Slovak Folk Music

A sampling of lines from Slovak folk songs, in approximate translation:

“Come here and let me comb your hair.”

“Matceco [a boy’s name], come and hit the lentils” (Matceco forgot the instrument with which he hits them and has to go home to get it)

“There is a river and you are single; drown yourself in it. Why should I do that?” (The latter part is the single woman's reply. I love strong women.)

“There are few handsome men in this town and none of them make love. There is a well, and my boyfriend is on the other side of the well, so I go there all the time, but not to get water, but to see him.” (Believe it or not, I edited that one to make it tamer!)

As I said one evening, “What stays in Slovakia, stays in Slovakia.”

Here are two youtube videos of Slovak folk songs to give you an idea: (this first one is the Matceco song, which is about lentils, as you saw above.)

This second one is a little stressful of a video, but I promise the song isn't always performed this stressfully.

I've danced like (or, I should say, have been spun around like) the girl in the beginning of the second video. In addition, Slovaks typically dance the polka and the waltz. Wonderfully, one man asked me, "When did you learn the polka?," which was delightful, primarily because I never have learned the polka. A particularly good dancer, who liked to twirl a girl all the way around the room until she was dizzy, kept complimenting me, "It's perfect; it's perfect!" Every once and a while, however, his real position would come out: "It's like you're fighting me and not dancing! I mean, it's perfect; it's perfect!"