Polyphonic song of Epirus

In Greece#

Among Greeks, polyphonic song is found in the northern part of the Greek region of Ioannina; in Ano Pogoni, (Ktismata, Dolo, Parakalamos) and some villages north of Konitsa), as well as in very few villages in northeastern Thesprotia (Tsamantas, Lias, Vavouri, Povla). Among the Greek minorities in southern Albania, polyphonic singing is performed in the regions of Dropull, Pogon (Kato Pogoni) (Poliçan) and the cities of Delvinë, Himara, Sarandë and Gjirokastër. Greek polyphonic groups can include six different parts: taker (partis), turner (gyristis), spinner (klostis), isokrates, rihtis (the one who “drops” the voice) and foreteller (prologistis). Songs are performed in two (taker and turner or taker and isokrates), three, four or five voices. In five-voice singing all parts are present, while the role of the spinner and the rihtis is performed by one part. The main voice, the taker, can be sung either by men or women, but it can also alternate between them. Greek polyphonic groups usually consist of 4 to 12 persons. Among Greeks a second kind of polyphonic singing differing in maximum roughness is also performed in Karpathos and Pontos. In 2020, the Polyphonic Caravan, which is a Greek project with the purpose of researching, safeguarding and promoting the Epirus polyphonic song since 1998, was inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List of Good Safeguarding Practices.

In Albania#

Among Albanians, all four regions of Myzeqe, Toskeri, Chameria, and Labëria have the polyphonic song as part of their culture. Among Albanians a related form of polyphonic singing is also found in northern Albania in the area of Peshkopi, the Albanian communities of Kaçanik in Kosovo, the areas of Polog, Tetovo, Kicevo and Gostivar in North Macedonia and the region of Malësia in northern Albania and southern Montenegro. The region of Labëria is a particular region known for multipart singing and home to many different genres like that of pleqërishte. Songs can be of two, three, or four parts. Two part songs are sung only by women. Three part songs are more diffused and can be sung by men and women. Four part songs are a Labëria specialty. Research has shown that four part songs have come after three part ones and that they are the most complex form of polyphonical singing. The Gjirokastër National Folklore Festival, Albania, (), has been held every five years in the month of October, starting from 1968 and it has typically included many polyphonic songs. Albanian iso-polyphony is included in UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list. The tradition of polyphonic singing has been contested and used by both sides of the Greek and Albanian border in a nationalistic manner.

Structure#

Polyphonic groups of Epirus consist of at least four members. Each group has two soloists and a drone group, which provides and maintains the vocal rhythm of the song. The first soloist (or the taker) ( or “σηκωτής” (sikotis), , ) is the voice that sings the main melody. The first soloist performs the beginning of the song (, ), and literally acts as the narrator and leader of the group, singing the main part of the song. The second soloist (or the turner) () answers (or “turns”) the voice ( (yirizei, turns) or “τσακίζει” (tsakizei, crimps) and ), from the Greek Isocrates “ισοκράτης” and that from the Medieval Greek “ισοκρατών” (isokraton), “one who holds the ison”, the note that holds on the whole length of a song, from Ancient Greek “ἴσος” (isos) generally meaning “equal” but here “equal in flight of song” + “κρατέω” (krateo) “to rule, to hold”. The words ison and isos literally mean the continuous base note and isocrates creates and holds the modal base of the song. The isokrates role is particularly important; the louder the keeping of the vocal drone, (), the more “βρονταριά” (vrontaria) (i.e. better) the song goes, because the rhythm and the vocal base of the song are maintained. The term derives from the Byzantine Greek musical tradition, where the “ίσον” also features. The perfection of the rendition of the polyphonic song presupposes the existence and the unity of the several voices–roles of the polyphonic group. As a result, polyphonic song presupposes the collectiveness of expression and the firm distinction between the roles it reflects, and the unwritten hierarchy in the composition of the group and the distribution of the roles.

See also#

• Music of Greece
• Music of Albania
• Aromanian music
• Music of Epirus (Greece)
• Byzantine music
• Deropolitissa
• Song of Çelo Mezani
• Song of Marko Boçari
• Yodeling

Further reading#

• World Music: The Rough Guide by Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham - 1999 -
• Greek Folk Dances by Rickey Holden, Mary Vouras – 1965
• Engendering Song: Singing and Subjectivity at Prespa by Jane C. Sugarman,1997,

External links#

• Greek traditional music from Epirus
• Vasil Tole (in English)
• Unesco

Songs in Greek#

• Himara :
• Κόρη του Βουνού (Daughter of the Mountain) :
• Του Σπυρομήλιου (Song of Spyromilios)
• Delvina :
• Μάνα καημένη Μάνα (Mother poor Mother) :
• Polyphonic Song from Delvino
• Dropull :
• Δεροπολίτισσα (Woman of Dropull) :
• Του Μάρκου Μπότσαρη (Song of Markos Botsaris) :
• Κάστρο της Ωριάς (Song of the Castle of the Fair Maiden)
• Pogoni :
• Gianni Γιάννη μου :
• Του Γιοφυριού της Άρτας (Song of the Bridge of Arta) :
• Αλισμωνώ και Χαίρομαι Song from Ktismata
• Permet :
• Σύρε Μάνα πες του Γιάννη (Go Mother tell to Giannis)

Songs in Albanian#

• Songs from Labëria
• Song from Labëria
• I’ll Start by Thinking
• Ismail Qemali Song
• Albania Rock and Stone, You’d Kill Yourself for Your Flag
• Sons of Shepards
• Kurvelesh, What did You Do with Your Sons?
• Shake Your Handkerchief
• Get Out, May Your Root Get Out
• Songs from Skrapar
• I miss you Riza Cerova
• Month of August, Day the Twentieth
• When the Boyhood I Remember