#Greek Music

[mhmeaggizeis]

Να Μ’Αγαπάς- Παύλος Σιδηρόπουλος

[nataliliv]

❤️☘️🍒 Have a nice evening ❤️☘️🍒

[loulouditoudromou]

Μη με παίρνεις τηλέφωνο, πάρε με αγκαλιά

[orgismenh]

Όταν ξεμείνω από τσιγάρα,

όταν οι τοίχοι μου με κλείσουν,

όταν τα ρούχα μου βαρύνουν

και δεν μπορώ να κοιμηθώ,

όταν τελειώσω τον καφέ μου,

θα είναι ανάγκη να σε δω.

[gemsofgreece]

Farya Faraji did it again! This is a great episode presenting most Greek music instruments, while providing a lot of context, information, jokes, history lessons and as always he debunks all the myths and stereotypes about Greek music. In this video he is interviewing Demetrios Dallas, a Greek American polymusician (if that's a term in English) who can literally play ALL.

Chapters:

Intro

Bagpipes and reeds

Flutes and clarinet

Bowed instruments

Lutes

Kanonaki and Santouri

Percussions

Context of Greek music

Regional diversity

Rhythmic patterns

It's always changing

Pitch in the modal traditions

Westernisation and revival

The last chapter is thematically the most important and Farya is at the moment the most well known person / youtuber who calls out this massive misconception about Greek music. You see there is this whole, extremely rigid notion in Western Europe that Greek music was western but it was orientalized because Greeks were conquered by the Turks and were turkified and lost their identity. It was exactly the opposite in fact. Greek music was what you 'd call "eastern" (yes, including ancient Greek music, yes, including Homer times, Pericles times, blah blah blah) and it actually started westernising itself ONLY by the mid to late 19th century, meaning after the independence from the Ottomans and the establishment of the modern Greek state and the reason was the severe trauma of this whole ordeal. After its independence Greece SO did not want to have anything to do with Turkey and the East in general that for the first time it oriented itself totally towards the west in most everything. Farya is a bit bitter about it (you know, being of Iranian descent and interested in folk music and all) but because he's great and very knowledgeable at what he does, there is also all this analysis about how (especially after the population exchange with Turkey in which Anatolian Greeks moved to Greece) the eastern element re-established itself in the country. It remained marginalised for a long time but as it happens with things that are essentially your identity, it resurfaced and almost claimed its natural place. However, the biggest talents and minds of Greek music in the 20th century were largely trained in western music tradition and the music legacy they left behind is so monumental that the Greek music will almost certainly never become again as eastern as it once was. And that's okay because what was produced by these people was so essentially and uniquely Greek that it is now part of the Greek heritage, an eastern foundation glossed in western styles and the product is our trademark modern music.

*I loved when mr Dallas says how he has noticed that this aversion for heritage is being changed by the young generation and how just 20 years ago he could not find anyone in Greece to make him an askomandura and now he picks up the phone and there are at least 20 instrument makers who can do the job. It's amazing and it's not that far from what I was saying some time ago that I see it's the young people who slowly slowly try to make a change.

[tosatanikofurby]

[anemodarmenhh]

Μ' αγαπάει όπως αγαπάει τα ξενύχτια Όπως τις έρημες λεωφόρους τη νύχτα...

-λεξ

[katerinaaqu]

Remembering this traditional Greek song made me think of Penelope:

Sea,oh sea the seamen, my beloved sea don't strike them with your waves, my beloved sea and bring back my little bird * Rose water, become rose water, my beloved sea and sprinkle their course, my beloved sea my beloved sea you are my love and pain * Sea and salty water I can't forget about you * Sea, oh sea, you have drowned, oh, no oh no the maiden's husband my beloved sea you are my love and pain * And the maiden, and the maiden is young, oh no oh no and black clothes don't suit her, my beloved sea blow my beloved Northwest Wind * Sea, I embark, for you I stay awake at night Sea and salty water I can't forget about you

Now this song probably originated from the Aegean sea, possibly in Kalymnos, an island with tradition of fishing sponges. The men that were doing this job oftentimes left in the summer for a long time traveling often all the way till North Africa. They would freedive often even 50 meters below the surface to catch sponges and their job was expremely difficult and dangerous. Often they died either from nitrogen narcosis effects or attacked by sealife or even dying in sea. Thus the song speaks on a woman singing for the sea to bring back her husband, brother, fiance etc back. The traditional song has many variations to the lyrics depending on the singer, the area etc.

Now the term "little bird" (πουλάκι) is a nickname used in greek to show a tender relationship with someone. It indicates your beloved one; family or lover etc

The term I translate as "my beloved sea" is the nickname of the word "sea" (θάλασσα -> thalassa) which is θαλασσάκι (thalassaki). As a term and nickname it also means "little sea" but is also used tenderly to speak more on something you love so I thought it would be more fitting to say "beloved sea" than "little sea"

Likewise the word μεράκι (meraki) is not translatable exactly. It means something you do from your heart or with love and care. It also means love and care for something. However when spoken more sadly it also means some love that causes you sadness and pain this is why I translated it as "my love and pain" in here.

The song speaks on a woman being young and "black clothes do not suit her" aka it is a pity for a young man to die and a woman wear mourning clothes at young age (plus in small villages it kinda was a tradition for a woman once widowed never to marry again although the tradition is not followed to its totality by every person)

The clips are from an old dramatic movie called "The girl with the black clothes" starring Elli Lambeti and Dimitris Horn

[gunsandcherries]

"Μ' αρέσει το σπίτι που φτιάξαμε" σου 'πα και γέλασα

Και λέω το σπίτι, μα δεν εννοώ το διαμέρισμα

-Bloody Hawk, Miami 2

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Music with olive tree leaves! The most Greek thing ever!

[svveatervveather]

i made a little video combining one of my favourite songs with one of my favourite shows (show is skins (uk, all gens), song is πάρτυ (party) by billie kark)

[mhmeaggizeis]

Iratus- Μόνιμα Πρόστυχος (Eminem’s Superman cover)

[nataliliv]

Super Hit ‍ ♫♪♫ 🌹ℒℴѵℯ 🎶🎻...The first step in music

[loulouditoudromou]

Βγες λίγο είναι σημαντικό.

[orgismenh]

Από τότε που με πλήγωσες δεν είμαι κομπλέ δεν εμπιστεύομαι κανέναν και καμία ποτέ.

Wang - Μείνε για λίγο

[gemsofgreece]

Grecanico

I wasn't very familiar with the dialects of the Griko community, the Greek minority of Italy, residing mostly in Calabria and Apulia. Once in a travel show I had seen a grandpa speaking in one of them but it was so fast and idiomatic that I could only catch one word or two and I consequently thought the Griko dialects had grown really distant from Greece's or Eastern Greek dialects.

Recently I watched this Griko song performance in Italy and it moved me deeply. First of all, it impressed me how it could seamlessly pass as a Modern Greek music style. Of course, Italy and Greece do share a lot of similar sounds, so it perhaps was to be expected. Even the la-la-le-o-la-la pattern, I have heard it in many familiar Greek urban songs (as in, not folk).

I just read that there are in fact two Italiot Greek dialects, Griko (spoken by ~ 45,000 people) and the smaller one, Grecanico (severely endangered and spoken only by ~ 2,000 people). The latter is believed to have incorporated more Italian influences. According to Wikipedia, there are many similarities with Standard Modern Greek, although linguists assert they evolved independently from either Ancient or Koine Greek. If you ask me, judging from the song, there is no way they evolved independently from Ancient Greek. Not only that but if the linguists did not only examine the Ancient and Koine theories, I would have thought they evolved independently from early Modern or super late Koine at most. This could be explained by an influx of Greeks to Italy as a consequence of the Crusader conquests or the Fall of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire to the Ottoman Turks because - fun fact - the type of Greek spoken during both those periods was Modern Greek. Very early Modern Greek at the times of the Fourth Crusade (1202 - 1204), yet modern nonetheless. So the Greeks that might have fled the Latin and the Ottoman blows to the East Roman Empire may have perhaps influenced the language of the ancient and medieval Greek communities of Italy. Then, this late koine - early modern Greek dialect also got influenced by Latin / Italian, especially in the pronunciation and some of the vocabulary. That’s my theory that’s just on me. Perhaps they indeed developed independently from Koine Greek because the Greek language is pretty conservative after all. But Ancient, as in prior to 200 BC, no fricking the frick way.

The song is in Grecanico of Apulia. The video of this performance had the lyrics in Grecanico (they use the Latin alphabet) and a translation in Standard Modern Greek. I was shocked by how much more I could understand in the slower way they were singing compared to the mumbling grandpa. It was deeply touching so I decided to share the video and I even decided to offer the Standard Modern Greek equivalent version in a Latin transliteration, in case any of you is interested in the study of the evolution between Standard Modern Demotic Greek and the Grecanico of Italy.

Lyrics in Grecanico and Standard Modern Greek (with Latin characters) below the cut:

G: KALINITTA SMG: KALINICHTA

G: Ti en glicea tusi nifta, ti en ória SMG: Ti glikiá in' túti i níchta, ti oréa íne

G: cíevó plonno penséonta 'ss' esena SMG: ki eghó xaplóno skeftómenos eséna

G: C'ettú mpἰ's ti ffenéstra ssu agápi mu SMG: Ke káto ap'to paráthiro su agápi mu

G: tis kardia mmu su nifto ti ppena SMG: tis karðiás mu su ðíchno ton póno

G: Evó pánta ss' esena penseo SMG: Eghó pánta eséna skéftome

G: jati 'sena, fsichi mmu 'gapó SMG: jatí eséna psichí mu agapó

G: ce pu pao, pu sirno, pu steo SMG: ke ópu páo, ópu sérno, ópu stéko

G: sti kkardía panta sena vastó. SMG: stin karðiá pánta eséna vastó.

G: T' asteracia pu panu me vlepune SMG: T' asterákia pu páno me vlépune

G: ca mo féngo friffizun nomena SMG: ke me to fengári psithirízun omú (?)

G: ce jelú ce mu leone ¨ston anemo SMG: ke jelún ke mu léne ¨ston ánemo

G: ta traudia pelis, i chamena" SMG: ta traghúðia petás, íne chaména¨

G: Kalí nifta! Se finno ce féo SMG: Kalí níchta! Se afíno ke févgho

G: Plaja 'su ti 'vó pirta prikó SMG: Plájase jatí eghó févgho (?) pikrá

G: ce pu pao, pu sirno, pu steo SMG: ke ópu páo, ópu sérno, ópu stéko

G: sti kkardía panta sena vastó. SMG: stin karðiá pánta eséna vastó.

Hopefully, the Greeks of Italy and the Greek state will aid in rescuing Grecanico from fading forever. 🙏

Oh and here’s an English translation of the song to not leave it entirely obscure:

What a sweet night it is, how beautiful

and I lay down thinking of you

and under your window, my love

I show you the pain of my heart.

I always think about you

because it’s you, my soul, that I love

and wherever I go, I set to, I stand

I always keep you in my heart.

The little stars look at me from above

and they chat together with the moon

and they laugh and tell me “In the wind

you throw your songs, they go wasted”.

Good night! I am leaving you and I am going away.

Go to bed for I am leaving in bitterness

and wherever I go, I set to, I stand

I always keep you in my heart.