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Talented Copts required
After the topic on Zefte Pantees, I wanted to create a thread to help solve a few problems we have.
The sad thing about all this is, we are trying to pronounce something in a language that is not even ours, that is no longer used. Zefte Pantees, like O Kerios Metasou, is old Greek. Maybe some Greek brightspark may understand it who knows Ancient Greek, but it saddens me deeply that these beautiful melodies that we have are stuck in a language that's foreign to everyone alive.
I think when the words of any song/hymn penetrate your heart then you will enjoy them more. Like this, with the way things are, all that is penetrating your heart is the melody as the meaning is SO fixed in the original language, I doubt that translating it will even produce an accurate result. A prime example is indeed Agios Icteen.
Aren't there any musical geniuses here that can do a translation job for us??
The purpose of this thread is for everyone to post hymns in English that were originally in Coptic/Arabic/Greek that are just as beautiful (if not more beautiful) than the original hymn.
Here's Agios Otheos: Its in English.
This must be the MOST BEAUTIFUL Agios I've EVER EVER heard in my life.
They smartly changed a few tones - its not like the original that we sing in Greek, but it is WAY WAY better... Well done to them!!
The sad thing about all this is, we are trying to pronounce something in a language that is not even ours, that is no longer used. Zefte Pantees, like O Kerios Metasou, is old Greek. Maybe some Greek brightspark may understand it who knows Ancient Greek, but it saddens me deeply that these beautiful melodies that we have are stuck in a language that's foreign to everyone alive.
I think when the words of any song/hymn penetrate your heart then you will enjoy them more. Like this, with the way things are, all that is penetrating your heart is the melody as the meaning is SO fixed in the original language, I doubt that translating it will even produce an accurate result. A prime example is indeed Agios Icteen.
Aren't there any musical geniuses here that can do a translation job for us??
The purpose of this thread is for everyone to post hymns in English that were originally in Coptic/Arabic/Greek that are just as beautiful (if not more beautiful) than the original hymn.
Here's Agios Otheos: Its in English.
This must be the MOST BEAUTIFUL Agios I've EVER EVER heard in my life.
They smartly changed a few tones - its not like the original that we sing in Greek, but it is WAY WAY better... Well done to them!!
Comments
What a brilliant site!!!
OK - here's what I think.
Take the hymn Atai Parthenos:
http://www.copticheritage.org/hymns_in_english/this_is_the_virgin
They have translated everything EXACTLY, including the music perfectly into English.
I think what they need to do (what's missing) is that they follow the example of St Verona's in Figi with Agios Otheos. They have to change the tune A TINY BIT. A teeny weeny bit.
Don't get me wrong, what they've done is brilliant. I love it even. But I think it doesn't take a genius to figure out that hazaats don't work with the English language. Don't ask me why, but the end result is incomprehensible when you do hazaats in English.
But it can be fixed! How? I'd have to show you, but it changes the melody a small bit.
I just sang it to myself without the hazats - without sounding arrogant, its brilliant.