Το προσφυγάκι – Μέλκον Μάρκος – Στίχοι, Video – kithara.to
Translating from the site:
Year of composition: 1950
Singing and Oud by Marko Melkon.
The recording was made in the USA around 1950. The song melody follows the Hicazkâr Makam scale, which corresponds to the byzantine Plagal Second Mode. Besides the oud, there is a violin and a clay percussion instrument.
Markos Melkon was a Constantinopolitan of Armenian descent. Although he sang professionally since the ’20s, he was only recorded after World War II.
The Little Dervish/The Little Refugee
I’m a little dervish, ah I’m telling you
driven out of İzmir
and I keep crying and getting drunk
and smoking hash as well, at the Café Aman [music café]
Ah yavrım aman [Ah my young one, alas]
Ah yadim aman [Ah my remembrance, alas]
When I play a taksim [improvisation] I feel yearning [μερακιώνω]*
I remember my homeland and I pine away
Sometimes poverty, sometimes riches
I play the oud with skill [μεράκι]*, at the Café Aman
Ah yavrım aman [Ah my young one, alas]
Ah yadim aman [Ah my remembrance, alas]
*Nick Nicholas’ answer to What do the Turkish loanwords merak and meraklı mean in your language?