νέα Βαβυλώνα
Τ'ανθρώπινο σώμα θα υποστεί εξευτελιστική τυποποίηση
Λογισμικά θα πλάθουν ανθρώπους "κατ'εικόνα και ομοίωση"
Ικανούς για επιβίωση παρά την χημική αλλοτρίωση
και μόλυνση που δεν δέχεται αποτοξίνωση
Πλήθος οι χημικές εισβολές σε ακτές και πηγές
προκαλούν οικολογικές αλλαγές
Προετοιμάζουν τον οργανισμό
για μη οργανικές μεταλλαγμένες τροφές
με γενετικές επιρροές
για φυτείες ανθρώπων που ευδοκιμούν στ'αστικά κέντρα
δίχως χώμα και δέντρα, μόνο με ηλεκτρικό ρεύμα
Σ'ένα δάσος από κεραίες
μ'αναμεταδότες στα κομβικά σημεία
συχνότητες υποκαθιστούν την ανθρώπινη επικοινωνία

(Εφιάλτης της Περσεφόνης)
Κοιμήσου Περσεφόνη
στην αγκαλιά της γης
στου κόσμου το μπαλκόνι
ποτέ μην ξαναβγείς.

(Νέα προσθήκη στίχων)
Ολος ο κόσμος σου βρίσκεται εμπρός σου
Και κάθε λάθος του είναι δικό σου
Ολος ο κόσμος σου βρίσκεται εμπρός σου
Είναι στο χέρι σου, κάν’τον δικό σου

(Ηλιακή φύσις)
Αεροπλάνα που πάνω τους δε φέρουν αναγνωριστικά
μας ψεκάζουν από ψηλά με χημικά συστηματικά,
Φθόριο και χλώριο σε πολύ μεγάλα ποσοστά
εντοπίζεται μέσα στα πόσιμα μας ύδατα σωστά;
Τεχνητά δημιουργημένοι ιοί και βακτήρια συχνά
πυκνά ξεφεύγουνε μέσα από τα εργαστήρια.
Σκόπιμα η αγορά με μεταλλαγμένα τρόφιμα
κάποιοι θέλουν να αλλοιώσουν τον γενετικό μας κώδικα.
Παρεμβαίνουνε στα κλιματολογικά φαινόμενα
βιονικές δυνάμεις εναντίον μας και όπλα αθόρυβα.
Μας κρατάνε μακριά από την ελεύθερη ενέργεια
και όλο εντείνεται το ηλεκτρονικό φακέλωμα.
Μας βομβαρδίζουν με υποσυνείδητα μηνύματα
υπνωτικές υποβολές, ναρκωτικά και μικροκύματα.
Ακόμα βιοτσίπ ενέσιμα και εγκεφαλικά εμφυτεύματα.
Παρ' όλα αυτά δεν μπορούνε να μας κάνουνε τίποτα!

(Νέα προσθήκη στίχων)
Ολος ο κόσμος σου βρίσκεται εμπρός σου
Και κάθε λάθος του είναι δικό σου
Ολος ο κόσμος σου βρίσκεται εμπρός σου
Είναι στο χέρι σου, κάν’τον δικό σου


and the translation:

(Persephone's nightmare)
Where once herbs were grown in the fields
with leaves and flowers full of fragrance
Now there’re plants making concrete and steel
and birds fall dead in melting furnace

(Scientific Certainty)
So, New Age has a surpise for us
Equation of civilization and technological progress
A blind humanity enters in the new century
Constracting arrogant tall buildings in the new Babylon
Human body will suffer an abusive standardization
Computer programs will create identical humans
Able for survival despite the chemical alienation
and irreversible pollution
Full of toxic invasions in coasts and springs
cause ecological changes
They prepare our organism
For non-organic GMO foods
with genetic transformations
for plants of humans thrived in urban environment
without soil and trees, only supplied by electric power
in a forest of antennas
with broadcasters in central places
frequencies substitute human contact

(Persephone's nightmare)
Sleep away Persephone
inside earth’s embrace
never, never come up to our world again

(New addendum)
All the world is in front of you
And its every mistake is yours
All the world is in front of you
It’s in your hand to make it yours

(Solar Nature)
Airplanes with no indetification signs
Spay us with chemicals continuously
Flour and Chlorine in high concentrations
Traced in our drinking water
Artificial viruses and bacteria
Escape from laboratories
They release on purpose GMO foods in markets
Some want to alter our genetic code
We intervene in climatic phenomena
Bionic powers and silent weapons point against us
They keep us away from the free energy
Electronic keeping in file is in progress
They showered us with subliminal messages
Hypnotic suggestion, narcotic and microwaves
Injectable biochips and brain implants
But they can’t do anything to us

(New addendum)
All the world is in front of you
And its every mistake is yours
All the world is in front of you
It’s in your hand to make it yours

“Ο ΚΑΚΟΣ ΣΟΥ ΕΑΥΤΟΣ” από Αρνάκια, album: Στο στόμα του λύκου, "Your Evil Self" by Little Lambs, album: In wolf's mouth (1993)

Οταν οι γνώμες των άλλων σ' εξοργίζουν
κι όταν οι αρχές σου τη βία υποστηρίζουν
για ποιόν αγώνα λοιπόν θα ξεκινήσεις
με ποιόν εχθρό θα χτυπηθείς.

Κι αν θελήσεις κάποτε ν' αλλάξεις την ζωή σου
πρέπει να διώξεις το κακό που τρώει την ψυχή σου
γιατί δεν φτάνει μονάχα να γκρεμίζεις
ο κακός σου εαυτός καραδοκεί.

σκότωσε τον μπάτσο που έχεις μέσα σου
σκότωσε τον μπάτσο πριν είναι αργά

Κι όταν χρειαστείς κουράγιο μην τρομάξεις
σκέψου πως δεν έχεις τίποτα να χάσεις
πρέπει την μάχη αυτή να την κερδίσεις
είναι καιρός για αλλαγή.

Translation

When other’s opinions makes you angry
When your principles support violence
What kind of struggle you’re gonna start
Which enemy you’re gonna strike

And if you want to change your life someday
You must throw away the evil that eats your soul
‘cause it’s not enough only to destruct
Your evil self lurks

Kill your cop inside you
Kill him before its too late

And when you’ll need courage don’t be panic
Think you have nothing to lose
You must earn this fight
It’s time for change

Kill your cop inside you
Kill him before its too late

These lyrics must be taken deeply into account by any social movement that fights for a better society. First of all we must reject our violent ego that reproduces violence in a vicious circle, undermining any social victory against a totalitarian state or exploitative system. When you cut a tree branch to make a war club, then you don’t expect from it to become a green tree again.

Ghandi, M.L.King succeed much more things than any bloody revolution that turned to be a more violent authority than the overthrown regime. Zapatistas succeeded not by the use of their weapons, but by their gradually minimized use in favour of creation of supporting social nets all over the world and by non violent actions that, as it has been stated, “throw more ink than bullets”.

This song is topical today in our country that is suffering an uprising of social and state violence, after the tragic events of late December caused by the murder of a child by a policeman. Many assasinations and attacks against police took place after that event that have nothing to do with social upheavals, offering an excuse to the totalitarian and highly corrupted greek government to release extreme police violence against social activists, immigrants and political refugees and to proceed to restrictions of human rights especially during demonstrations, communications and internet use.

You can hear this song in youtube

Carnivorous lamb by Gulag, Album: Big Talk, 1989

26 of April. 23 years exactly after the terrible nuclear disaster in Chernobyl in former USSR. We present today a song by a Greek punk group, the Gulag, that views the problem of nuclear accidents not strictly in the prejudiced anticommunist context as was stated in the cold-war era, but also reminds us, beside Chernobyl, the equally serious but of smaller impact accident in USA on 28 of March 1979, that of the Three Mile Island.

Lyrics in Greek:

Σαρκοβόρο Αρνί

Πού θα πάτε; Πού θα πας;
Το νέφος κανέναν δεν ξεχνά
Πού θα πάτε; πού θα πας; δεν έχει σημασία πιά
Το νούμερο των νεκρών, δεν έχει σημασία πιά

Τσερνομπίλ - Three mile Island

Η αδιαφορία των τρελλών, δεν έχει σημασία πιά
Τα σύνορα των κρατών, δεν έχουν σημασία πιά
Η ιστορία των λαών, δεν έχει σημασία πιά
Τα όνειρα του μέλλοντος, δεν έχουν σημασία πιά

Τσερνομπίλ - Three mile Island

Τα παιχνίδια των παιδιών, δεν έχουν σημασία πιά
Ο έρωτας των τυφλών, δεν έχει σημασία πιά
Οι ανέσεις των αστών, δεν έχουν σημασία πιά
Η μιζέρια των φτωχών, δεν έχει σημασία πιά

Τσερνομπίλ - Three mile Island

Οι εκτελέσεις των ποινών, δεν έχουν σημασία πιά
Οι ταραχές των εποχών, δεν έχουν σημασία πιά
Οι πόλεμοι των εθνών, δεν έχουν σημασία πιά
Το ξύπνημα των μαζών, δεν έχει σημασία πιά

Τσερνομπίλ - Three mile Island

And the translation by us in English:

Carnivorous lamb

Where you’ll go? No place to run
Deadly fallout forgets noone!
Where you’ll go, where to run, has no meaning anymore
Counting death toll, has no meaning anymore

Chernobyl – Three Mile Island

Peace of mind of the insane, has no meaning anymore
Borderlines of the States, have no meaning anymore
History of humanity, has no meaning anymore
Future dreams of humankind, have no meaning anymore

Chernobyl – Three Mile Island

Children’s games in the yards, have no meaning anymore
Erotic passions and love, have no meaning anymore
Material comforts of urban classes, have no meaning anymore
Misery of the lower classes, have no meaning anymore

Chernobyl – Three Mile Island

Serving of the sentences, has no meaning anymore
Agitations of the Ages, have no meaning anymore
Nations’ conflicts and wars have no meaning anymore
Mass awake and revolts have no meaning anymore

Chernobyl – Three Mile Island


A song that presents a nuclear accident as the eliminator of human dreams, actions and culture either personal, social or global. What is really the meaning of life and culture in an environment full of radiation, doomed to be sick for millions of years? Let’s see what exactly nuclear power for peaceful aims is:
A wolf in sheep disguise
-that feeds with local societies,
-creates forever-useless landscapes for nuclear disposals,
-keeps our lives under many civil restrictions to prevent terrorist attack,
-keeps us in eternal fear for permanent damages by nuclear accidents,
-keeps us under health risks for those who live close to the plant and also
-it can turn easily and quickly from peaceful to military aims.
A real carnivorous lamb indeed!!!!

You can hear this song and download it free: number 04 song in the wedpage below:

Gulag-04-Sarkovoro a..>

“Μπες στο κλίμα” (Enter the climate*) by Kostas Lebadas, performed by various, The Green Album WWF (2007)

Ποια υπερθέρμανση γεννάει
Ένα τέρας που ξυπνάει
Θα μας πνίξει θα μας φάει
Μπες στο κλίμα!

Ποια πλημμύρα μας τραβάει
Σε ένα ηφαίστειο που ξεσπάει
Δες χιονίζει μήνα Μάη
Μπες στο κλίμα!

Ξύπνα τη μνήμη σου
Ξέχνα τη φήμη σου
Παρ' την ευθύνη σου
Γι αυτή τη Γη που βουλιάζει
Σκέψου τα μέρη σου
Πες το στο ταίρι σου
Είναι στο χέρι σου
Ένα παιδί σου φωνάζει
Δείξε μου πόσο σε νοιάζει
Μπες στο κλίμα!

Κάθε μέρα που περνάει
Σαν αρρώστια προχωράει
Άλλο αστείο δε χωράει
Μπες στο κλίμα!

Ποιος στα αλήθεια κυβερνάει
Ποιος θυμάται ποιος ξεχνάει
Για ποιο μέλλον συζητάει
Μπες στο κλίμα!

Translation:

Learn which superheat is bearing
a rising monster
that will suffocate and eat us
Enter the climate*

Learn which flood is sweeping us away
to a volcano ready to detonate
Look! It's snowing on May
Enter the climate*

Wake your memory
Forget your fame
Take your responsibility
For this Earth that is sinking
Think of your country
Tell it to your partner
It’s in your hands
A child is shouting at you
Show me how you care about
Enter the climate*

Every day that passes
like disease is spreading
No more pretending
Enter the climate*

Who really governs?
Who thinks, who forgets?
For what future does he talk about?
Enter the climate*

(*) “Enter the climate” is a word playing in greek language. It means “Get the spirit of the age”: the world “climate” has two meanings in greek: both climate and spirit of the age.

A song that urges people to become aware and more active to fight the climatic changes. It was written for this purpose and for economical support of WWF and is included as bonus track in the CD “The Green album” in the greek edition, among many famous activistic songs by Bob Marley, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, etc:

1. THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON (ACOUSTIC VERSION) -THIEVERY CORPORATION
2. SIGN 'O' THE TIMES – PRINCE
3. GET UP, STAND UP - PETER TOSH
4. IF YOU TOLERATE THIS YOUR CHILDREN WILL BE NEXT-MANIC STREET PREACHERS
5. WILD WOOD - PAUL WELLER
6. EVERYTHING IS BROKEN- BOB DYLAN
7. NOTHING BUT FLOWERS -TALKING HEADS
8. ARMAGIDEON TIME - THE CLASH
9.;PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER - PATTI SMITH
10. LONELY PLANET - THE ΤΗΕ
11. LAST GREAT AMERICAN WHALE – LOU REED
12. MY CULTURE-ONE GIANT LEAP feat. ROBBIE WILLIAMS & MAXI JAZZ
13. WHO BY FIRE – LEONARD COHEN
14. EVE OF DESTRUCTION-PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS
15. WORLD ON FIRE - SARAH McLACHLAN
16. PERFECT DAY - LOU REED

You can obtain this CD from WWF site

You can hear this song in youtube

Album: “Όλα από χέρι καμένα” (All burned by the hand) (1988) Lyrics:Kostas Tripolitis, Music:Thanos Mikroutsikos, Performer:Vasilis Papakonstantinou

Twenty years before, three great greek artists joined together to produce this unconventional and under-appreciated album that no matter it passed unnoticed in our country and generally received negative reviews mainly for its pessimistic or brutal and nasty language of its lyrics, it has many ardent followers and is considered a classic work in modern greek rock music. We present two songs from this album:

Μπουμ

Έπειτα απ' το μεγάλο μπουμ
χίλιοι φακοί να κάνουν ζουμ,
πλάνα ωραία της καταστροφής
με φωτιές και σάρκες να τραφείς
όταν η αράχνη θα νοιώθει ευφυής
στριμωγμένη στο μπετόν της οροφής.

Είχες πει χρειάζεται καιρός
να φτιαχτούν σκουπίδια ένας σωρός
να σκεπαστούνε φεγγίτες και φωταγωγοί
να συμβούνε θάνατοι αργοί
να γεννηθούνε καινούργιοι πυροτεχνουργοί
για να αξίζει να επιστρέψεις στον πλανήτη γη.

Τη ζωή που σκότωσα εγώ
είναι η ζωή που νοσταλγώ
με τα σκεπάσματά σου έχω σκεπαστεί
το κορμί σου έχω αφουγκραστεί
η ύπαρξή σου καράβι που έχει βυθιστεί
με φωνάζεις τελευταίο ασυρματιστή.

Μπαίνοντας πρωί σε ένα ταξί
καίγομαι μέσα στο οξύ
βλέπω στα μάτια των περαστικών
ξυραφιές ονείρων χθεσινών
σου κοκκινίζει τα νύχια το μανόν
και είσαι θύτης μα και το θύμα συνθηκών.

Translation:

Boom

After the Great Boom
millions of lenses making zoom
Beautiful views of the destruction
Flesh and fire to feed yourself
When the spider will feel genius
Living squeezed in a crack of a concrete roof

You’ve said it will take time
for litters to become a pile
and to cover buildings up to roofs
to die with slow deaths
for new pyrotechnists to be born
to worth to return to planet earth

The life that I killed by myself
is the life that I’m longing for
I am covered with your blankets
I have strained my ears to your body
Your existence is like a sunken ship
You call me last radio operator

In the morning, when calling a taxi
I feel burned in an acid
In the passers-by eyes I saw
razor slashes of yesterday dreams
Your nails are bright red by the manon
You’re the culprit and the victim of conditions

A post-apocalyptic song about a dystopian society after a nuclear or environmental holocaust, about the terrible Now, about the warnings in the Past, and about the continuing indifference, cynism or vanity in a harsh environment (Spectaculation of the disaster, beautification in every day sick atmosphere)

Όλα από χέρι καμένα

Ήρωες, μίξερ, μανταλάκια, σερβιέτες,
λάβαρα, κόμιξ, σούπερ-μάρκετ, ηγέτες,
ρήτορες, μπλέντερ, βιταμίνες, μονώσεις,
κι ότι σου τάζουνε για να καυλώσεις.

Κίνημα, χάπια, σελοτέιπ, πτυχία,
άγιοι, σέρβις, μπόντυ μπίλντινγκ, ηχεία,
κάμερες, γκέι, φουστανέλες, ψυχώσεις,
κι ότι σου δίνουνε για να καυλώσεις.

Όλα από χέρι καμένα
και τα σπίρτα μας βρεγμένα
Λείψανα ,κέικ, χορωδίες, μουστάρδες,
βίζιτες, χύτρες, ινστιτούτα, κονκάρδες,
κόλλυβα , πόστερ, after-shave, διαγνώσεις,
κι ότι σου τάζουνε για να τα χώσεις.

Κλίσματα, σέντρες, γκομενάκια, πακέτα,
άγγελοι, telex, ανθοδέσμες, κουφέτα,
πρόεδροι, κέτσαπ, βαλβολίνες, ενέσεις,
κι ότι σου υπόσχονται για να τη πέσεις.

Όλα από χέρι καμένα
και τα σπίρτα μας βρεγμένα

Έρανοι, άλμπουμ, ονειράκια, πατέντες,
κάψουλες, μπόνους, φωτοκόπιες, κουβέντες,
κίναιδοι, τίτλοι, wind-surfing, εκπλήξεις,
κι' ότι σου δίνουνε για να πηδήξεις.

Ήρωες, μίξερ, μανταλάκια, σερβιέτες,
λάβαρα, κόμιξ, σούπερ-μάρκετ, ηγέτες,
ρήτορες, μπλέντερ, βιταμίνες, μονώσεις,
κι ότι σου τάζουνε για να καυλώσεις.

Translation:

All burned by the hand

Heroes, mixers, clothes pegs, sanitary pads,
Banners, comics, supermarkets, leaders
Orators, blenders, vitamins, insulators
And everything they promise you to turn you on

Movements, pills, sellotapes, degrees
Saints, services, bodybuilding, speakers
Cameras, gay, fustanellas*, obsessions
And everything they offer you to turn you on

All burned by the hand
And our matches are wet

Relics, cakes, choirs, mustards,
Fees for a house call, pressure cookers, institutes, badges,
Collyva**, posters, after-shave, diagnoses
And everything they promise you to push them in

Enemas, kickoffs, girlfriends, parcels,
Angels, telex, bouquets, koufeta***,
Presidents, ketchups, valvolins, injections
And everything they promise you to screw up

All burned by the hand
And our matches are wet

Collections, albums, dreams, patents,
Capsules, bonuses, photocopies, chats,
Prostitutes, titles, wind-surfing, suprpises,
And everything they give you to have a real good fuck.

Heroes, mixers, clothes pegs, sanitary pads,
Banners, comics, supermarkets, leaders
Orators, blenders, vitamins, insulators
And everything they promise you to turn you on

All burned by the hand
And our matches are wet

(*) Fustanella: Greek traditional kilt
(**)Collyva: Greek traditional offering in funerals made from boiled wheat
(***)Koufeta: Sugar-coated almonds offered in wedding ceremonies

A song that is a sarcasm to our worship of consumerism by making it a fundamental social value and be trapped by becoming addicted to it. A society that is manipulated by a kits mixture of old fashion traditions and modern fake plastic items and values, and by a salad of things, actions and ideas having an ideological content either of high quality and importance or inferior and unimportant.

You can hear these songs in youtube
Boom
All burned by the hand

the above photos/artworks were taken from the following pages:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11047054@N08/1012904609/
http://www.artshole.co.uk/siclark.htm

Persephone's nightmare, by N.Gatsos-M.Hadjidakis, Album: Ta Paraloga, 1976

It’s our blog’s Birthday today (first post 5/7/2007) and we’d like to “celebrate” performing something different: the most famous greek song about environmental destruction. It’s not a rock song, but it has the protesting and accusation attitude like many rock songs we use to present. It’s about the “Persephone’s Nightmare”, a poem-song included in Manos Hadjidakis’ album “Ta Paraloga” (“The irrationals”) (1976) (Lyrics: Nikos Gatsos, Composer: Manos Hadjidakis, Performer: Maria Farandouri)

It’s a lament about how Eleusina was ended up. A sacred place in ancient Greece, and famous all over the ancient world for the Eleusinian mysteries and the cult of Demeter and Persephone, a beautiful natural landscape was lost forever in order to become the most polluted and industrialized place in Greece. The poem focuses mainly on the aesthetic pollution and abuse of the once sacred, respectful and untouchable place. It makes many hints too, either direct or indirect, about the downgrading of life quality and public health.

In Greek mythology, Persephone was the embodiment of the Earth's fertility at the same time that she was the Queen of the Underworld and the parthenogenic daughter of Demeter (goddess of fertility and agriculture). She becomes the consort of her abductor Hades in the Underworld, after making a deal with Demeter to let her go up to the living world and her mother for six months a year.
The figure of Persephone is well-known today. Her story has great emotional power: an innocent maiden who was abducted, a mother's grief at the abduction (by bringing on autumn and winter time), and joy at the return of her daughter (by bringing on spring and summer time). Thus, it is cited frequently as a paradigm of myths that explain natural processes, with the descent and return of the goddess bringing about the change of seasons.

Eleusina is the town where the majority of crude oil in Greece is imported and refined. There are numerous heavy industry plants all around and some of the biggest in Greece: 2 refineries, 2 steel industries with melting furnaces, 2 cement industries, 2 shipyards and 1 ammunition industry. Companies of storing and transportation are gathered more and more in the area thus increasing traffic and air pollution every day by tracks and any kind of fuel consuming vehicles. To make matter worse more than the half of all these industrial plants have been installed out of the defined by laws industrial area and too close to residential areas and archeological sites.

References
Wikipedia-Persephone
Greek Newspaper “TO BHMA”

The song in Greek:

Ο Eφιάλτης της Περσεφόνης

Εκεί που φύτρωνε φλισκούνι κι άγρια μέντα
κι έβγαζε η γη το πρώτο της κυκλάμινο
τώρα χωριάτες παζαρεύουν τα τσιμέντα
και τα πουλιά πέφτουν νεκρά στην υψικάμινο.

Κοιμήσου Περσεφόνη
στην αγκαλιά της γης
στου κόσμου το μπαλκόνι
ποτέ μην ξαναβγείς.

Εκεί που σμίγανε τα χέρια τους οι μύστες
ευλαβικά πριν μπουν στο θυσιαστήριο
τώρα πετάνε αποτσίγαρα οι τουρίστες
και το καινούργιο πάν’ να δουν διυλιστήριο.

Κοιμήσου Περσεφόνη
στην αγκαλιά της γης
στου κόσμου το μπαλκόνι
ποτέ μην ξαναβγείς.

Εκεί που η θάλασσα γινόταν ευλογία
κι ήταν ευχή του κάμπου τα βελάσματα
τώρα καμιόνια κουβαλάν στα ναυπηγεία
άδεια κορμιά σιδερικά παιδιά κι ελάσματα.

Κοιμήσου Περσεφόνη
στην αγκαλιά της γης
στου κόσμου το μπαλκόνι
ποτέ μην ξαναβγείς.


Below, you can find our (clumsy) effort for a free translation of this amazing poem:

Persephone's nightmare

Where once herbs were grown in the fields
with leaves and flowers full of fragrance
Now there’re plants making concrete and steel
and birds fall dead in melting furnace

Sleep away Persephone
inside earth’s embrace
never, never come up to our world again

The place where priests stood in devotion
before the ritual of mysteries begins
now, passing tourists throw their litters
and they rush to see the new refinery

Sleep away Persephone
inside earth’s embrace
never, never come up to our world again

Once the sea was blue and crystal clear
and flocks and herds carefree grazed in the fields
now dusty tracks carry workers to the shipyards
spreading noise and pollution all around

Sleep away Persephone
Inside earth’s embrace
Never, never come up to our world again


Another attempt to translate the lyrics word by word, exactly from the prototype you can find here: www.dalaras.com . In this site they also give a wider interpretation of the lyrics by including some other heavy industrialized places in Greece, once beautiful natural landscapes:

Geography: 1st verse: the Pelion mountains (Volos has one of the world's biggest cement factories). 2nd verse: Elefsina (once a place of mystic cults, now refineries). 3rd verse: my best guess is Megara.

You can hear this song in you tube in three different performances:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ7sTXzIW4g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7w0nDNP3MA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMh_ri36k1E

THE GRASS IS NO GREEN by Aphrodite’s Child, Album: End of the world (1968)

The land is starving
it needs watering
The birds on the trees
won't open the spring
for the rain won't fall here
and the grass is no green

The birds stop singing
they need some raining

the birds on the trees
will not live till spring
for the rain won't falling
and the grass is no green
the grass is no green

Deep in a clearing
lovers are sleeping
under an oak tree
wind blows lightly
while they are lying
where the grass is no green

The land is starving
it needs watering
The birds on the trees
won't open the spring
for the rain won't falling
and the grass is no green

The birds stop singing
they need some raining
The birds on the trees
will not live till spring
and the grass is no green
the grass is no green

Deep in a clearing
lovers are sleeping
under an oak tree
wind blows lightly
while they are lying
where the grass is no green

The birds stop singing
they need some raining
the birds on the trees
will not live till spring
for the rain wouldn't falling
And the grass is no green
the grass is no green

Far back to sixties for one of the most world famous greek rock bands with lyrics in English, the "Aphrodite’s Child". Their peak of their carrier was “666” in 1971, but in late sixties they have released interesting works, like “End of the world” where the presented song is included. It’s about an extensive dry season where rain stops falling, soil and grass run dry and life cycle is in great danger. So to speak, it fortells the climatic change and global warming, especially in their (and our)country Greece that today is suffering from extensive dry seasons and public policy of prevention is completely non-existent.

You can hear this song in youtube

The Grass is not Green

and some other classics

Rain and tears
End of the world
The four horsemen
Aegean sea

In memory of Nikolas Asimos: 20 years after his suicide

20 years were completed today, the Greek music composer and singer Nikolas Asimos committed suicide.

Nikolas Asimos was an unconventional music composer and singer, a very special case of a counter-culture artist, mostly because of his choice of lifestyle. His behaviour and songs were often received as provocatory by the general public and moved in the margin of music industry in Greece. He was anticomformist and allowed only a few of his songs to be released under famous music labels. The majority of his work was recorded on tapes in his home (tapes No 000001-000008), the so called “Illegals” by him. He was anarchist in his political orientation and the majority of his songs deal with such topics: social revolution, against authorities, against religion, education system, against consumerism, work, etc.

His music cannot be classified as a genre. He wrote and played, mainly by himself as performer, greek popular music, ballad, rock, blues, rebetica. His lyrics were sarcastic, provocative, offensive, outrageous and sometimes romantic and melancholic expressing his turbulent personal world and his rage against the society. It worths mentioning that his few releases under famous labels were extensively edited even censored by the music companies in order to make the stuff less provocative to the public.

His life was turbulent too, censorships, imprisonment, sanitarium, etc that led him to commit suicide in 17 of March 1988. After his death many of his songs reproduced, remixed or performed by other musicians and released by famous labels.



We present “Μπαταρία” (Battery), one of his most famous songs that has been performed by many Greek musicians and rock bands. It deals with mind manipulation, consumerism and the plastic ideals of modern life. Those who prefer to sacrifice, in favor of fake comforts, their freedom, quality of life, public health and generally choose not to take life on their hands, are condemned to be reduced to robot-like slaves, easily manipulated by their leaders, masters, etc. This song makes hints to the polluting urban and industrial environment: “pneumoconiosis”, the disease caused by chronic dust inspiration in heavy polluted cities, like those in Greece, and industries.

The song has been included in form of ballad in two compilations, the “illegal tapes" No 000003 (Γιατί φοράς κλουβί-Why you wear cage) and 000008 (Το φανάρι του Διογένη-Diogene's Lantern) “released” by him in 1979 and 1987 respectively. Later, after his death, it was remixed and reproduced in a more rock form and released in the compilation ”To falimendo tou cosmou” (World’s bankruptcy) .

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolas_Asimos
http://leonardo.spidernet.net/Recreatus/424/asimos3.html

Lyrics in Greek:

Μπαταρία - Νικόλας Άσιμος

Εκπορνεύεσαι κουρέλι
στην μπορντελοκοινωνία,
ξεπουλάς και την ψυχή σου,
για την υπεραφθονία.
Στην καρδιά σου βάλαν φρένα,
το μυαλό σου παίρνει βύσμα,
για χιλιάδες σαν κι εσένα
θα αρκέσει μια μπρίζα.

Κι η Πνευμονοκονίαση, κι η πνευμονοκονίαση
κι αυτή θα έχει πάψει.
Ρομπότανθρωπομήχανση και ξύπνοπνευματύπνωση
και χρυσωμένο χάπι.

Θα είσαι με μπαταρία,
να εκτελείς εργασία
με σούπερ ενημέρωση, τροφή και διασκέδαση,
θα πλέxεις ευφορία.

Για κοιτάξτε με σακάτη,
ένα έχω μόνο μάτι.
Μου ρουφήξατε το αίμα,
μα αλογόκριτο έχω βλέμα.
Αποφασισμένος πάντα
στην προσωπική μου μπάντα,
την ψυχή μου δεν πουλάω
και το δρόμο μου τραβάω.

Την πνευμονοκονίαση, την πνευμονοκονίαση
εγώ τη συζητάω
ρομπότανθρωπομήχανση και ξύπνοπνευματύπνωση
δε θέλω να τη φάω.

Ξερνάω την μπαταρία,
δεν εκτελώ εργασία.
Δεν θέλω ενημέρωση, κορσέ και διασκέδαση,
γουστάρω ελευθερία.

Translated by us lyrics:


The Βattery – Nikolas Asimos

Prostitute rag yourself
in this fucking society
Sell our soul
for an affluence variety
Your heart is bounded with chains
They put a plug in your brain
For some thousands like you
it’s enough only one fuse

By pneumoconiosis, by pneumoconiosis
you won’t suffer anymore
robot-human-machinery an awake-mind-hypnosis
and a sweatened pill

You’ll be connected to a battery
for working all the day
with super information, food, amusement, recreation
you’ll produce euphoria state

Look at me a cripple guy
I have only one eye
You sucked my blood with pipe
but I still have a striking sight
Always making my mind
to my personal lonely side
I don’t sell my soul
I walk my own road

Pneumoconiosis, pneumoconiosis
get used to and have a chat with
robot-human-machinery an awake-mind-hypnosis
Don’t want to be laden with

I spit out the battery
I refuse to work all day
Don’t want no information, corset, recreation
In freedom I want to lay.


you can hear this song (rock version) in you tube:
Battery
And a live performance of another famous song, a sarcasm to music industry:
Ο Μηχανισμός (The Machinery)