Text: Sappho
Translation: Anne Carson (ENG), Mette Moestrup (DK)
Music: Miriam Karpantschof
Video: Sasha Huber
Image: artist portrait of Sasha Huber by Kai Kuusisto
Some Men Say
WE LOVE SAPPHO
Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos from around 630 A.C. She is one of the world's greatest poets. The word lesbian origins from her. She taught and performed with young women. Very little is known about her private life. She played the lyre, sang and danced. She invented the lyric I, the sapphic stanza, and the plectrum. Most of her lyrics are lost, one poem is intact, the rest are fragments. Fragment 16 (in Anne Carsons bilingual translation ‘If not, winter. Fragments of Sappho’ (2002)) which begins with the words "Some men say", is actually one of the more well-preserved poems. But we only sing the first stanza. It is more than 2500 years old, but feels relevant as if written today.
SHE'S A SHOW has a wooden lyre (not made of tortoise shell like in Sappho's time) and plays it when working with fragments of Sappho
Some men say Some men say an army of horse and some men say an army on foot and some men say an army of ships is the most beautiful thing on this black earth. But I say it is what you love. Nogle mænd siger Nogle mænd siger en hær af heste og nogle mænd siger en hær af soldater og nogle mænd siger en hær af skibe er det smukkeste som findes på den sorte jord. Men jeg siger, det er det, du elsker.
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