CAFƒANTARSIA ENSEMBLE
Songs ofthe Table
Innova 684
NikosBrisco: vocals,gypsy guitar, Greek bouzouki, baglama, Cretan laouto, & bass
RuthMargraff: lyrics, vocals,accordion
RonRiley: guitar,tzouras, vocals
RamiEl-Aasser: darbukah,riq, frame drum, bells, ashiko, vocals
Produced, Engineered, Mixed& Mastered by Kevin Johnson at Prosonic Audio (Pagosa Springs, Colorado) Summer 2006.
CD cover& portraits by J.R. Delia, back cover & inside jewel box by DavidLittle Smith
With special thanks to Dan Prall (Dallas & Istanbul), Wild Blooms(Austin, Texas), Carol Turner for time, talent, energy & expertise, BarbRiley, Cristian Amigo, Philip Blackburn & Innova Records, New Dramatists, EuroAmericaRecords, Elyse Singer/Hourglass Group (NYC), Fulbright Foundation (Greece), DahTeatar, Max ManicÕ & family, DraganRistic/Amala School & KAL (Serbia)
1.
Trampled puddlesof wine color
Are his shallowweary eyes
Sleep the sisterof his death
Born of poets,bred by thieves
Heholds no shadow
Only fingers tenand tail
For devilsriding devils
In the weltedtortoise shell
Ifwe leave behind
Ourlutes of lovely tortoise shell
WeÕll walk oncemore as tortoises
Upon theBlackest Sea
Ifwe roar like bulls,
Theblood of heaven. Will flood the graves
ThatweÕve forgottenÉ
Inthe dead we canÕt remember of before
Spreadlike dung across the darkness
Red the cobwebhooves of mourning
Blind withnight, the thunder crying
Triple-breastedbeast of hell
Wing of falconswiftly swelling
ÔTil we standstill in the felling
Stain of angelsin the well
WedonÕt know and we wonÕt know
Sang the lutebeneath his hand
ÔTil the devilscome by forest
And the riflesturn to brothers
Andthe widows dip their apples
In the table ofthe wine
2.
In the hour ofthe doorsÉ
Where we hadworn three peepholes
Pressing ourfaces for the three of us
Threegraces. We longed forevening.
To nameeverything a name
From which itwould never shake free
Chorus:
In thebloodwings passing over
Tablesset with the ash of Crete
In the scatterof our fathers on the sea
That tore thetears across our cheeks
Ifhis hand had never broken
Where he brushedagainst the PashaÕs horse
Hot and wet, itsbosom heaving
From a crest ofAyia Sofia jewels
We know all theriddles of the streetsÉ(Chorus)
Ifwe push against the graves
To bury one moreiron angel
Loose the snakesto swallow
Golden wings andflaming sword
Black with thepowder of the rebel
Where his rootswere cutÉ(Chorus)
Ifwe drag the last embrace
To fell anothershrieking widow
Wrestling Charosin the bloodwings
Black and wetupon the stones
It was the PashaÕshorse that called to Michales
ÉMore than thecrested letter
3.
Sometimes I diewhere I am standing
Look down at mysoul that cannot break me
Throw my limbsinto the river
Iwas a girl who cleaned the trains
And wouldnÕtdance
Thought IÕdsomeday catch on fire
Burn slow as IÔmburning
Sometimeswhen you follow me
I throw my hairinto the fountains
On my wingŽdhorse, across the smiting sun
Hearths andhomes are for the others
Iwill never danceÉ
Unless I catchon fireÉ
Where I amflyingÉ
Look down as IÕmburning
Sometimesthe mountains mock us
Snap theminarets with me
Let the bloodrise higher than the horseÕs belly
Take life andthenÉ goÉ freeÉ
Iam a girl who cleans the trains
And I wonÕtdance
If I ever catchon fire
Burn you as IÕmburningÉ(Repeat)
(Letme die in the air,
Letme die in the flame
Let me soar tothe heavens,
An arrow ofgrace)
4.
5.
Where is hercopper jar?
Where is thewoman at the well? It can't be Jasmin.
Without thatlittle black lamb at her feet
YouÕd be damn'd Romanijealous
Of Jasmin'sOttoman boutique
Jasmin'sveil is spinning slow
Across theburning windows
She sings a girlwith roses in her tears
Rolls her curseof bulls that lay there dying
Jasmin draws thedemons to the wine
Jasmin'sveil is lifting slow
With ghost violafingers
Silt is risingfrom the Dead Sea on its back
Red sky hangingflatter than a curtain
Jasmin calls theblack lambs to the Vine
Thick-as-a-man's-waist-tall-as-a-house-by-morning!
I've-been–feeling-strangely-toward-you-for-some-time!
Jasmin'slace is growing thick
Across theburned out windows.
Ghosts stillflung across the marketplace
And blood stillrushing in the bookstore
Flood thesegraves to keep us Byzantine
Thick-as-a-man's-waist-tall-as-a-house-by-morning!
I've-been–feeling-strangely-toward-you-for-some-time!
Jasmin'slace is growing thick
Across the blownout windows
Sabers rushingbirds torn in the air
Jasmin'splanting all the boots with roses
Jasmin's draggingslit lambs to the wine
Jasmin'sveil is growing thick
Across theburned out windows
Ghosts stillflung across the marketplace
And blood stillrushing in the bookstore
Flood her graveto keep us Byzantine
6.
As if her Daddy'sblack lung
Choked down onher song
And called upbullfrogs in her throat
So she keptsighinÕ there and clawinÕ
At the coversall night long
For some velvetshe could treasure
In her ribcageiron skillet
She'd keepstokinÕ like a stovepipe
ÔTil the crackof every dawn
Asif her Daddy's whiskey sour
Sunset wasstanding still
Against thetracks across the hills
Where the trainswould pressure down
On the faces ofthe pennies
And the fossilof a girl
Straining at thefeast of families
To keep theblackberries from her gown
Andshe would press so many four-leaf clovers
In the Biblesthat he later had to burn.
Andhe showed her how the sun could turn
And burst itsliquor open still and rise again,
How to lift herhair up from the dew
Of prehistoricpromises so green
With weepingwillows and fatted calves and feasting
Asif we never would see lava coming down
In rock hardfeathers all across the sky
Turn the yellowcake to smoke
And gold toliquor. As if we'd always find him
Putting out thefleece again tonight
Waiting for his blacksheep daughter
To cross hismindÉ
AndDaddy I know I should've crossed your sepulcher
WearinÕ timbrelsevery time it thundered
I should'vepoured you somethinÕ sweeter
Than the day farspent in the slate
I wanted my ownway then. But now my will is brokenÉ
Can I pleasecome in? And stay in the extra room?
ExtraÉExtraroomÉ
Asif the same old whiskey sour
Sunset wasstanding still
In the fossilprinted darkness
Pressin' intopeacock diamonds
In the rough...for you to believe
7.
When heavenstruck its head
On the vaultedtwilight
Split the bluedome jade to stars
And the moon wasflung across the night
ThereÔrose a grace upon the sea
With horns anddragon-tail that spun
Dark rainbows inher cauldron
And she told mewhen she built the sky
Sheleft two crevices undone
Forthe rolling of lovers
For the rollingof hope
For the rollingof teaÉ. (Repeat)
8.
Is this theCrete / This is the Crete
My fatherwatered with his blood
WasI born to crush the blossoms
Of these lemonsin the window
Was I born totoast the Pashas
And the taintedhenna hands
WasI born to seize the lions
By the loins ofrotting gallows
And cursing ChristÉAndcurse Mohammad
As the dead sinkdown within a man
ThereÕsno room in my house
For my swollensoul tonight
And thereÕs noroom in my Raki glass
To break it withmy knife
ThereÕsno room on the lemon tree
To hang anotherbroken face
ThereÕs no roomin the mountain sage
For all thedevilsÉAman, Aman, Aman
Isthis the Crete / This is the Crete
My motherwatered with her tears
WasI born to Samsons springing
From the wormsof milk abounding
To work thepestle, work the mortar
Work the scornof threshing floors
IÕmnot a man to let the fly
Run up and downthe saber (Repeat)
ThereÕsno room in my house
For my swollensoul tonight
And thereÕs noroom in my Raki glass
To crush it withmy knife
ThereÕsno more room on the lemon tree
To hang anotherbroken face
ThereÕs no roomin the mountain sage
For all thedevilsÉAman, Aman, AmanÉ
9.
10.
Whatmadness! How can it be!
What horror, ohwhat horror
This...astranger's voice
A bell struckhard too many times
A bell withvoices in it...ringing
I was a smallboy / A baby's cry
A thousand timesI've seen your ghost
A thousand timesI've seen your ghostÉ(Repeat)
Whatmadness has befallen
Every generation/ Oh what madness!
For I am the sonwho yielded
To the Rose Torment/ Oh my beloved!
I am the bedouinwho wanders
In thewilderness afar / My love, my love!
From my beloved/ I have searched for you
In every marketplace/ Every vineyard
Every garden / Everygrave
A thousand timesI've seen your ghost
A thousand timesI've seen your ghostÉ(Repeat)
11.
Oh woe is me howwill she ever respect me?
IÕm just awayward bramble my law is my guitar
The only thing Isee is whatever is before me
One day I stoleinto her eyes, now I see nothing more
Ohwoe is me when I hear the road a-calling
When I feel theocean rolling its tide in my bones
She says sheÕllgo there with me but oh I have no money
She says itdoesnÕt matter, she says our love is strong
WhatI failed to mention is my loveÕs a Gypsy princess
And when sheplays her accordion crows and angels sing in key
From the forestsof Romania they say her father slept with witches
That her motherdied in birth, speaking an ancient tongue
Ohwoe is me IÕm just a wayward Christian
Ohwoe is me everywhere I go the birds paint her face with melody
Themoon lights my way back home
Here I amtonight in a field drinking wine
Living anancient riddle, singing an ancient rhyme
Intoher arms I find me running like a child
And between herlegs I find the songs that from youth once drove me wild
Andthe crows and the angelsÉ have all been good to me
Six strings onmy guitar now six children call me father
12. RAKIJA WALTZ