


Jeff Wolfanger
Jan 30, 2022
Greece
Categories:
Song, Music, Culture, Folk Culture, Heritage
Young people from the Epirus region of Greece are researching, safeguarding, and promoting an ancient type of singing called the "Epirus polyphonic song." Alexandros Lampridis from the online news outlet, Keep Talking Greece highlights their efforts in an article dated December 18, 2020.
Polyphony is when two or more voices sing different things simultaneously (any music-making can use polyphony, but the focus here is vocal polyphony). The opposite is monophony or unison, where everybody sings the same melody simultaneously.
The rugged beauty and ancient history of the Epirus region of northwestern Greece inspired poets and singers over millennia. Polyphonic singing is part of the long heritage of Epirus, and it is Europe's oldest, surviving folk music.
The songs touch on almost every aspect of Greek life, such as childhood, marriage, death, historical events, and pastoral life. As Greece became more urbanized, particularly so since World War II, the songs disappeared. The Polyphonic Caravan, a project created in 1998, travels the countryside giving small concerts and engaging and teaching local people the art of the singing method. The UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List of Good Safeguarding Practices formally listed the organization in 2020.
While this may seem like a little-known and long-forgotten way of singing, the importance is in the passing on of Greek history, small-town history, and long-forgotten ways. These are the types of projects UNESCO is especially interested in protecting.
Cultures worldwide use song to express every range of emotion from love to sorrow and every event from marriage to funeral. It reflects the culture and passes down knowledge, ritual, and tradition. Pause for a moment and ask yourself about the songs of your community. Perhaps a church choir or school children singing at a school concert come to mind. Or, maybe it's faith-based chanting, the national anthem at a local event, a show in the park, a symphony orchestra in a performance hall, or a street entertainer at the subway. Song helps to identify us as a community.
What is your community's singing heritage? Consider recording it, where possible, and sharing it in places where your community comes together. There are singing festivals, such as a choir festival, worldwide, which is perhaps something to consider.
Isn't it time you raised your voice differently?...to sing?
You can hear a polyphonic song performed by the female group, Pleiades, by clicking the second link below.
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Catalog #:
1021.106.01.012822