Okro Mchedelo

Republic of Georgia

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This song was brought to us by way of Carl Linich, an American scholar of Georgian music. He learned this song from Marina, Mary, Medea, and Mzia Davlasheridze, four sisters from Akhaltsikhe, a town in Georgia's south central province of Meskheti. They had learned it in girl's choir, from a transcription made by Georgian ethnomusicologist Valerian Maghradze in the late Soviet period.

Verse I

 

1. Okro mch'edelo, mch'edelo (2x)

chit'is nali mip'ovnia, okro mch'edelo, mch'edelo

erti bari gamik'ete, okro mch'edelo, mch'edelo

(Refrain) hoda, ho... oha-i-ralo, ha...ri, hara-lo, haralo (2x)

Translation:

 

Goldsmith, I've found a bird's iron shoe. Make a spade for me. With what's left, make a hoe for me. With what's left, make an axe for me. With what's left, make a knife for me.