Get all 6 Mala Herba releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
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1. |
Kupały
04:20
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On Kupała evening, a beautifully dressed girl left the house.
She walks around the village and thinks: where are the boys?
There are no boys and there will be none. To hell with them.
***
Based on a song from Polesie region, from “Muzyka Odnaleziona” archives by Andrzej Bieńkowski
***
On Kupała night, the longest night of the year, girls make daisy chains from aphrodisiacs and throw them into rivers. There are dances around the fire and singing. Couples go into the forest, looking for the magic fern flower. Non-marital sex is allowed and a part of the sacred tradition. It is a celebration of sexuality, fertility, life, and love.
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2. |
Lament
05:27
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The wind has not lamented like my heart had.
The blue river has not cried like my heart had.
The rain has not shed tears like my heart had.
Rocks’ head cracked open so had my heart cried.
Why have you left me?
***
Lament is something between wailing and singing. A traditional way for women to express torment, loss, and misery beyond words between other women.
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3. |
Zaklęcie: Droga
03:15
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Oh, where have I arrived? Where has my fate led me to?
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4. |
Pańszczyzna
04:31
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Little sun!
If you are to set, set faster,
Because our legs are sore from walking over the field.
Legs are sore from walking, hands are sore from working.
Little sun!
If you are to set, set faster.
Go behind the forest, don't peek out.
You'll have enough of looking when you rise early tomorrow.
***
I know this song from my mom and she knows it from hers. However, it is quite possible that my grandmother learned it while singing in a choir. Although the song has traditional origins it has been later on transformed and used by a folk group “Mazowsze”, which filtered traditional music through classical singing and ballet to serve regime propaganda. However, the song carries the pain and exhaustion of the serfs - land-slaves, the peasants, finally freed from any form of unpaid work in 1930. This melody haunts me when I try to imagine the unrecorded story of my family.
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5. |
Rusałki
04:53
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In the morning I will climb a hill.
So the songs sound out.
So the rusałki can hear them.
You, rusałeczki sleep in cold.
And we, the young, reap rye.
***
Based on a song from Chernobyl region, from “Muzyka Odnaleziona” archives by Andrzej Bieńkowski
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Rusałki are daemons, spirits of virgins who drowned and now can lure men and tickle them to death. In a ritual present in Polesie region, women wearing crowns from mountain ash circle the village singing the song. Are the women marking the border between the safe village word and expelling active female sexuality? The lyrics of the song address the demons in a sweet, friendly way though. Maybe the song is just a wink, a quick connection that escapes the male gaze?
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6. |
Chwasty
03:07
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No one planted me but I will grow.
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Mala Herba Vienna, Austria
synth witchcraft
mala herba means
evil herb
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