Racka
Racka (Bulgarian dialect)
U nedele ditu sti mu zváli,
Sincata smi se prebráli.
Da jadém', da pijém',
I Rácka da ja-izvidém’.
Rodnicite mlogu sa žálni,
Či sám' néja sa ja-utránli.
A sigá za ja izvidat,
Na Boni za ja prededat.
Májćo milna, májćo dubra,
Zako s' táj jáku žálna?
Zako s' tolkus jáku žálna,
Či sám' néja si ja-utránla.
Racka - Rafaela (English)
On a Sunday, you invited us to the wedding
We all gathered
To eat and to drink
And to send Rafaela away to marry
Her parents are very sad
Because she is their only child
And now it’s time to send her away
To give her to her husband, Boni
Oh sweet mum, oh dear mum,
Why are you so sad?
Why are you so sad?
Because she was their only child
"This song is a continuation, an arrangement of my grandmother’s song. This is a song originally composed by my grandmother for my father, who was just beginning his musical journey at the age of 12, playing at a wedding. The bride’s name was Racka. My grandmother comes from a traditional world. She has a gift for looking around and reading people’s life stories on their faces. For her, every person has a song — one that soothes their pain.
She composed this song back then, and a while ago, during a video call, she sang it to me. Racka’s story deeply moved me. The lyrics speak of that moment in a wedding when the bride leaves her parents’ home to join the groom’s family. This ceremony carried an atmosphere almost like a funeral. The bride and her parents wept in farewell as she left behind her home, family, neighbours, and friends to become a wife in someone else’s household.
The lyrics made me reflect on how women today still find pieces of themselves in stories like this — and how transgenerational trauma lingers in our collective memory.
"
Tereza Catarov - voice
Christos Stylianides - trumpet
Cem Evin - guitar
Yiorgos Bereris - piano
Thodoris Ziarkas - bass
Billy Pod - drums
Lyrics - Tereza Catarov and Terezia Catarov
Composition - Tereza Catarov
Sound engineer - Simone Galizio
Mixing and Mastering - Alex Bonney