The Saint Nicholas Orchestra

discography

The Music of the Mountains

(muzyka gór)

mc 1992
reedycja cd 2007

"In the beginning there were no mountains, only water, and the Lord walked upon the water. It happened once that he saw some foam on the water: "Who are you?", He asked. And the foam: "Alive I am, though I cannot walk". And it was the devil ghost Arydnyk. God gave him arms and legs. And so they walked together. They grew tired of walking upon the water, however and it occurred to God to make the earth. Arydnyk dove to the bottom and raked up some clay into his hand; the rest he hid in his mouth for himself. God blessed the earth and it began to grow. It grew and grew, swelling up in the devil's mouth. "Spit", advised him God. The devil began to spit and where he spat, mountains grew, one higher than another; they would have pierced Heaven if God had not bewitched them..."
(Genesis, the Hutsul mythology)

The mountains are "the devil's creation". Anyone who has once let himself be seduced by them will understand it. Nothing can stop him - he must come back to them. Nostalgia for the mountains does not let one live. Not having the time, strength or money for continual wanderings we have created their substitute in our town. And that is how The Saint Nicholas Orchestra came into being.

...And these are the words of a song it took its name from:
St Nicholas Ballad

(the first song on the side B - music and words by Andrzej Wierzbicki)

   I lit a fire in a ruined hut
   From the broken-down stove I took the embers of songs
   I stretched the blue canvass of the sky
   on the splinters of the shingles I will paint anew the village in the valley
   Ref: St Nicholas, tell us how it used to be
   What songs they sang, where the horses grazed

   And he doesn't want to talk to me in Polish
   Only rains pour from the burnt-out pupils
   Hey, blind man, I will teach my child Lemkian
   We will beg together in painted villages
   Ref: St Nicholas...