Greek Folk Music - Ionian Islands

Ionian Islands

The Ionian Islands were never under Ottoman control and their songs and kantádhes (Greek: καντάδες) are based a lot on the western European style. Greek kantádhes are performed by three male singers accompanied by mandolin or guitar. These romantic songs developed mainly in Kefalonia in the early 19th century but spread throughout Greece after the liberation of Greece. An Athenian form of kantádhes arose, accompanied by violin, clarinet and laouto. However the style is accepted as uniquely Heptanesean. The island of Zakynthos has a diverse musical history with influences also from Crete. Folk dances include the tsirigotikos, leukaditikos, ballos, syrtos, Ai Georgis, Kerkyraikos and kato sto yialo.

The Church music (Byzantine) of the islands is also different from the rest of Greece, with a lot of western and Catholic influences on the Orthodox rite. The region is also notable for the birth of the first School of modern Greek classical music (Heptanesean or Ionian School, Greek:Επτανησιακή Σχολή), established in 1815.

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