Thursday, February 08, 2007

CALM, SO CALM


Today it was Slovenian Cultural Holiday. Gray, rainy and sleepy. Slightly sad, as Slovenian poets can be. The Holiday is deducated to our gratest poet France Prešeren as he died on this day back in 1849. His heart was broken since he was in love with some fancy girl that did not care about him at all. Well, I guess I understand him. Alright, but for the Cultural Day I will contribute one of my translations from the archive, not to waste it (Kaneli translator wannabie). The poem is a lyrics from the band Verenpisara (Drop of Blood). I like it as I am attracted to the image of water. There must be a strong stroy behind. So I went deeper into the poem. Indeed it was slightly odd, but nevertheless. The lyrics confused me at first... but after consulting some native speakers I happened to met, my assumptions were confirmed. Translating such poems with some very basic knowledge of Finnish is an interesting practice. Poems do use language differently; that makes things even more tricky... and yes, perhaps I will try to translate some genuine Slovenian poetry into Finnish next time.


Sinun tyyneytesi vie voiton kaikesta
Your calmness defeats all
Tvoj mir premaga vse

piirrän eteesi viivan, älä astu sen yli
I draw a line infront of you, do not step over it
Narišem črto predte, ne stopi čez
piirrän eteesi veteen viivan, älä astu sen yli
I draw a line infront of you on the water, do not step over it
Narišem črto predte v vodo, ne stopi čez
kuljetan sinut pintaan, imen vapaaksi ilmasta
I carry you into the surface, I suck free from the air
Popeljem te v gladino, svoboden zajamem zrak
vesi on tyyni, sinun tyyneytesi vie voiton kaikesta
Water is calm, your calmness defeats all
Voda je mirna, tvoj mir premaga vse

puhun sinulle kosketan hiuksiasi
I speak to you I touch your hair
Govorim ti, dotikam se tvojih las
kuljetan sinut pintaan, imen vapaaksi ilmasta
I carry you into the surface, I suck free from the air
Popeljem te v gladino, svoboden zajamem zrak
vesi on tyyni, sinun tyyneytesi vie voiton kaikesta
Water is calm, your calmness defeats all
Voda je mirna, tvoj mir premaga vse

minun kuivakukkani umpeutui, värinä kädestä reidelleni
My dried up flower closed, shivering from the hand to my thighs
Moja suha roža se je zaprla, drget z roke na moja stegna
ruususuu etääntyi tyhjän vihani ympäriltä
Rosey mouth drew away from the soroundings of my empty anger
Rožnata usta so se odmaknila iz okolice moje prazne jeze
tuhkan kevytkenkäiseen tanssiin
Into the loose dance of ashes
V lahkotni ples pepela

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow...sounds beautiful!

(I love water, too)

kaneli said...

I am glad the thing is pleasant. :) However, in my opinion, it sounds even better within the music. I hope that video will appear soon enough...

Finns have great alternative music indeed. In Finnish, I mean. Oh, I would so wisit one of their summer festivals up there... and we are getting Finnair to Ljubljana Airport in April...

Aelfsciene said...

Pesem je res super ... Kaksna glasba je drugace to?

Kar se pa tice Presernove ljubezni, se mi pa zdi, da mu ni bilo tako hudo ... Mislim, punca je bila v primerjavi z njim blazno mlada, on ji je naredil zivo stalo s tistim sonetnim vencem, itak je imel bab, kolikor je hotel (bolj kot on je zagotovo trpela Ana Jelovsek) ...

Mislim, kot pesnik je bil Preseren wow, kot clovek pa ...

kaneli said...

You Tube bo kmalu prilepil video na blog. Upam. Včasih malce traja. :) Verenpisara so pop-rock-metal. Podobno Timu Rautiainenu. Najprej napišejo pesmi, potem pa skomponirajo muziko. Teksti so res fajn - in komplicirani tudi.

Finski punk je vsekakor najboljši za prevajanje. Pri takem metalu se že zna zaplesti...

Glede Prešerna ne bom oporekala slovenistki. ;) Jaz imam takšno romantično podobo o njem, ah... kot dramaturginja pa sem tudi zvesto spremljala tisto slovensko nadaljevanko. :D

kaneli said...

Vesi on märkää. -> Water is wet. :)

Anonymous said...

I always tought it was "tyhjän LIHANI ympäriltä". It would fit in so nicely. When thinking about rest of the text. It's all so sexual. And empty flesh would be something like penis when it's shrinking after ejaculation. -> There's someting coming to thigh and in Finnish this is very common way to say something went wrong and - as far as I know - it is litterally originated from the phenomenon: a male virgin trying to have sex for the first time, too keen and all, and then it all goes to thight.

But as I cheked the official web-page of Verenpisara I found it to be actually "vihani".

kaneli said...

And the motive of rosey mouth could be well related to fellatio.
However, on the other hand, masturbation could be inclouded too. Like this dried flower, shaking from hand to the thigh...

Siis runo todella puhuu kikkelistä ja sellaisista mukavista asioista. :) Vaikkapa onkin suruja siinä...