Pontos: Sing for Trebizond

The song is ΕΚΑΕΝΚΑΙ ΤΟ ΤΣΑΜΠΑΣΙΝ - Ekaenkai to tsabasin (Tsabasin Burnt down) from the Guardians of Hellenism VOL.4, Pontos & Cappadocia. It carries well the power of loss, and the love of land felt by Pontians. Pontos (Πόντος), the land below the Black Sea that was colonized by Ancient Greeks, had a rich Ancient and Christian history, now suddenly in danger of being forgotten after the Turks expelled the Pontians. The Empire of Trebizond was the last Christian land in Anatolia to resist the Turks. The lyrics for the song Tsabasin burnt down: Xenophon Akoglous, in his 'Folklore of Kotyora', informs us that the song was written in 1913 on the event of the great fire which destroyed Tsabasi, a lovely resort built at an altitude of 2,000 meters, 45 km from Kotyora. Singer: Sophia Sinopoulou Tsabasin burnt down, not even bare walls left, the young men of Ordou rushed to save it. A great fire in Tsabasin, not a house left standing. Young and old, poor and rich, all sat weeping. The slopes were smoking, the springs ran dry, Ashes heaped high, great houses destroyed. The lambs and sheep, the glens, the slopes, The springs and wells, all are to be pitied. The poor birds are weeping, the lovely fir trees are weeping. Tsabasin burnt down, nothing's left standing, my bird, Hills and valleyes will no more grow grass. It's burnt and gone, the country-side of Ordou, And nothing's left there save only ashes.