Ljova and the Kontraband -- Mnemosyne (It's autumn in the country I remember...)

A tango-influenced setting of a hundred year-old poem by Trumbull Stickney, "Mnemosyne" is the title track of the debut CD recorded by Ljova and the Kontraband. "Mnemosyne" is the Greek name for the Goddess of memory.


This song features the Kontraband's vocalist, Inna Barmash, and a special guest, Frank London, on trumpet.

The footage for the video comes from Ilya Khrjanovsky's film "4", and is used by permission.

For more on Ljova and the Kontraband, visit http://www.Ljova.com

MNEMOSYNE
Trumbull Stickney (1874-1904)

Its autumn in the country I remember.

How warm a wind blew here about the ways!
And shadows on the hillside lay to slumber
During the long sun-sweetened summer-days.

Its cold abroad the country I remember.

The swallows veering skimmed the golden grain
At midday with a wing aslant and limber;
And yellow cattle browsed upon the plain.

Its empty down the country I remember.

I had a sister lovely in my sight:
Her hair was dark, her eyes were very sombre;
We sang together in the woods at night.

Its lonely in the country I remember.

The babble of our children fills my ears,
And on our hearth I stare the perished ember
To flames that show all starry thro my tears.

Its dark about the country I remember.

There are the mountains where I lived. The path
Is slushed with cattle-tracks and fallen timber,
The stumps are twisted by the tempests wrath.

But that I knew these places are my own,
I d ask how came such wretchedness to cumber
The earth, and I to people it alone.

It rains across the country I remember.

("Мнемозина" - стихи Трумбул Стикней, музыка Льва Журбина. Исполняет ансамбль Ljova and the Kontraband. Фрагменты из фильма «4», Илья Хржановский)

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[JPehrson2]

this is just great. at first it looks a bit like a cola commercial... :) but it is overall magnificent, especially when the performing musicians are shown. ljova is a genius!

[ljovadotcom]

you're much too kind..

[churchill5]

Both graceful and haunting, a moving treatment of this beautiful poem.

[thesurfingviolinist]

I love this song. Well done.

[playgroundpc]

Beautiful song.

[CINEASTE55]

Brilliant and evocative! Well done!