Number 00

Nychtose choris fengari

Key: D Mode: Hijaz Rhythm: 9/8 Zeïbekiko

ΝΥΧΤΩΣΕ ΧΩΡΙΣ ΦΕΓΓΑΡΙ

Music/words: Apostolos Kaldaras

D     Cm   D#     D         GmD#           D

Νύχτωσε χωρίς φεγγάρι, το σκοτάδι είναι βαθύ

Gm           Cm  D            Cm     D#   D

κι όμως ένα παλικάρι δεν μπορεί να κοιμηθεί [x2]

Άραγε τι περιμένει όλη νύχτα ως το πρωί

στο στενό το παραθύρι που φωτίζει το κελλί [x2]

Πόρτα ανοίγει – πόρτα κλείνει, μα διπλό ‘ναι το κλειδί

τ’εχει κάνει και το ρίξαν το παιδί στή φυλακή [x2]

Πόρτα ανοίγει, πόρτα κλείνει με βαρύ αναστεναγμό

ας μπορούσα να μαντέψω της καρδιάς του τον καημό [x2]

Transliteration:

Νychtose choris fengari, to skotadhi einai vathi

Κi omos ena palikari dhen borei na kimithei    [x2]

Arage ti perimenei oli nychta os to proi

Sto steno to parathyri pou fotizei to kelli   [x2]

Porta anigei, porta kleinei, ma dhiplo‘nai to kleidhi

t’ echei kanei kai to rixan to paidhi sti fylaki [x2]

Porta anigei, porta kleinei me vary anastenagmo

As borousa na mandepso tis kardhias tou ton kaimo [x2]

Translation:

Night fell, without a moon. The darkness is deep – and yet a pallikari is not able to sleep.

What is that he is waiting for, from the night to the dawn, in the narrow window which illuminates his cell?

A door opens – a door closes, but nearby is the key. What has he done, that they threw the boy into prison?

A door opens – a door closes, with a heavy sigh. I wish I could guess at the grief of his heart.

Notes:

This song was written by Apostolos Kaldaras (b. 1922 d.1990). A prolific composer, he was influenced from an early age by the refugees who had arrived from Asia Minor into his native Trikala, to whom he recognises a profound debt of gratitude for the songs that they brought with them. During World War II financial hardship led him to take up singing in taverns around northern Greece, where he also learned to play bouzouki. Very soon his songs began to appear on records. With the Liberation, record factories began to re-open and were interested in getting musicians into the studios. Kaldaras’s first hit was “Mangas vgike gia seriani”, recorded by Markos Vamvakaris for Odeon and Stratos Payioumtzis for Columbia, and later by Tsitsanis. Kaldaras decided to move to Athens. One day he met Yiannis Papaioannou in a café, who took him and introduced him to musical entrepreneur Minos Matsas, then head of Parlophone. Within a few days a deal was struck, and the songs “Nychtose choris fengari” and “Evviva rebetes” were recorded, and became big hits. Presumably this was in 1946-7.

A significant song in the Rebetiko repertoire. Written by Kaldaras at the age of 21, working together with Spyros Peristeris. Relates to the revolt of December 1944 after the move by the British to embark on an anti-socialist “clean-up” of Greece. This song is one of the finest songs of the Civil War period, and has a special place in the hearts of Greeks, representing (as does the “Kapoia mana anastenazei” (“Κάποια μάνα αναστενάζει”) of Tsitsanis/Bakali) the unity of the Greek people. Like many people in Thessaloniki, Kaldaras was broadly of the Left. He was a supporter of the ELAS after the establishment of the its General Office in Trikala. The song uses images of darkness and light to reflect on the terrible conditions prevailing in Greece after the German Occupation.

The song was banned by the government of the time because it talked about the sufferings of a prisoner.

Kaldaras says:

It was shortly after the German Occupation. The hunting down and summary execution of Leftists was a daily phenomenon. I was in Thessaloniki at the time, and one evening at dusk I looked up at the walls of Yedi Kule [“Seven Towers” prison] and saw some silhouettes of prisoners. That was it! That was how “Nychtose choris fengari” was written.

"Ήταν λίγο μετά τη γερμανική κατοχή. Τότε που οι διώξεις, οι εκτελέσεις, οι εκτοπίσεις των αριστερών ήταν καθημερινό φαινόμενο. Ήμουν τότε στη Θεσσαλονίκη, κι ένα σούρουπο βλέπω στα κάστρα του Γεντί Κουλέ μερικές σιλουέτες κρατουμένων. Αυτό ήταν! Έτσι γράφτηκε το «Νύχτωσε χωρίς φεγγάρι».

According to Spyros Papaioannou, Kaldaras wrote the song for a rebetiko musician friend in Thessaloniki, Christos Mingos, who at the time was imprisoned in the New Prison in Kassander Street, Thessaloniki.

In an interview with Panayiotis Kounadhis in 1989 Kaldaras gave further details – that the song was inspired one evening when he was drinking ouzo with Mingos and they looked up at the prison. He imagined the prisoners who had been imprisoned there.

He specified that the words “Που φωτίζει με κερί” which appear on the recording were necessitated by the censhorship office. The original text was “που φωτίζει το κελλί”. The original text also reads “όλη νύχτα ως το πρωΐ”, which some people change.

Notes translated from Spyros Papaioannou, "ΤΟ ΑΣΤΙΚΟ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟ ΤΡΑΓΟΥΔΙ ΣΤΑ ΠΕΤΡΙΝΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΑ 1940-1949".

Recording:

* ΝΥΧΤΩΣΕ ΧΩΡΙΣ ΦΕΓΓΑΡΙ [ΣΠΥΡΟΥ ΠΕΡΙΣΤΕΡΗ - ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΟΥ ΚΑΛΔΑΡΑ] (Στέλλα Χασκίλ) (27/2/1947, ODEON GA 7385).