Greek+Music+History

**Greek Music History** By: Nicolas

“Ap'to parathiro mou stelno ena dio, ke tria ke tessera filia, pou ftanoun sto limani ena ke dio, ke tria ke tessera poulia.” You probably can’t understand any of these lyrics, that’s because there from a very popular Greek song called “Never on a Sunday.” Greek music has been fascinating thousands of people since the beginning of Ancient Greece and continuing into the Greek music world of today. Music in ancient Greece originated from ancient poems about the gods. Some famous musicians in modern Greece include Nana Mouskouri who is the number one selling female for albums in the world. Music has played a big part in the history of Greece, from ancient societies to modern day culture. The music of ancient Greece originated from poetry of the gods. The oldest piece of music ever traced in ancient Greece was an all monadic composition, meaning that there was no harmony and it just stuck to melody. In the sixth century B.C, Greece was introduced to choral arranged music using split harmonies. Then in 404 B.C, after the fall of Athens, there was an anti-intellectual reaction that took place against classical music, and by 320 B.C it was almost totally forgotten. After that, Greek music took off into an age where there was a rise in professional musicians and the creation of music with more elaborate melody and rhythm. Unfortunately music in Greece became less popular and simmered down under the Roman domination.

As the style of music changed over time, so did the different types of instruments. During the period where monadic music was popular, the most used instrument was a phorminx. A Phorminx is one of the oldest cithara (a plucked instrument that originally had 5 strings) instruments recorded. The Phorminx was usually decorated with gold and ivory. After the monadic period, music style moved into a choral style with an instrument called an Aulos. An aulos is a wind instrument, usually played in pares. The flute like instrument was either made of wood or metal and contained of three or four finger holes. The reed used for blowing on was made of cane. Some other less popular instruments used were the Epigonion and the lyra. The Epigonion was a harp like instrument which had up to 40 strings some times. The lyra was a smaller instrument similar to the Phorminx, but had seven strings, were not sure how many strings the lyra originally had. These are just a few of the many instruments that were used over the years in Greece. There are several popular artists on the Greek music scene today. One famous Greek singer known all around the world is Nana Mouskouri. Nana is a huge music sensation of modern Greece, and is known for being the world’s highest selling female recording artist. She has sold over 300 million albums which are in 15 different languages. She is also Frances number one selling artist. She was born in Crete Greece and not only is a singer, but a politician as well. If you were to see her around Greece you wouldn’t catch her without her trademark black rimmed glasses on. If you enjoy love songs then you would probably enjoy her music. Another famous artist from Greece is the great Danny Katsarakes. Danny was a famous Greek drummer who created many intensifying and stimulating beats. People say that he was one of the greatest Greek drummers of his time. He began performing in 1959 in a band with his brother and a few friends called the Levendes. They played together for a total of 32 years performing for many crowds, and he always put on a good show. Finally one very famous Greek musician known for playing Violin in the Fred Elias Ensemble was none other than Frederik Elias himself. Frederik was trained at the Boston Conservatory of music. He was well known for his creative but unusual style of mixing western classical music and modern popular music with Arabic, Greek and Armenian styles. Frederik has played all over the world, from Lincoln center in New York and the Chicago Opera House to playing for King Saud and Prince Khalid in Saudi Arabia. He has also played a lot of shows in England and recorded a couple of CD’s. Greece has had many famous musicians over the time and will probably have many more.

Music has changed a lot since the times of ancient Greece. In the 20th century Greek music had developed a new style and a new sound. Now the band was usually led by a lead vocalist and was accompanied by a violin and Sandouri’s. A popular style in the 1900 was called rembetika. Rembetika was the underground music; it was created by two million Greek refuges. It then turned into the popular music of Greece. Then in the 1950 and on rock and pop music became a big hit and took off all over Greece. America and Britain had a lot to do with the influence of this. Also what was once old Greek folk songs were made into popular pop songs. Rock music didn’t really peak till the 1970’s in Greece, while Greece was still being ruled by a military dictatorship. Some popular bands were Socrates Drank the Conium,  Exadahtylos and Peloma Bokiou( a Latin rock band with a Santana style). In the late 1970s Punk music and new wave bands started becoming popular. It wasn’t still the 1980s until funk music and reggae music started to become popular. In the 1990s Greek rock music was at its greatest peak ever, large venues were being sold out to listen to the Greek bands. Greece was a big attraction during this time period to music lovers.

There are many different styles of music played all over Greece, some are modern some are very ancient. One of the most popular styles in Greece is folk. Folk is said to have originated from the music played by the ancient Greeks. There were two movements in Greek folk music, there were the Akritic songs and there were the Klephtic songs. Akritic music originated from the ninth century border guards of the Byzantium Empire. Klephtic music then arose after the byzantine period. Another Popular type of music is Cretan music. Crete is an island right off of Greece. Cretan music is folk music that is usually accompanied by a sting ensemble consisting of a Lyra and also a Cretan flute. One other type of popular music is Ikariótikos, Ikariotikos is actually traditional dance, and the name for the singing that accompanies it is the same. This style originated from the Aegean island of Ikaria. The music has changed or time, at first the tempo used to be very slow, but over time the tempo changed and it turned into a very fast dancing music. Music style has changed a lot of the time in Greece; there are still many styles that you can listen to.

What would Greece be like today without music? Music has played a big part in the history of ancient and modern Greece. Songs have helped pass down ancient Greek stories in the form of song. Without music some of Greek history and tradition would be lost.

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