Mes tou Aigaiou ta nera - Eleftheria Arvanitaki

Mes tou Aigaiou ta nera – Eleftheria Arvanitaki

Posted on 01. Sep, 2009 in Greek Islands - Nisiotika

Eleftheria Arvanitaki sings “Mes tou Aigaiou ta nera“, one of the most known nisiotika songs, a traditional folk song from the islands of the East Aegean that translates to “In the waters of the Aegean”. The origins of the song are not known really, but it is considered that it comes from the complex of the Dodecanese Islands, at the South- Eastern Aegean.

The song In the waters of the Aegean is a fine and delicate song, one of the best loved songs from the Greek Islands. The English lyrics cannot depict the true character of the song, as its Greek Lyrics are based on the typical mode of the Nisiotika songs, with repeated phrases and half-verses, with words breaking in two and completed later on with a repetition of the verse.

Sea, the beloved sea of the Greeks, is addressed as a deity with its charm and power accentuated with the appeal to the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ, who has a special place in the heart of all Greek people. The adored blue waters and the islands of the Aegean Sea are the true homeland of people, wherever they live in the world, a homeland for their souls.

Μes tou Aigaiou ta nera – English Lyrics

In the Aegean’s – come up to see –
In the Aegean’s, the Aegean’s islands
Ah, in the Aegean’s islands angels are fluttering
And in the fluttering, come up my star,
And in the flu- in the fluttering,
Ah and in the fluttering rose petals are scattered

My Aegean, help Panagia (the Virgin Mary)
My Aegean, tame
My Aegean tame your azure blue waters

So that they come – come up and see
So that they come – your children from the foreign lands
Ah, so that they come – your children from the foreign lands
To your desired islands

Rosewater – come up my little star
Rosewater to become
Ah, rosewater to become, my Aegean, your waters