Modern Songs in Koine Greek
Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:07 pm
Hello all,
I've made it a pastime while singing praise songs to see if I can sing them in Greek, quickly thinking of the Greek words while the rest of the congregation sings in English (I would not recommend this in a small church). You quickly become keenly aware of how slow you are, not only do you have to think of the word, you have to get the form right. After a while, I started writing the songs down and then trying to correct them. I hope to get a number of them posted for all to enjoy, however, translation into Greek is not always easy, there are so many songs about feeling, etc. And getting the syllables and accents to match is hard, and getting the right word - priceless. How indeed would one say in Greek "You say goodbye, I say Hello." (by the Beatles)
So I am beginning to post a couple of the songs. I'm not totally happy with them. I'm trying to use the Koine vocabulary of 100 B.C to 200 A.D. Also I am using stress for the accent; but not all the tunes require stress in a certain spot. Any suggestions are welcome. The master page is found at http://www.letsreadgreek.com/songs/default.htm.
Two songs I have posted are
I've made it a pastime while singing praise songs to see if I can sing them in Greek, quickly thinking of the Greek words while the rest of the congregation sings in English (I would not recommend this in a small church). You quickly become keenly aware of how slow you are, not only do you have to think of the word, you have to get the form right. After a while, I started writing the songs down and then trying to correct them. I hope to get a number of them posted for all to enjoy, however, translation into Greek is not always easy, there are so many songs about feeling, etc. And getting the syllables and accents to match is hard, and getting the right word - priceless. How indeed would one say in Greek "You say goodbye, I say Hello." (by the Beatles)
So I am beginning to post a couple of the songs. I'm not totally happy with them. I'm trying to use the Koine vocabulary of 100 B.C to 200 A.D. Also I am using stress for the accent; but not all the tunes require stress in a certain spot. Any suggestions are welcome. The master page is found at http://www.letsreadgreek.com/songs/default.htm.
Two songs I have posted are
- Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus) by Chris Rice http://www.letsreadgreek.com/songs/breathe/breathe.htm
Breathe (sung by Michael W. Smith) words by Music and Words by Marie Barnett http://www.letsreadgreek.com/songs/unti ... edhymn.htm