Greek Folk Music - Aegean Islands; Cyclades and Dodecanese

Aegean Islands; Cyclades and Dodecanese

The Aegean islands of Greece are known for Nisiótika songs; Greek characteristics vary widely. Although the basis of the sound is characteristically secular-Byzantine, the relative isolation of the islands allowed the separate development of island-specific Greek music. Most of the nisiótika songs are accompanied by lyra, clarinet, guitar and violin. Modern stars include Yiannis Parios and the Konitopouloi; Mariza Koch is credited with reviving the field in the 1970s. Folk dances include the ballos, syrtos, sousta, chiotikos, kalymniotikos, stavrotos, lerikos, kamara, mihanikos, trata, panagia and ikariotikos.

In the Aegean Cyclades, the violin is more popular than Cretan lyra, and has produced several respected musicians, including Nikos Oikonomidis, Leonidas Klados and Stathis Koukoularis. Folk dances in Cyclades include lerikos, syrtos, syrtos Serifou, syrtos Naxou, syrtos Kythnou, Amorgos dance and ballos. One of the most famous singers of cycladic music is Domna Samiou.

In Dodacanese there are prominent elements of Cretan music. Dodecanese folk dances include the trata, ballos, syrtos, kremasti, issos, syrtos Rodou, mihanikos and kalymnikos, with origin from the island of Kalymnos.