Day 115: Old Songs on the Pinega
In a village on the Pinega River in the Arkhangelsk region, a folklorist from Saint Petersburg records old Ivan Prokopyevich singing the songs he learned from his grandmother, while the old man's grandson Kolya helps out.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title.
- Read the dialogue and its translation. The audio for this lesson is coming soon.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Russian audio, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio for this lesson is coming soon. For now, read the dialogue and its translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day
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A
Иван Прокопьевич, запись идёт. Спойте, пожалуйста, ту, что вчера начинали, про лебёдушку, с самого начала.
Ivan Prokopyevich, we're recording. Please sing the one we started yesterday, about the swan, from the very beginning.
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B
С начала, дак с начала. Её бабка моя певала, когда лён трепали... Ну, слушай: «Ой да не белая лебёдушка по синю морю плывёт...»
From the beginning, then. My grandmother used to sing it when they were scutching flax... Well, listen: "Oh, it's not a white swan swimming on the blue sea..."
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A
Простите, одно слово не поймал: «во баской во...» во чём? «Баско», я знаю, значит «красиво», а дальше?
Sorry, I didn't catch one word: "in a fine..." in a fine what? I know "basko" means "beautiful", but what comes after?
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C
«Во лопотине». Лопотина по-нашему одежда, дед и мою куртку так зовёт. Вы записывайте, у нас таких слов полно.
"In lopotina." Lopotina is our word for clothes, Grandpa calls my jacket that too. Write it down, we've got plenty of words like that.
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B
Не встревай, Колька, твоё дело лодки строить. Эх, раньше-то баско пели, всей деревней, на угоре, а нонче одни частушки, да и те в телевизоре.
Don't butt in, Kolka, your job is building boats. Ah, people used to sing beautifully, the whole village, up on the riverbank, and nowadays it's only chastushkas, and those on the telly.
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A
А бабушка ваша от кого эту песню переняла, не помните? Мне важно, откуда напев: здешний или с Мезени.
And who did your grandmother learn this song from, do you remember? It matters to me where the tune comes from: from here or from the Mezen.
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B
От матери своей, от кого ж ещё. А бабка у меня голосистая была, её ещё в двадцатые городские на машину с трубой записывали.
From her mother, who else. My grandmother had a fine voice, some city folk even recorded her back in the twenties on a machine with a horn.
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A
Подождите... Экспедиция двадцать седьмого года? У меня на ноутбуке весь их пинежский архив, оцифрованные валики. Как звали вашу бабушку?
Wait... The expedition of nineteen twenty-seven? I have their whole Pinega archive on my laptop, the digitised cylinders. What was your grandmother's name?
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B
Анисья Кузьмина. Да нешто сохранилось что? Сто лет прошло, городские те, поди, давно померли.
Anisya Kuzmina. But surely nothing's survived? A hundred years have gone by, and those city folk must have died long ago.
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A
Люди ушли, а голос остался. Вот: «Веркола, Кузьмина Анисья, пятьдесят два года, песня протяжная». Сейчас включу.
The people are gone, but the voice has stayed. Here: "Verkola, Kuzmina Anisya, fifty-two years old, a slow song." I'll play it now.
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C
Дед... Это ж она, та самая лебёдушка, и тянет точь-в-точь как ты, на том же слове. У меня аж мурашки по спине.
Grandpa... It's her, the very same swan song, and she draws out the note exactly like you, on the same word. I've got goosebumps all down my back.
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B
Бабка... Сто лет, а голос тот же. Спасибо тебе, городской. Пиши теперь и меня как следует, чтоб через сто лет тоже кто послушал.
Grandma... A hundred years, and the voice is the same. Thank you, city boy. Now record me properly too, so that someone listens in a hundred years' time as well.
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