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about
"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire."
I have already recorded "Ballad For Boriska" in late 2020 during the main-sessions for my debut-record "Dämmerschwellen" - but it did not fit into the album's concept. Nevertheless, I would not consider the song a leftover-track, because, in fact, I like it quite a bit. Musically, it sounds more like classic neofolk compared to the rest of the material.
Thematically, the track pays tribute to Andrei Tarkovsky, the legendary poet and visionary of Soviet cinema. Boriska is one of the characters of his cineastic masterpiece "Andrei Rublev" (1966). The son of a bell maker is the only person in rural 15th century Russia that still bears the secret of this craft. The Black Death had taken all the old masters away. So Boriska receives the task to cast a huge bell - realising that he can only succeed when he does things his own way, by trusting his intuition. Even if that means that he has to break with the established traditions. A poetic parabola on the matter of progression and perpetuation.
lyrics
Your weary eyes are set ablaze
Glowing like charcoal beneath rubble and ruins
With a youth uncompromised
With a spirit unfettered, unbroken
There’s no need to cry
‘cause history lies before you with blank pages
You don’t need a secret,
you create one on your own
That’s all generations’ fate
Your’re like wild flowers growing on cemeteries
You are not stumbling
You are tightrope walking
In firm steps you move forward
All on your own,
on your ashen grey feet
There’s no need to cry
‘cause history lies before you with blank pages
You don’t need a secret,
you create one on your own
That’s all generations’ fate
Renewal is your holy goal
Your life is a dance of decisions
True artistry is like alchemy
Who’s defeated in sweat may triumph
There’s no need to cry
‘cause history lies before you with blank pages
You don’t need a secret,
you create one on your own
That’s all generations’ fate
credits
released November 3, 2023
Vocals and all instruments recorded by Nico Schwappacher in his Darkfolk Werkstatt Helmbrechts in late MMXX
Lyrics by Nico Schwappacher
Mixing, mastering and cover-layout by Valkenstijn in the House Of Inkantation in late MMXXIII