THE LEGEND OF THE GIANT BAN
Sandro Glavina L’UOMO E L’OMBRA
CONCEPT ALBUM - 2015
Album artwork made by S. Glavina (the imaginary figure of the giant Ban Dragonja obtained through superimpositions and elaborations of photographic images of Pazin's Foiba)
Musical ideas, arrangements by Sandro Glavina - Produced by ZenOne Reg.MTKKI15-150615
All rights reserved– Creative Commons License: Attribution - Non Commercial - No derivative works (CC BY – NC-ND)
TRACK LIST
01 - Water of the north
02 - Giant Ban Dragonja
03 - The plow of Ban
04 - The first furrow
05 - Furrow of Mirna (second furrow)
06 - The captain's wife look at the third furrow
07 - The offense to Ban
08 - The flooded valley
09 - Save our land
10 - The abyss
11 -The underground flow
The legend of the giant Ban Dragonija
In ancient times, when Istria was also inhabited by giant beings, the north of the peninsula was an area covered by huge lakes and swamps. In the south, however, there were no streams or springs and the population asked the giant Ban Dragonja to help wet the earth. Dragonja yoked huge oxen to the plow and created a furrow from a northern lake towards the sea. At the first furrow that allowed the water to reach the sea, he gave his name, Dragonja. The following day he plowed the second furrow, giving birth to another river to which he gave the name of his wife, Mirna. While he was plowing the third furrow, which arrived under the walls of the Castle of Pazin, the wife of the captain of Pazin began to critic him, telling him that the furrow was shallow and all wrong. Ban Dragonja was deeply offended, stopped tthe work. In the furrow the water began to flow which slowly flooded the valley of Pazin. The inhabitants began to help Dragonja in his work, praying him in tears to save them from ruin. Ban Dragonja took pity on them and tapped one foot on the ground, right under the cliff on which the Castle stood. With an impressive roar the earth began to open, the strong blow created a chasm that swallowed all the water. This is why instead of a third river arose the serpentine stream today called Pazinčica, whose waters are still lost in the deep Cave of Pazin.
The famous science fiction pioneer Jules Verne, after writing his adventurous novels such as "Around the world in 80 days" and "20,000 leagues under the seas", also found inspiration in this small place in Istria. Here in fact, precisely in Pazin's castle and foiba, the illustrious writer set "Mathias Sandorf" (1885), one of the novels of the successful series Voyages Extraordinaires