December 2020

LEAV – Ethnomusicology and Visual Anthropology Lab wishes you a Merry Christmas with a short video filmed by Nicola Scaldaferri in San Costantino Albanese (PZ, Italy)! The female vocal ensemble Lule Sheshi, coached by Papàs Giampiero Vaccaro, performs here the Christmas Apolitikion from the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. In this performance – filmed in the Church of St Constantine the Great (Greek Byzantine Catholic Church, Italo-Albanese Eparchy of Lungro) – a monodic version in Albanian is coupled with a polyphonic setting in Greek (two voices on a drone called ison). Antonietta Brescia (1929) also appears in the video. She is the only one in the village who still remembers the old liturgical songs, which she performed for the last time in Christmas 1947 (see below the photo by Giuseppe Chiaffitella).

Texts

Lindja jote, o Krisht Perëndia ynë, * shkrepi në jetë dritën e ditu- risë, * se për të dhe adhuruesit e ylëzvet * nga ylli qenë të mësuar * të të adhurojnë tyj si diellin e drejtësisë * dhe të të njihjin si lindje prej së larti. O Zot, lavdi tyj.

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Ἡ γέννησίς σου Χριστὲ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, * ἀνέτειλε τῷ κόσμῳ, * τὸ φῶς τὸ τῆς γνώσεως· * ἐν αὐτῇ γὰρ οἱ τοῖς ἄστροις λατρεύοντες, * ὑπὸ ἀστέρος ἐδιδάσκοντο· * σὲ προσκυνεῖν, * τὸν Ἥλιον τῆς δικαιοσύνης, * καὶ σὲ γινώσκειν ἐξ ὕψους * ἀνατολήν, Κύριε δόξα σοι.

I ghènnisìs su, Christè o Theòs imòn, * anètile to kòsmo * to fòs to tis ghnòseos; * en aftì gar i tis àstris latrèvondes * ipò astèros edhidhàskondo * se proskinìn * ton Ìlion tis dhikeosìnis, * ke se ghinòskin ex ìpsus * anatolìn. Kìrie, dhòxa si.