"Cântă cucu-n Bucovina" or "Cântă cucu în Bucovina" (transl. "Sings the Cuckoo in Bukovina") is a Romanian folk song, more precisely a doină, composed in 1904 by Constantin Mandicevschi. The lyrics are original, while the melody is a modified Bukovinian mourning song. Mandicevschi composed it at the request of Spiru Haret for the 400th anniversary of the death of Prince of Moldavia Stephen the Great, which was commemorated in Putna (then in Austria-Hungary and now in Romania) in the same year.[1][2] The song is also known as "Cântă cucul, bată-l vina" (transl. "Sings the Cuckoo, Blame It"), "Bucovină, plai cu flori" (transl. "Bukovina, Field with Flowers"), "Cântec pentru Bucovina" (transl. "Song for Bukovina")[1] and "Cântec despre Bucovina" (transl. "Song About Bukovina").[3]
Famous singers of the song include ADDA,[4] Grigore Leșe[3] and Valentina Nafornița.[5] The song was sung in 2022 by a children's choir at the Antim Monastery during a meeting between the Georgian ambassador to Romania Nikoloz Nikolozishvili and the Romanian Orthodox bishop Varlaam Merticariu in which the latter gave the former the Order of St. Anthim the Iberian.[6]
The lyrics of the song, on the version sung by Leșe, are the following:[7]
Cânta cucu bată-l vina |
Sings the cuckoo, blame it |
References
edit- ^ a b "Cine este autorul legendarei melodii "Cântă cucu-n Bucovina" (Video)". EA.md (in Romanian). 20 June 2017.
- ^ "Constantin Mandicevschi – autorul renumitului cântec românesc "Cântă cucu-n Bucovina"". Timpul (in Romanian). 24 July 2017.
- ^ a b "VIDEO. La mulți ani Grigore Leșe. Artistul împlinește 69 de ani". Cluj24.ro (in Romanian). 20 February 2023.
- ^ Clenciu, Dorian Theodor (3 May 2015). "Tânăra generație nu uită! Cantă ...cucu bată-l vina, De răsună Bucovina. O reinterpretare de Ada Adam". România Breaking News (in Romanian).
- ^ "VIDEO // "Cântă cucu-n Bucovina", varianta interpretată de Valentina Naforniță: "Veți auzi un cântec trist, dar de mare dor"". Ziarul Național (in Romanian). 25 May 2020.
- ^ "Outgoing Georgian Ambassador Nikoloz Nikolozishvili presented with patriarchal order of Saint Anthimos the Iberian". OrthodoxTimes. 1 November 2022.
- ^ "Cântă cucul, bată-l vina – Grigore Leșe". Versuri.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 4 March 2023.