I'm posting a song a day from the Rise Up Singing songbook, which you may or may not know. It's a pretty invaluable resource for song leaders, and useful for anyone who likes to sing in groups. The book doesn't include the melodies to the songs, just the lyrics and some chords, so I’m trying hard to find the tunes I don’t know, learn them, and post them on YouTube for anyone to learn. That’s where these videos are hosted; the blog is just pretty packaging.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
May There Always Be Sunshine
(Song begins at 0:58)
Words (Russian) by Lev Oshanin
English translation by Thomas Botting
Music by Arkadi Ostrovsky
Rise Up Singing chapter: Peace, p.161
D - / - Em / - A / - D
Short & simple today. The travelling* folk singer I mention in the video also showed us sign language signs to the lyrics, which I have NOT forgotten, although I clearly forgot to show them to you in the video. E-mail me if you want to know them. I don't, however, know which sign language they were from.
My remembered pronunciation is wrong, it turns out. The first line is: "Пусть всегда будет солнце" which transliterates roughly as "poost vegda", not "poost voogda". So switch that up mentally or you'll remember it wrong (wrongly?) like I did.
There are several wonderful Russian renditions on YouTube. Here are four of them:
Adeen
Dva
Tri (This one has unrelated English lyrics to the same tune. Worth a listen)
Chetyreh
*I've been told before that travelling takes only one 'l', but I just looked it up, suckers, and it turns out my inclination to use two is perfectly acceptable. Just a touch British, that's all.
I know this song from Charlotte Diamond, a BC Children's singer much like Sharon, Lois and Bram. She did the song in multiple languages if I remember correctly. We had it on a cassette tape for car trips so I don't know the actions.
ReplyDeleteI sang this song as part of the St. Louis Children's Choirs' 1995 trip to Russia. Your pronunciation is pretty much right-on with what I remember.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I'm loving this project. I can't promise I'll visit everyday, but I will pledge to binge on many posts occasionally, like I am today.
Keep it up!