Grooved Pavement World Music Radio Show

Listen to the Grooved Pavement World Music Radio Show, Friday, January 21st, which featured a song from Andrea Gerak's acapella album This Way, Sweetheart!

The show airs on Fridays on WMUA 91.1 from 12:00 to 2:30 pm EST. If you don't live within the broadcast range, you can stream it live through iTunes. Just go to iTunes, click on "Radio" and search for WMUA in the "College / University" and "Eclectic" sections.
Check out more shows at www.wmua.org (Broadcasting from University of Massachusets-Amherst)

Listen to a podcast of the show at Ishah 'El theatre arts, click on the flash player at the beginning of the post/ playlist and enjoy!

All the songs of the album:

www.andreagerak.com 

This Way, Sweetheart! CD offer

Order one or more CDs, and along with your signed copy, get a small, personal surprise from Andrea in the mail.

You will also get a download code so that you can immediately enjoy the songs in your MP3 player, iPod or whatever you prefer, while waiting the mail to arrive.

You tell the price, what the whole thing is worth to you. (8,- USD, incl. shipping)

And if this is still not good enough: we have now a SPECIAL OFFER: the next 1000 customers (starting from 2010 November 22) can download the album Lonely Is The Bird album as a gift.

Andrea recommends:

All I wanted with this CD was to try and see how can one communicate through these old songs, in their purest simplicity. No fancy effects, no lines recorded twenty times - just as you were here with me and I would sing for you, all the things I have to say.

Feelings of love, happiness, joy, sorrow and longing were the same hundred years ago as they are today..." - Andrea Gerak

What listeners say:

"It was a very daring attempt to make such a long voice only album... It was worth to do it!!" - L. Z. (Photographer, Hungary)

"I just want to thank you again to let me enjoy your beautiful voice, so pure, on your cd with all those nice tunes. Although I can't understand what you are singing I do understand the feelings. And I like your fast voice vibrato so much." - Luc Callaert (Singer, Belgium)

GET ALBUM FROM HERE






www.andreagerak.com

Salley Gardens video

Watch video on YouTube and feel free to rate, favorite, comment, subscribe, share...
  
Credits: Andrea Gerak - vocals, some of the photos, video
Special thanks to Flickerians for more photos:
Darren Larson, nznomad, Big Sky Photography, Janusz Leszczynszki, vgm8383, Griangraf, Kathy McEldowney, theq47, Chad K



Song page on website with more info, lyrics

www.andreagerak.com

Szivaroztam (I Had A Cigar)

Listen to song
(from here, if it doesn't start quick enough)
Traditional Hungarian folk song from Kalotaszeg, a region with a Hungarian majority population in Transylvania, famous for its very rich folklore.
From the album This Way, Sweetheart!
Photo: lad's vest, shirt and hat Photo source
Song page on website


If you want to know more about Kalotaszeg, there is a good presentation on the website of Hungarian Museum of Ethnography: The Discovery of Kalotaszeg and the Beginnings of Hungarian Ethnography




Old house in Sztána (Stana) village in Kalotaszeg, photo from Panoramio (see also map)

Szöveg / Lyrics



Szivaroztam, megégettem a számat,
Odahaza más öleli a babámat,
Más öleli, másnak ül az ölébe,
Más leánynak kacsingat a szemébe.

Életembe' csak egyszer voltam boldog,
Akkor is a két szememből könny hullott,
Sírtam is én örömömbe', hogy szeret,
Bánatimba', hogy az enyém nem lehet.



I was having a cigar and burned my lips,
At home, another one is hugging my babe,
Another one is hugging him, he sits in another one's lap,
He is winking at another girl's eyes.

In my life, I have been happy only once,
Even then, tear was dripping from my two eyes,
I was crying with joy that he loved me,
And with sorrow that he couldn't be mine.

Download song from:
BandCamp SoundClick

More songs from the album This Way, Sweetheart: 
Salley Gardens
Piros alma (Red Apple)
Asiye
Széna, széna (Hay, Hay)
Madárka, madárka (Birdie, Birdie)
Rorogwela
Erre gyere, rózsám (This Way, Sweetheart)
Jaj, de sokat áztam-fáztam (Yay, I've Been Freezing)
A pünkösdi rózsa (The Peony)
Beli Buba, Beli


This song is part of Andrea's birthday wish

www.andreagerak.com

Salley Gardens

Listen to song
Irish folk song, with the poem of William Butler Yeats
From the album This Way, Sweetheart!
Photo: Darren Larsson
Song page on website


A poem by William Butler Yeats published in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems in 1889. Yeats indicated in a note that it was "an attempt to reconstruct an old song from three lines imperfectly remembered by an old peasant woman in the village of Ballisodare, Sligo, who often sings them to herself." Yeats's original title, "An Old Song Re-Sung", reflected this; it first appeared under its present title when it was reprinted in Poems in 1895.

"Salley" is an anglicisation of the Irish saileach, meaning willow, i.e., a tree of the genus Salix. Willows are known as "salleys", "sallies" or "salley trees" in parts of Ireland. Source: Wikipedia



The Cascades, Ballisodare (Ballysadare, see map) in Ireland, photo by Noel Kennedy

Lyrics



Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her did not agree.

In a field down by the river my love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

Download it from:
BandCamp SoundClick

More songs from the album This Way, Sweetheart: 
Piros alma (Red Apple)
Asiye
Széna, széna (Hay, Hay)
Madárka, madárka (Birdie, Birdie)
Rorogwela
Erre gyere, rózsám (This Way, Sweetheart)
Jaj, de sokat áztam-fáztam (Yay, I've Been Freezing)
A pünkösdi rózsa (The Peony)
Beli Buba, Beli


This song is part of Andrea's birthday wish

www.andreagerak.com

Piros alma (Red Apple)

Listen to song
Traditional Hungarian folk song from Mátyusföld (Slovak: Matušova zem) South-West Slovakia.
It was also featured on Andrea's first CD Madarka, Madarka (Little Birdie), and this is a new recording.
From the album This Way, Sweetheart!
Photo: Andrea Gerak
Song page on website




House in Martos (Martovce), a mostly Hungarian village in the area (Map), Photo source

A short story, written by Andrea Gerak: The Apple Tree

Szöveg / Lyrics



Piros alma leesett a sárba,
Ki felveszi, nem veszi hiába,
Felvenné azt de sok édesanya,
Hogy a fia ne volna katona.

Egy asszonynak két eladó lánya,
Egyik szekfű, másik majoránna,
Megüzenem az édesanyjának,
Kösse össze, jó lesz bokrétának.

Kinek nincsen igaz szeretője,
Menjen ki a martosi erdőbe,
Írja fel a fának levelére,
Hogy nézne ki igaz szeretője.



The red apple has fallen into the mud,
The one who will pick it up, won't do it in vain,
Oh, many mother would pick it up,
So that their sons won't be soldiers.

One woman's two nubile daughters,
One of them is clove, the other is marjoram,
I send a message to their mother
To bind them together, it will do good as a posy.

He who doesn't have a true lover,
Should go out to the woods of Martos
And write it on a tree leaf
How should his true lover look like. 


Download song from:
BandCamp SoundClick

More songs from the album This Way, Sweetheart:  
Asiye
Széna, széna (Hay, Hay)
Madárka, madárka (Birdie, Birdie)
Rorogwela
Erre gyere, rózsám (This Way, Sweetheart)
Jaj, de sokat áztam-fáztam (Yay, I've Been Freezing)
A pünkösdi rózsa (The Peony)
Beli Buba, Beli


This song is part of Andrea's birthday wish

www.andreagerak.com

Asiye

Listen to song
Folk song from North-Eastern Turkey, Black Sea region (Map)

Made known by Kâzım Koyuncu
From the album This Way, Sweetheart!
Song page on website

  

Andrea Gerak performing this song at Budapest Fringe Festival 2008
Watch video on YouTube


                                      Mount Sis Photo source

Lyrics

Aðasarýn balýný
Gel salýný salýný
Adam cebinde taþýr
Senin gibi gelini

Oy Asiye Asiye
Tütün koydum kesiye
Baban seni veriyi da
Bir baða pýrasiye

Sis daðýnýn baþýnda yel
Püfür püfür esiyor
Baban bu yýl kurbaný
Çifter çifter kesiyor



Ağasar's honey, come leisurely
A guy would carry a bride like you in his pocket, oh Asiye.

Oh Asiye, Asiye, I put the tobacco in the case
Your father is giving you away for a wrap of leek, oh Asiye.

By the Mount Sis the wind blows gently
Your father sacrifices sheep in pairs this year, oh Asiye.

(The song is written in the local dialect)

Download it from:
BandCamp SoundClick

More songs from the album This Way, Sweetheart:  

Széna, széna (Hay, Hay)
Madárka, madárka (Birdie, Birdie)
Rorogwela
Erre gyere, rózsám (This Way, Sweetheart)
Jaj, de sokat áztam-fáztam (Yay, I've Been Freezing)
A pünkösdi rózsa (The Peony)
Beli Buba, Beli


This song is part of Andrea's birthday wish

www.andreagerak.com

Széna, széna (Hay, Hay)

Listen to song
Hungarian folk song from Méra, a village near Cluj in Romania.
From the album This Way, Sweetheart!
Photo: Tuomas Lehtinen
Song page on website

Méra (Map) is one of the most prominent villages of Kalotaszeg, a region with a Hungarian majority population, famous for its very rich folklore.

View of the village

Photo source

Szöveg / Lyrics



Széna, széna, széna terem a réten,
Még annál is több szeretőm van nékem,
Irigylik a leánykori életem,
Irigylik, hogy szép szeretőm van nékem.

Összefolyik a Tisza a Dunával,
Összeillik a szőke a barnával,
Mert a barna tud igazán szeretni,
De a szőke hamar el tud feledni.



Hay, hay, hay grows in the field,
I have even more lovers than that,
I am envied for my girlhood life,
I am envied for my nice lover.

The Tisza flows into the Duna,
Blonds match brunettes,
Because brunettes can truly love,
But blonds can forget quickly.

Download it from:
BandCamp SoundClick

More songs from the album This Way, Sweetheart: 
Madárka, madárka (Birdie, Birdie)
Rorogwela
Erre gyere, rózsám (This Way, Sweetheart)
Jaj, de sokat áztam-fáztam (Yay, I've Been Freezing)
A pünkösdi rózsa (The Peony)
Beli Buba, Beli


This song is part of Andrea's birthday wish

www.andreagerak.com

Madárka, madárka (Birdie, Birdie)

Listen to song
One of the most known Hungarian folk songs, collected by Zoltán Kodály in Szuha, a village in Northern Hungary.
From the album This Way, Sweetheart!
Photo: Dániel Antal
Song page on website

This is NOT the same Madárka, madárka song from Andrea's first album with the same title; that is a csángó folk song from Moldva (the Romanian part of ancient Moldavia, see Map), and originates from before the first half of the 19th century. This one here is from after that time period. There are many Hungarian folk songs with these beginning words.

Morning view of the village

Photo source

Szöveg / Lyrics



Madárka, madárka,
Csácsogó madárka,
Vidd el a levelem, vidd el a levelem,
Szép magyar hazámba!

Madárka, madárka,
Csácsogó madárka,
Vidd el a levelem, vidd el a levelem,
A kedves babámnak!

Ha kérdi, ki küldte,
Mondjad, hogy az küldte,
Kinek bánatába, szíve fájdalmába
Meghasad a szíve.

Rab vagyok, rab vagyok,
Talán meg is halok,
Csak a jóisten tudja, a jóisten tudja,
Mikor szabadulok.



Birdie, birdie,
Chirping birdie,
Take my letter, take my letter
To my beautiful Hungarian homeland.

Birdie, birdie,
Chirping birdie,
Take my letter, take my letter
To my dear baby.

If he asks who has sent it,
Tell him that the one sent it
Whose heart is just ripping because of the sadness
And the heartache.

I am a captive, I am a captive,
Maybe I'll even die,
Only the good God knows, only the good God knows
When will I be free.

Download song from:
BandCamp SoundClick

More songs from the album This Way, Sweetheart:
Rorogwela
Erre gyere, rózsám (This Way, Sweetheart)
Jaj, de sokat áztam-fáztam (Yay, I've Been Freezing)
A pünkösdi rózsa (The Peony)
Beli Buba, Beli


This song is part of Andrea's birthday wish

www.andreagerak.com

Rorogwela

Listen to song
  Baegu lullaby from Fulinui village (Solomon Islands), sung by a woman named Afunakwa, recorded by Hugo Zemp in 1968, released on the Fataleka and Baegu Music of Malaita CD by UNESCO.
From the album This Way, Sweetheart!
Photo: Antony Robinson
Song page on website

Listen to the original recording of Afunakwa, with more info of this song:



Watch video on YouTube

This song has several arrangements and remixes from various artists, the most known ones are Sweet Lullaby by Deep Forest and Pygmy Lullaby by Jan Garbarek.

An earlier recording from Andrea Gerak was also put to music by Ángel Orós (Cambridge 2003): Rorogwela Sunset Mix and Rorogwela Blue Beach Mix


Watch video on YouTube  

Lyrics

Little brother, little brother, stop crying, stop crying,
Though you are crying and crying, who else will carry you,
Who else will groom you, both of us are now orphans,
From the island of the dead, their spirit will continue to look after us
Just like royalty, taken care of with all the wisdom of such a place

Little brother, little brother even in the gardens
This lullaby continues to the different divisions of the garden,
From the island of the dead,
Their spirit will continue to look after us.

Download it from:
BandCamp SoundClick

More songs from the album This Way, Sweetheart:  
Erre gyere, rózsám (This Way, Sweetheart)
Jaj, de sokat áztam-fáztam (Yay, I've Been Freezing)
A pünkösdi rózsa (The Peony)
Beli Buba, Beli

Andrea's birthday wish

www.andreagerak.com
 

Erre gyere, rózsám (This Way, Sweetheart)

Listen to song
Title song of the album This Way, Sweetheart! Traditional Hungarian folk song from Mátyusföld (Slovak: Matušova zem) South-West Slovakia.
It was also featured on Andrea's first CD Madarka, Madarka (Little Birdie), and this is a new recording.
Song page on website

House in Martos (Martovce), a mostly Hungarian village in Mátyusföld,
Photo source
Martovce on map

Szöveg / Lyrics



Erre gyere, rózsám, nincsen sár,
Nincsen az ajtómon semmi zár,
Kinyílik az ajtó magától,
A szeretőm gyönge két karjától.

Akkor szép az erdő, mikor zöld,
Mikor a vadgalamb benne költ
Olyan a vadgalamb, mint a lány,
Maga jár a szép legény után.



This way, sweetheart (literally: my rose), no mud here,
There is no any lock on my door,
My door opens by itself,
By the two tender arms of my lover.

The forest is nice when it is green,
When the wild dove brood in it,
Wild doves are like girls,
They go after the nice boys themselves.

Download it from:
BandCamp SoundClick

More songs from the album This Way, Sweetheart: 
Jaj, de sokat áztam-fáztam (Yay, I've Been Freezing)
A pünkösdi rózsa (The Peony)
Beli Buba, Beli


This song is part of Andrea's birthday wish

www.andreagerak.com

Jaj, de sokat áztam-fáztam (Yay, I've Been Freezing)

Listen to song
Download song FREE
Hungarian folk song from Áj (Háj) village in Eastern Slovakia (Map), from the album This Way, Sweetheart!
Photo: Andrea Gerak
Song page on website



View of the village, photo source

Listen to a dance version of an earlier vocal recording of this song, which has been #2 on SoundClick World Fusion Chart, by Cambridge 2003 feat. José Aurelio Ferrández (duduk) and Edgar Molina (percussions)

Szöveg / Lyrics



Jaj, de sokat áztam-fáztam,
Mikor kapud előtt álltam.
De már mostan megmelegszem,
Fehér dunnád alá fekszem.

Isten áldjon meg kendteket,
Ti csucsomi legényeket,
De azt se nem mindegyiket,
Csak akik engem szerettek.

Jaj, de csalárd ez a kakas,
Éjfélt kiált, hajnal hasad.
Szívem alól foly a patak,
Jaj, de jó legénynek adtak.


Yay, I've been freezing so much
When I was standind in front of your door.
But now I will warm up,
I will lay under your white duvet.

God bless you,
You boys from Csucsom,
But not all of you,
Only those who have loved me.

Yay, this cock is cheating,
It cries Midnight, when the dawn is coming,
A stream is flowing from my heart,
Yay, I've been given to such a good boy.

Download it from:
BandCamp
More songs from the album This Way, Sweetheart: 
A pünkösdi rózsa (The Peony)
Beli Buba, Beli


Andrea's birthday wish

www.andreagerak.com