Мамо (Майданек)

Слова: Олександр Богачук

Музика: Марія Юрків

Хто бачив Майданек, той бачив ті стіни,

Що слухали пісню одного хлопчини.

Він склав її просто, як серце складало,

Співав її просто як серце співало.

Приспів:

Мамо, чи чуєш ти мене, Мамо,

Мамо, я хочу до тебе прийти,

Мамо, я рвусь до тебе, Мамо.

Але не пускають колючі дроти.

Бараки, бараки, важкі домовини.

Націлили дула у пісню хлопчини.

Чи бачиш, чи чуєш, двадцятий мій віче,

Як спалена пісня, щовечора кличе.

Люди, чи чуєте мене, люди.

Люди, щасливо йдуть до мети.

Люди, єднайтесь у вогні, люди,

Щоб світ не скувала колючі дроти.

Хто був той хлопчина - Василько чи Янек.

Хай скаже нам попіл, той сивий Майданек.

Ще й мить... ще секунда, і постріл лунає,

А хлопець вмираючи тихо співає...

Приспів

Majdanek (English Translation)

Переклад: Данило Сенторе

If you saw Majdanek, then you saw those walls

Which silently listened as a boy sang his song.

He wrote it exactly, as his heart wrote it,

He sang it exactly, as his heart sang it:

Chorus:

Momma, can you hear me cry to you, momma.

Momma, I want to come to you,

Momma, I'll break through to you, my momma.

Except that the barbed wire won't let me through.

The barracks, the barracks - our burdensome coffin.

They pointed a muzzle at the boy and his song.

Can you hear, can you see, my twentieth forum,

Where every evening he sings his burnt song:

People, please listen to me, people,

People, relieved to go to their fates.

People, unite despite the flames, people,

So the world doesn't herd us through barbed wire gates.

Who was that young boy - Vasylko or Yanek?

Let's ask the dry ashes of that grey Majdanek.

One moment... just a second, and a shot thunders loudly,

And the dying young boy, sings his song softly:

Chorus

Історія

It's unclear when Богачук wrote this poem. I suspect it was in his "Незабутнє" (1958) collection, but I've never been able to track down a copy to confirm.

There are at least 4 melodies for this poem:

Марія Юрків. The most common version sung in the diaspora today. This version is not typically sung in Ukraine. The Iskra band told us her first name was Maria and we were able to confirm this in Свобода 1992-52 (ст 3, far right column, paragraph 2). Documenting the attempts to track her down:
- Jaroslaw Palylyk from the band Iskra:
  - "Try to ask Oles Kuzyszyn. He has more details . Yurkiw actually threatened to sue us as I recall !" - 4 Aug 2020
- Oles Kuzyszyn from the band Iskra:
  - """I know little about the composer of the version of "Мамо" that Іскра recorded, except for the following. Her first name is Maria. She wrote the melody in the late 60's or, possibly, the early 70's. At the time she lived in Great Britain, but subsequently moved to Australia. As you correctly noted, the lyrics by Oleksander Bohachuk existed long before Maria composed her melody. Bohachuk was born in 1933, was a very well known (in Ukraine) poet and lyricist. and the poem that we know as "Мамо" was originally titled "Спалена Пісня (Майданек)". It was under this title that it was set to music by В. Чинч (a totally different melody, of course). I presume that when Maria Jurkiw wrote her melody, she changed the title to "Мамо", but I'm only speculating here. Years later, Дарка і Славко also recorded Maria Jurkiw's setting of "Мамо", and there may have been other recordings as well, but I can't remember off hand."""
- Maria Kunasz Jurkiw
  - Contacted grandson Markian Kunasz. He was in CYM and remembers singing the song. He is contacting family members to ask if they know if his grandmother wrote it. - 7 Aug, 2020
- Maria (nee Bilyk) Jurkiw
  - Contacted great-granddaughter Halie Ruggiero. She said "I'm talking with my grandmother now and she doesn't believe her mother-in-law did anything with music. My grandfather has since passed away." She is getting in touch with her great aunt to ask if she knows. - 1 Oct, 2020
- Maria Futey Yurkiw
  - Contacted granddaughter Tonia Murphy. She said Maria remarried in the 1980s to get the Yurkiw last name, and that would be after the first known references to her authorship. - 1 Oct, 2020
- Oksana Bodnar who sang the song in 1992 according to the Свобода article above
  - "My cousin Irka sang it with Vodohrayj. She said that a man came up to her in Boston and was mad that she was singing his wife’s song."
- Roman Moroz from Suzirya (waiting for response - 3 Oct, 2020)
Василь Чинч. The most common version in Ukraine, and originally the most common version in the diaspora. ВІА Коломияни and the Toronto Kardash Choir sang this version.
Георгій Мірецький. I've never been able to track down a rendition of his composition, but the sheet music can be found in his collection Пісні Романси Том 4 (ст 31).
Володимир Верменич. (Sheet music) sung by Хор Хлопчиків М. Львова "Дударик" on this LP. I have yet to see a digitized version of this album.

Виконання