Music of Greece
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The musical legacy of Greece is as diverse as its history.
Modern Greek music is a mixture of influences from its own indigenous culture with Western and Middle Eastern cultures. Turkish and Ottoman elements can be most clearly heard in the traditional songs, dhimotiká, as well as the modern bluesy rembétika music.
Cypriot music has many similarities to traditional Greek music, and their modern music scenes remain well-integrated. Ethnic Greeks have long been the largest ethnic group on the island.
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1.1 Ancient Greece |
Greek Music through the Ages
Greek written history extends far back into Ancient Greece, and was a major part of ancient Greek theater. Later, influences from the Roman Empire, Eastern Europe and the Byzantine Empire changed Greek music.
In the 19th century, opera composers like Nikolaos Mantzaros (1795 - 1872), Spyridion Xyndas (1812 - 1896) and Spyros Samaras (1861 - 1917) helped revitalize Greek classical music.
Ancient Greece
Main article: Music of ancient Greece
In ancient Greece, mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual reasons. Instruments included the double-reed aulos and the plucked string instrument, the lyre, especially the special kind called a kithara.
Music was an important part of education in ancient Greece, and boys were taught music starting at age six. Greek musical literacy created a flowering of development; Greek music theory included the Greek musical modes, which eventually became the basis for Western religious music and classical music.
Greece in the Roman Empire
Byzantium
Greece during the Ottoman occupation
By the beginning of the 20th century, music-cafés were popular in Istanbul and Izmir, primarily owned by Greeks, alongside Jews and Armenians. The bands were led by a female vocalist, typically, and included a violin and a sandoúri. The improvised songs typically exclaimed aman aman, which led to the name amanédhes or café-aman. Musicians of this period included Marika Papagika, Agapios Tomboulis, Rosa Eskenazi and Rita Abatzi.
Modern Greece
Types of Music
Classical music
Folk music
Greek folk traditions are said to derive from the music played by ancient Greeks. There are said to be two musical movements in Greek folk music: akritic and klephtic. Akritic music comes from the 9th century akrites, or border guards of the Byzantine Empire. Following the end of the Byzantine period, klephtic music arose before the Greek Revolution, developed among the kleftes, warriors who fought against the Ottoman Empire. Klephtic music is monophonic and uses no harmonic accompaniment.
Traditional dhimotiká are accompanied by clarinets, guitars, tambourines and violins, and include dance music forms like syrtó, kalamatianó, tsámiko and hasaposérviko, as well as vocal music like kléftiko. Many of the earliest recordings were done by Arvanites (ethnic Albanian) like Yiorgia Mittaki and Yiorgios Papasidheris. Instrumentalists include clarinet virtuosos like Yiorgos Yevyelis, Vassilis Saleas and Yiannis Vassilopoulos, as well as oud and fiddle players like Nikos Saragoudas and Yiorgos Koros.
Greek folk music is found all throughout Greece, as well as among communities in countries like the United States, Canada and Australia. The island of Cyprus and several regions of Turkey are home to long-standing communities of ethnic Greeks with their own unique styles of music. Apart from the common music found all-around Greece, there are distinct types of folk music, sometimes related to the history or simply the taste of the specific places:
- Ionian Islands
Main article: Music of the Ionian Islands
The Ionian Islands were never under Turkish control, and their kantádhes (traditional songs) are based on the popularItalian style of the early 19th centrury. Kantádhes are performed by three male singer accompanied by mandolin or guitar. These romantic songs developed mainly in Kefallonia in the early 19th century but spreading throughout Greece after the liberation of Greece. An Athenian form of kantádhes arose, accompanied by violin, clarinet and laouto. However the style is accepted as uniquely Ionian.
The island of Zakynthos has a diverse musical history with influences from Venice, Crete and elsewhere. The island's music heritage is celebrated by the Zakynthos School of Music, established in 1815 [1] (http://www.zanteisland.com/html/english/storia.htm).
Folk dances include the tsirigotikos, ballos, ai yiogis, kerkyraikos and kato sto yialo.
- Aegean Islands
Main article: Music of the Aegean Islands
The Aegean islands of Greece are known for nisiótika songs; characteristics vary widely. Although the basis of the sound is characteristically secular-Byzantine, the relative isolation of the islands allowed the separate developement of island-specific musics. Most of the Nisiótika songs are accompanied by lira, clarinet, guitar and violin. Modern stars include Effi Sarri and the Konitopoulous clan; Mariza Koch is credited with reviving the field in the 1970s. Folk dances include the chiotikos, stavrotos, ballos syrtos, trata and ikariotikos.
- Cyclades
Main article: Music of the Cyclades
In the Aegean Cyclades, the violí is more popular than the lýra, and has produced several respected musicians, including Nikos Ikonomidhes, Nikos Hatzopoulos and Stathis Koukoularis.
- Dodecanese Islands
Main article: Music of the Dodecanese Islands
There are prominent elements of Cretan music on the Dodecanese Islands, developing from Cretans that fled there from the Turks. Dodecanese folk dances include the trata, ballos, syrtos, issos and syrtos rodou.
- Crete
Main article: Music of Crete
The Greek islands of Kárpathos, Khálki, Kássos and Crete form an arc where the lýra is the dominant instrument. It is a three-stringed fiddle similar to the Turkish kemençe. Kosta Moundakis is probably the most widely-respectedmaster of the lýra, which is often accompanied by the oud-like laoúto, which resembles a mandolin. Bagpipes are often played on Kárpathos.
Crete has a well known folk dance tradition, which includes swift dances like syrtos, maleviziotikos, haniotikos, pentozali and laziotikos.
- Peloponnesos
Main article: Music of Peloponnesos
Folk dances from Peloponnesos include the kariatidon and tsakonikos.
- Epirus
Main article: Music of Epirus
In Epirus, Albanian and Macedonian influences are common, and folk songs are polyphonic and sung by both male and female singers. Distinctive songs include mirolóyia (mournful tunes) vocals with skáros accompaniment and tis távlas (drinking songs). The clarinet is the most prominent folk instrument in Epirus, used to accompany dances, mostly slow and heavy, like the menousis, fisouni, podhia, sta dio, sta tria, zagorisios, kentimeni, koftos, yiatros and tsamikos.
- Macedonia
Main article: Music of Macedonia
Folk dances in Macedonia include samarinas, akritikos, baidouska, gaida, macedonikos antikristos, leventikos, mikri eleni, partalos, kastorianos and sirtos macedonias. Note: The term "macedonia(n)" is also claimed by the Slavic population of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Ottoman province of Macedonia, ecompassing regions of the ancient Macedonia, Paeonia, and Thrace was divided between Greece, Serbia(Yugoslavia), and Bulgaria respectively in 1918.
- Thessaly
Main article: Music of Thessaly
There is a long-standing tradition of a cappella music in Thessaly, including in dance music. Folk dance from Thessaly is slow and stately, and includes dances like the klistos, tai-tai, pilioritikos, svarniara, sta tria and karagouna.
- Thrace
Main article: Music of Thrace
Instruments used in ancient Thracian music such as Bagpipes (gaida) and lyra are still the ordinary instruments of folk music in Thrace. Folk dances include the tripati, sfarlis, souflioutouda, zonaradikos, kastrinos, syngathistos, baintouska and apadiasteite sto xoro.
In Thrace there is also a Muslim, mainly Turkish and Gypsy, minority. The dominant music of Turkey, Arabesk, had been banned in Turkey because of its Arabic origins in the past. Thus the traditional music of the minority in Greece is usually seen as more genuine Turkish (Arabesk) than the folk music found in Turkey itself.
- Cyprus
Main article: Music of Cyprus
Cyprus is an independent country, currently contested between the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Cyprus' folk traditions include dances like the sousta, syrtos, zeimbekikos, dachas, and the kartsilamdhes.
- Izmir/Smyrna
Main article: Music of Izmir
Izmir, formerly known by the Greek name Smyrna, is a city in modern Turkey, in Izmir province. The city was ethnically Greek until the 1920s, when the Greek population was expelled. The city's musical heritage include the songs of these people, similar in style to rebetiko; they are sad tales of burning and loss, and are called Smyrnaiika.
- Pontos
Main article: Music of Pontos
Pontos is a region in Turkey on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. It was inhabited by ethnic Greeks until 1924, and elements of Greek music remain. The region's dance style uses unique techniques like odd shoulder tremors and knee bends. Folk dances include the gerasari, trgona, kots, omal, serra, kotsari and tik.
Popular music
Having missed the Renaissance and all the following achievements of the Western world due to the almost four centuries of Ottoman occupation, the first liberated Greeks were anxious to catch up with the rest of Europe. The flourishing Greek culture of the Ionian islands, which were under the Italian rule and influence, was in sharp contrast to the Ottoman cultural poverty. It was through these islands that all the major advances of the European music were introduced to mainland Greeks. The songs of the islands known as Eptanissian, became the forerunners of the Greek modern song, influencing its development to a considerable degree. For almost a century all later musical attempts had to borrow elements from the Eptanissian music.
The Athenian songs
The most successful songs during the period 1870-1930 were the so-called Athenian songs, the serenades and the songs performed on the Athenian stage in revues and operettas that dominated the Athenian theatres. The serenades were operating by definition in an autonomous way, whereas the "Athenian" songs, despite their original connection to a total dramatic work, also achieved to become hits as independent songs. Italian opera had a great influence on the musical aesthetics of the Modern Greeks.
After 1930, wavering among American and European musical influences as well as the Greek musical tradition, the Greek composers begin to write music to the tunes of the tango, the samba, and the waltz as well as the melodies that refer to Athenian serenades and the theatrical revue songs.
Rembétika
Rembétika, the underground greek music, evolved from traditions of the urban poor. Refugees and drug-users, criminals and the itinerant, the earliest rembétika musicians were scorned by mainstream society. They sang heartrending tales of drug abuse, prison and violence, usually accompanied by the bouzouki, a sort of lute derived from the Byzantine tambourás and related to the Turkish saz.
In 1923, many ethnic Greeks from Asia Minor fled to Greece as a result of the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922). They settled in poor neighborhoods in Pireás, Thessaloníki and Athens. Many of these immigrants were highly educated, and included songwriter Vangelis Papazoglou and Panayiotis Toundas, composer and leader of Odeon Records' Greek subsidiary. However, one Turkish tradition that came with the Greek migrants was the tekés, or hashish dens. Groups of men would sit in a circle and smoke hashish from a hookah, and improvised music of various kinds was common. With the coming of the Metaxas dictatorship, rembétika was repressed due to the uncompromising lyrics. Hashish dens and bouzoúkis were banned. Many songs from this period were composed in prison, where musicians made instruments out of scavenged equipment.
After World War 2, rembétika had become a calmer form of music, Out of this music scene came two of the earliest legends of Greek Oriental music, like the quartet of Markos Vamvakaris, Artemis, Stratos Payioumtzis, and Batis. Vamvakaris became perhaps the first star of rembétika after beginning a solo career. The scene was soon popularized further by stars like Vassilis Tsitsanis. His "Synefiazmeni Kyriaki" became an anthem for the oppressed Greeks after it was composed in 1943, though it wasn't recorded until 1948. He was followed by female singers like Marika Ninou, Ioanna Yiorgakopoulou and Sotiria Bellou. In 1953, Manolis Khiotis added a fourth pair of strings to the bouzoúki, which allowed it be tuned tonally and set the stage for the electrification of rembétika.
Rembétika was revived during the 1967-1974 coup, which banned the music. Ironically, the banning meant that the dispossessed of Greece were attracted to the music and its messages of subversion. Revival groups included Opisthodhromiki Kompania, Rembetiki Kompania, Agathonas Iakovidhis and Ta Pedhia apo tin Patra.
Éntekhno
Drawing on rembétika's Westernization with Tsitsanis, éntekhno arose in the late 1950s. Éntekhno is orchestral music with elements of Greek folk rhythm and melody. Mikis Theodorakis and Manos Hadjidakis were the most popular early performers. By the 1960s, innovative albums made éntekhno mainstream, and also led to its appropriation by the film industry for use in soundtracks, often watering-down the music in the process.
Laïkó
Laïkó was the pop music of the 50s and 60s. It was criticized from all quarters for its apoliticism and decadence, and its unpure Turkish roots. The influence of oriental music on laïkó can be most strongly seen in 1960s indoyíftika, Indian filmi with Greek lyrics. Manolis Angelopoulos was the most popular indoyíftika performer, while pure laïkó was dominated by superstar Stelios Kazantzidhis and Stratos Dionisiou.
Tsifteteli
Tsifteteli is a type of music that was bought over by refugees from Asia Minor in the 1920's. Basically, it is Greek belly dance music. The Arabic and Turkish influence on this type of music is very clear, and adds to the cultural similarities Greeks have with the Middle East. This is an extremely popular form of Modern Greek music, and played almost everywhere in Greece. Some popular modern popular artists who include tsifteteli in their music are Despina Vandi, Eleni Karousaki, Yiorgos Mazonakis]], and many others.
Other popular trends
Folk singer-songwriters first appeared in the 1960s, with Dhionysis Savvopoulos' 1966 breakthrough. Many of these musicians started out playing néo kýma, a mixture of éntekhno and chansons from France. Savvopoulos mixed American musicians like Bob Dylan and Frank Zappa with Macedonian folk music and politically incisive lyrics. In his wake came more folk-influenced performers like Arletta, Mariza Koch and Kostas Hatzis.
Another of Savvopoulos' pupils was Nikos Xydhakis, who revolutionized laïkó by using orientalized instrumentation. His most successful album was 1987's Konda sti Dhoxa Stigmi, recorded with Eleftheria Arvanitaki.
Also, due to the common musical heritage much Greek music has with Turkey and the Middle East, their have been exchanges of music and duets with singers from these areas. Greek singers like Sarbel have traslated songs from Arabic to Greek and these have become extremely popular. Also, with Greek-Turkish relations warming, and given the extremely similarity between Greek and Turkish music, you have songs that are the same and sung as a duet in both languages. A good example of a song crossing these three cultures is the song "Anaveis Fwties" by Despina Vandi. This song has been made into Arabic by Fadel Shaker and called, "DeHket Al-Donya". Also, the same song was done by Mustafa Sandal, called "Aşka Yürek Gerek", a song which is a duet containing both Greek and Turkish.
Samples
- Download recording - "Amaxas" Greek song from the Library of Congress' Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections; performed by Charles M. Brown, Louis Peronis (fiddle), Charylaos Perris (santouri) and George Kafezio (mandola) on August 26, 1939 in Tarpon Springs, Florida
External link
- Helleniccomserve (http://www.helleniccomserve.com/musichistory.html) Short History of Greek Music
- ANA.com (http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.prnt_article?e=C&f=&t=04&m=A13&aa=1) The Music of Greece
- Kithara.vu (http://www.kithara.vu) (in Greek). An collection of some 11,000 Greek songs, with lyrics and chords.
- Klika (http://www.klika.gr) (in Greek). A site about modern Greek popular and traditional music.
References
- Dubin, Marc and George Pissalidhes. "Songs of the Near East". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 126-142. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
- Folk dances of the Greek regions (http://www.nostos.com/dance/)bg:Гръцка музика