| RELEASE DATE: | FEBRUARY 25, 2020 |
| RECORD LABEL: | EDMUND FAIRFAX |
| LYRICS/MUSIC: | EDMUND FAIRFAX |
| ARRANGEMENT: | EDMUND FAIRFAX |
Two songs sung in ancient Gothic composed by Edmund Fairfax, to be included in a projected album “The Songs of Gothia.”
Drinkam is a drinking song that is imagined to have been composed in celebration of a fictive victory in 342 AD by a coalition of the eastern Goths under Ermanaricus (Latinized form equivalent to the expected Gothic *Airmanareiks) and the Eruli under Alaricus (Latinized form = *Alareiks) over the forces of the neighbouring Bosporan Kingdom under Tiberius Julius Rhescuporis VI. While no extant textual source mentions any such conflict, archaeological finds suggest at least that Rhescuporis VI’s rule was shocked by a conflict during this time. A falling out occasioned by this victory is imagined to have led in turn to the historically real conflict between *Airmanareiks and *Alareiks, wherein the latter was soundly defeated (Jordanes Getica).
Drinkam Lyrics
Drinkam nu alla, drinkam lustum. Stikls ist fulls; staþs nu biudiþ. Laikam jah hlaupam; leikai þeihs. Singwam jah hlaupam, saurgos letam. Let us all drink now, drink with pleasure. The cup is full; the place now offers. Let us dance and jump; may time please. Let us sing and laugh and leave off sorrows.
Donna Greenberg 