The Merry Cemetery of Sapanta
Photographs by Peter Kayafas Translations by Adrian G. Sahlean Essay by Sanda Golopentia |
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'The Merry Cemetery of Sapanta' (Cimitirul Vesel de la Sapanta) - |
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The book was launched in New York in February 2008 and Boston in July 2008 at the Kayafas Gallery. A short presentation movie with cross details and sample epitaphs narrated on original Maramures music can be viewed following this U-Tube link HERE. |
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The Album is not sold in bokstores |
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Here are excerpts from the July 15th 2008 Boston Phoenix review "Grave matters -The MerryCemetery of Sapanta" following the Bsoton launching: "Entering the small back room at Gallery Kayafas you feel you’ve been transported into the shadowy pages of a small, mysterious book... /The book/...celebrates the riveting and crude carved wooden grave markers in an isolated village in northern Transylvania. It also chronicles the germination and fruition of a real folk art. |
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![]() Cross Detail of founder Ioan Stan Patras |
A carver of gates and crosses, Ion Stan Patras (19081977) eventually began carving the likenesses of his fellow villagers for their tombs. |
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Lightning strikes one ill-fated farmer; a rabid horse spits in the face of another; vehicular accidents abound; a youth meets his end rollerblading in a Paris subway; the shepherd Saulic Ion was shot and beheaded by a Hungarian.... |
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Each poem is delivered in the first person, the voice of the dead. All are terse, idiosyncratic, and utterly personal you’re delivered into the frequent sorrows, occasional joys, and continuing passions of a people. |
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The Album is not sold in bokstores |
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