Leliță Săftiță - Romanian Song feat. Meena Cristiana

Arrangement by Farya Faraji, vocals by Meena Cristiana and Farya Faraji, clarinet by Ali Sehir. This is a song by Anton Pann, one of the most renowned figures of Romanian music. Born in the 1800's, Pann was a folklorist and musicologist, as well as a talented musician and composer himself, and many of his songs were known for their often lewd humour, such as this one.

I wanted to produce a historical rendition of Romanian music of the era, rather than one representative of current Romanian folk music. The folk music of Romania underwent a massive homogenisation in the previous century in the form of Muzică Populară, a highly commercialised form of Romanian music with a specific sonority and arrangement style, one to a large degree based on an extrapolation of the modern orchestral form which would not have been available to folk musicians in earlier era. It is the dominant form of Romanian folk music today, sometimes used to arrange Pann's music too.

Anton Pann, however, as a Wallachian composer, lived in an era when southern Romanian music had far more pronounced Balkanic influences. Reconstructionists like Trei Parale and the Anton Pann ensemble are good examples, giving us an insight into arrangement styles with greater use of percussions, instruments like the cobza, and an overall aesthetic leaning far more heavily towards a southern Balkanic and "oriental" feel I wanted to convey here, something that would have been more similar to Pann's own ears.

The arrangement is based on drums, now having disappeared from current Romanian folk, but once prevalent in Wallachian music, the țambal, violins, and a clarinet.

Lyrics in Romanian:
Leliţă Săftiţă!
Auz,neiculiţă!
Dar,dacă auzi,
De ce nu răspunzi?

Că e mult d'aseară
De când şed pe-afară,
Poarta-nconjurând
Şi tot aşteptând.

Vremea vremuieşte,
Cămaşa-mi răceşte
Luna s-a ascuns,
Ploaia m-a ajuns.

Streşioara-mi pică
Jubeluşa-mi strică
Nu mi-i de jubea
Ca de fremenea.

Că întâiaş' dată
Azi e îmbrăcată
Şi, de nu mă crezi
Deschide s-o vezi!

Du-te, du-te,neică
Du-te de te culcă!
Nu mai sta în drum,
Că nu poci acum.

Nu-ţi mai pierde somnul
Că mi-a venit omul!
Nu mă mai 'nlesnesc
Nici ca să-ţi vorbesc,

Du-te că e noapte,
Să n-auză şoapte,
Că e vai de noi,
De noi amândoi.

English translation:
"Madam Săftiţa!"
"I hear you, mister!"
"But if you can hear me
How come you don’t answer me?

'Cause it’s been a while
Since last night when I’ve been waiting outside
Walking around your door
And waiting.

Time goes by,
My shirt gets colder,
The moon has hidden away,
I am caught in the rain.

Under the projecting roof, water is dripping on me,
My long coat is getting wet,
I don’t care about my overcoat
As much as I care about my waistcoat.

'Cause this is the first time
It’s been worn
And if you don’t believe me
Open the door to see for yourself."

"Mister, go away, go away,
Go to sleep,
Don’t stand in the middle of the road
Cause I can’t right now.

Don’t waste your time
Cause my husband has come home,
I can’t even pull myself together
To talk to you.

Go away 'cause it’s night time,
Should he hear voices
Poor us,
Both of us."