Greek Music Express

Angelique Ionatos’ Sappho De Mytilene Greek poet Sappho was one of the greatest poets in classical literature. Her lyric poetry is among the finest ever written and, although little of her work has survived and little is known about her, she is regarded often as the greatest woman poet in world l...

Mariza Koch, Nikos Xydakis, Sappho Composer Nikos Xydakis explains his approach to Sapho’s poetry: "I always found it very difficult to put a melody onto a direct, erotic speech. My motivation was to make the words sound convincing in my mouth. Regardless of whether they were spoken yesterday or t...

Sotiris Kakisis’ Sappho Scholar Dimitrios Kargiotis notes the following about the way in which poet Sotiris Kakisis translated Sappho’s poetry into modern Greek: “Kakisis endeavours to attain totality against the fragmentary nature of the Sapphic corpus. He delves into a poetics of restitution, inven...

Nikos Kavvadias Nikos Kavvadias was born on 11 January 1910 and died on 10 February 1975. He was a Greek poet, writer and a sailor by profession. He used his travels around the world, the life at sea and its adventures, as powerful metaphors for the escape of ordinary people, outside the boundaries of...

Songs about boats, part 4 Along with storm and the Sirocco a fishing boat came from Morocco. Along with the wind and the cold breeze a sailboat is sailing to Benghazi. Along with the fireship captain, a boat came from Algeria. And having Greece as a captain a frigate is headed to Egypt. Saint Nicholas...

Songs about boats, part 3 During their history, the Greeks - more than any other people in the world - have remained mariners without interruption; they have loved the sea, they have thought of it as a beautiful element, and they believed it had godlike powers. Greek song totally agrees with this...

Songs about boats, part 2 Greece is the largest shipowning nation in the world, as Greek shipowners control the highest share, 21%, of the global merchant fleet in terms of deadweight tonnes. During the last ten years the total capacity of the Greek merchant fleet, currently consisting of 5,520 ships,...

Songs about boats, part 1 A ship with a foreign flag, the small ship of Burnovas, ships from Chios, ships that never sailed, and so on. The list of Greek songs that contain references to ships and boats are just endless, because the sea is ever-present in the geography, the economy and the culture...

Zeibekiko, part 5 The zeibekiko songs that we have picked today talk about trucks and taxi drivers, but also about angels and the birds of the underworld. They take us to pointless walks before dawn and remind us of names of love, like Antigoni and Roza and Evdokia. And they enable us to appreciate...

Zeibekiko, part 4 Zeibekiko is one of the most characteristic Greek dances. This, and some musical instruments linked to folk tradition were recently included in the National Inventory of Cultural Heritage, by decision of the Minister of Culture. Together with zeibekiko, the three-string and four-string...

Zeibekiko, part 3 One of the good things with zeibekiko is that songs with this rhythm have been performed by all of the country’s greatest singers. A tribute to zeibekiko is a tribute to all those magical voices that made folk, popular music, the fantastic genre that it is today. So, let’s explore the...

Zeibekiko, part 2 According to some analysts, zeibekiko is named after the Zeibek people and is reported to have spread to Greek urban centres in the late 19th century. Being originally a dance of two people carrying arms, it evolved into a single improvisational dance. Initially it was considered...

Zeibekiko, part 1 This week is dedicated to Greece’s best known folk dance, zeibekiko. Also called the “dance of the eagle” due to the movements of the dancer, this circular dance has no set steps and is largely improvised. This first leg of our journey takes us to zeibekiko anthems performed by, a...

Kastellorizo The album that we are listening to today, titled “A drop of light in the Aegean Sea”, is a collection of music and songs from the beautiful island of Kastelorizo. Embedded in the wider Dodecanese tradition, Kastellorizo presents a wealth of songs structured on the manners of Ancient and...

Samothrace Today, we will be exploring a very special instrumental album titled “Traditional Dances of Samothraki”. Renowned soloist Dimitris Tiganourias plays the violin while Giannis Sevastopoulos plays the lute. As for the dances, we come across Stavrotos, Syrtos, Karsilamas, Kalamatianos, Zeimpekikos, Bal...

Naxos Apeiranthos of Naxos has a rich musical and poetic tradition. The album Songs and tunes from the village of Aperathou brings to the audience this peculiar colour through the amazing performances of Koula Kleronomou-Sideri and the violin of the Naxian Yannis Zeugolis. Νάξος Η Απείρανθος της Νάξου έχει ...

Songs about Virgin Mary On August 15, the Greek Orthodox church celebrates the Dormition of Virgin Mary. But that is just the religious “excuse” for villages to be decorated, folklore festivals to be held, shows of traditional dances to be staged, and a festive atmosphere to be impatiently expec...

Sifnos Musicologist Markos Dragoumis explains: Siphnian musicians customarily accompany their singing with the violin and the lute in a really striking way. Violins cover with admirable ease a much wider range than do the voices, emphasizing the general features of the scale used. Effectively they...