by Miyagi & Andy Panda
“Kosandra” is a single by Miyagi & Andy Panda, the hip-hop duo from Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia, released on 14 February 2020. Our translation reads the title as the name Cassandra. The chorus calls her wild and a playful muse who clouded the singer's mind and destroyed the musician, while he stayed by her side and kept believing. The verses move through loose, dreamlike images: time rushing like a herd of horses, a tribe that only asks for trust, a lion that roars at night, smoke drifting away. He admits he could not be in this world alone, calls himself her prisoner and asks who will save him if not her, then wants to dissolve in her embrace. A short bridge is sung in English. The words are poetic and open to more than one reading, so our translation stays close to them.
Koinei's own English translation. The original Russian lyrics are not shown on this page: open the reader to follow them word by word with the audio.
My wild Cassandra
My wild Cassandra, playful muse, clouded my mind, destroyed the musician
Yet, I stayed by your side and believed
These pirates will be devoured by allegories
(last 3 lines x2)
They called you a delusion-fed dream, oh my.
And you, beloved by the night, remember this.
Protected by tolerant kin for the future, celebrated by oppressed hearts, beat and bass.
Time rushed like a herd of horses to die, and the tribe didn't marvel, just asked for trust.
Under this weight of negativity, those who won't see the light, you beautifully twisted the plot.
We deliberately acted like children, partying.
We took what we wanted, took what we wanted.
And honestly,
I couldn't be in this world alone.
Ragga, bless us, tonight we'll make noise.
(sung in English)
My wild, wild
My wild, wild, wild,
I'm a prisoner of Cassandra
My wild, wild
I'm a prisoner of Cassandra.
I'm a prisoner of Cassandra
The lion roars, smokes at night
Destroying again, we build bridges
Who, if not you?
Who will save me?
Smoke flies away,
Let me dissolve in your embrace
You're closer now, hear it?
You penetrate my mind
This is a message from above
Everyone's gone, the lights are out.
Appear as the playful muse
I'll spend the night with you
I'm a prisoner of Cassandra
(sung in English)
(repeat the 3 lines from “My wild Cassandra, playful muse, clouded …” x2)
| Word | Say it | Meaning | Type | In the song |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| дикий | dikiy | wild | adjective | дикая: nominative, singular, feminine |
| игривый | igrivy | playful | adjective | игривая: nominative, singular, feminine |
| затмевать | zatmevat | to eclipse | verb | затмевала; here “eclipsed” |
| разум | razum | mind | noun | разум |
| убивать | ubivat | to kill | verb | убивала; here “killed” |
| музыкант | muzykant | musician | noun | музыканта |
| рядом | ryadom | near | adverb | рядом; here “nearby” |
| верить | verit | to believe | verb | верил: past, singular; here “believed” |
| аллегория | allegoriya | allegories | noun | аллегориями: plural |
| пират | pirat | pirates | noun | пираты: nominative, plural |
| время | vremya | time | noun | время |
| пленник | plennik | captive | noun | пленник: nominative, singular; here “prisoner” |
«Затмевала разум» (Zatmevala razum) “clouded my mind”
Затмевала is the past tense of затмевать (to eclipse, to cloud), an imperfective verb: it shows an ongoing or repeated action, something she kept doing, rather than one finished act. Its perfective partner is затмить. The ending -ла is feminine because the subject is Kosandra; with a male subject it would be затмевал. Убивала (was killing) in the next line works the same way.
«Я пленник» (Ya plennik) “I'm a prisoner”
Russian normally leaves out быть (to be) in the present tense, so я пленник is literally “I prisoner”, meaning “I am a prisoner”. In the past and the future the verb comes back, and the noun after it usually moves into the instrumental: я был пленником, “I was a prisoner”. The same thing happens with professions: он музыкант, “he is a musician”.
«Кто меня спасёт» (Kto menya spasyot) “who will save me”
Спасёт comes from спасти (to save), a perfective verb. Perfective verbs have no present tense: their present-tense endings give the future, so спасёт means “will save”, one complete rescue. The imperfective partner спасать forms its future with буду or будет: будет спасать, “will be saving”. Меня is the accusative of я (I), the direct object of the verb.
«что хотим» (chto khotim) “what we want”
Хотеть (to want) is irregular. In the singular it changes its stem and uses one set of endings: хочу, хочешь, хочет. In the plural it switches to the other set: хотим, хотите, хотят. The verb before it, брали, is the imperfective past plural of брать (to take), for something done again and again. Russian keeps хотим in the present here, where English shifts to “wanted”.
Translation, word notes and commentary by Koinei. Rights holders: see Copyright and takedown requests.