Bright face, round face

Words and Music: Traditional song of the Kuban Cossacks
Pronunciation:
       a as in "bar", e as in "bed", i as in "bid", o as in "bore", u as in "blue"
       y = as in "yellow" / ý = dull i, as in "bill"
       s = always voiceless, as in "son" / z = voiced, as in "zone"
       sh = voiceless, as in "mesh" / zh = voiced, like the s in "measure"
       kh = mostly rough, like the ch in Scotch "loch", but smooth when "e" or "i" follows
       a, e, i, o, u, y = the underlined vowel signifies the stressed syllable of a word.
Musical notation, transcription and analogous translation: Kai Kracht
Comment:
       As this song shows us, also the rough and pugnacious cossacks have only one thing on their mind: A beautiful young girl, looking all lilies and roses, with a face bright and soft, round and sound, who is standing there and breaking twigs of juniper ... Sorrily I don't know more than this one verse but you can easily guess how the story goes on: There is an old folk-tale that twigs of juniper, thrown on the way, will soon bring on a handsome young man. Well, a true cossack won't want a lot of asking!
© Kai Kracht 2002