Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Musically, the Carpathian “Lullaby” is in three-quarter time (“waltz time”), as are a significant portion of the world’s various traditional lullabies (perhaps the most famous of which is Brahms’ Lullaby). The arrangement for solo voice is the original context: a mother singing to her child, unaccompanied. The arrangement for chorus and violin ensemble illustrates how musical even the simplest Carpathian pieces often are, and how easily they lend themselves to contemporary instrumental or orchestral arrangements. (A wide range of contemporary composers, including Dvor˘ák and Smetana, have taken advantage of a similar discovery, working other traditional Eastern European music into their symphonic poems.)
Odam-Sarna Kondak (Lullaby)
Tumtesz o wäke ku pitasz belső.
Feel the strength you hold inside.
Hiszasz sívadet. Én olenam gæidnod.
Trust your heart. I’ll be your guide.
Sas csecsemõm; kuńasz.
Hush, my baby; close your eyes.
Rauho joŋe ted.
Peace will come to you.
Tumtesz o sívdobbanás ku olen lamt3ad belső.
Feel the rhythm deep inside.
Gond-kumpadek ku kim te.
Waves of love that cover you.
Pesänak te, asti o jüti, kidüsz.
Protect, until the night you rise.
To hear this song, visit christinefeehan.com/members/.
6. SONG TO HEAL THE EARTH
This is the earth-healing song that is used by the Carpathian women to heal soil filled with various toxins. The women take a position on four sides and call to the universe to draw on the healing energy with love and respect. The soil of the earth is their resting place, the place where they rejuvenate, and they must make it safe not only for themselves but for their unborn children, as well as their men and living children. This is a beautiful ritual performed by the women together, raising their voices in harmony and calling on the earth’s minerals and healing properties to come forth and help them save their children. They literally dance and sing to heal the earth in a ceremony as old as their species. The dance and notes of the song are adjusted according to the toxins felt through the healers’ bare feet. The feet are placed in a certain pattern and the hands gracefully weave a healing spell while the dance is performed. They must be especially careful when the soil is prepared for babies. This is a ceremony of love and healing.
Musically, the ritual is divided into several sections:
• First verse: A “call-and-response” section, where the chant leader sings the “call” solo, and then some or all of the women sing the “response” in the close harmony style typical of the Carpathian musical tradition. The repeated response—Ai, Emä Maγe—is an invocation of the source of power for the healing ritual: “Oh, Mother Nature.”
• First chorus: This section is filled with clapping, dancing, ancient horns and other means used to invoke and heighten the energies upon which the ritual is drawing.
• Second verse
• Second chorus
• Closing invocation: In this closing part, two song leaders, in close harmony, take all the energy gathered by the earlier portions of the song/ritual and focus it entirely on the healing purpose.
What you will be listening to are brief tastes of what would typically be a significantly longer ritual, in which the verse and chorus parts are developed and repeated many times, to be closed by a single rendition of the closing invocation.
Sarna Pusm O Maγet (Song to Heal the Earth)
First verse
Ai, Emä Maγe,
Oh, Mother Nature,
Me sívadbin lańaak.
We are your beloved daughters.
Me tappadak, me pusmak o maγet.
We dance to heal the earth.
Me sarnadak, me pusmak o hanyet.
We sing to heal the earth.
Sielanket jutta tedet it,
We join with you now,
Sívank és akaratank és sielank juttanak.
Our hearts and minds and spirits become one.
Second verse
Ai, Emä Maγe,
Oh, Mother Nature,
Me sívadbin lańaak.
We are your beloved daughters.
Me andak arwadet emänked és me kaŋank o
We pay homage to our mother and call upon the
Põhi és Lõuna, Ida és Lääs.
North and South, East and West.
Pide és aldyn és myös belső.
Above and below and within as well.
Gondank o maγenak pusm hän ku olen jama.
Our love of the land heals that which is in need.
Juttanak teval it,
We join with you now,
Maγe maγeval.
Earth to earth.
O pirä elidak weńća.
The circle of life is complete.
To hear this chant, visit christinefeehan.com/members/.
7. CARPATHIAN CHANTING TECHNIQUE
As with their healing techniques, the actual “chanting technique” of the Carpathians has much in common with the other shamanistic traditions of the Central Asian steppes. The primary mode of chanting was throat chanting using overtones. Modern examples of this manner of singing can still be found in the Mongolian, Tuvan and Tibetan traditions. You can find an audio example of the Gyuto Tibetan Buddhist monks engaged in throat chanting at christinefeehan.com/carpathian_chanting/.
As with Tuva, note on the map the geographical proximity of Tibet to Kazakhstan and the Southern Urals.
The beginning part of the Tibetan chant emphasizes synchronizing all the voices around a single tone, aimed at healing a particular “chakra” of the body. This is fairly typical of the Gyuto throat-chanting tradition, but it is not a significant part of the Carpathian tradition. Nonetheless, it serves as an interesting contrast.