- LyricsYevgeny Grebyonka, “Black Eyes”, 1843
- MusicFlorian Hermann, waltz “Hommage”
- Also known asОчи чёрные · Les Yeux Noirs
I — LyricsRussian original and translation
Очи чёрные, очи страстные!
Очи жгучие и прекрасные!
Как люблю я вас! Как боюсь я вас!
Знать, увидел вас я не в добрый час!
Ох, недаром вы глубины темней!
Вижу траур в вас по душе моей,
Вижу пламя в вас я победное:
Сожжено на нём сердце бедное.
Но не грустен я, не печален я,
Утешительна мне судьба моя:
Всё, что лучшего в жизни Бог дал нам,
В жертву отдал я огневым глазам!
Black eyes, passionate eyes!
Burning and beautiful eyes!
How I love you! How I fear you!
I must have met you in an evil hour!
Oh, not for nothing are you darker than the deep!
I see in you mourning for my soul,
I see in you a triumphant flame:
My poor heart is burned upon it.
But I am not sad, I do not grieve,
My fate consoles me:
All the best that God gave us in life
I sacrificed to those fiery eyes!
Transliteration of the first line: Ochi chornye, ochi strastnye
II — HistoryFrom a poem to a world standard
The poem “Black Eyes” by the Ukrainian-born poet Yevgeny Grebyonka was published in 1843. Set to Florian Hermann’s waltz “Hommage”, it became a romance — the earliest known publication dates from 1884. Gypsy choirs made it a song, Feodor Chaliapin carried it around the world, and Django Reinhardt turned it into the jazz standard “Les Yeux Noirs”.
III — 2026Kale Yakha
Kale Yakha means “black eyes” in Romani. The single “Ochi Chernye” (6 November 2026, 2:53) keeps the voice and the gaze of the romance and puts an electronic pulse beneath them.