Pontic Greek music



Pontic Greek music includes both the folk music traditionally performed by Pontic Greeks and modern Pontic music. Song and dance have a long history in the Pontos, ranging from ancient dances to the Acritic songs to folk songs. Certain dances, accompanied by music, date to ancient times, such as the pyrrhichios. Pontic music evolved alongside Pontic dance.

Acritic songs, which are epic songs describing folk heroes who lived and fought on the borders of the empire in Byzantine times, date back hundreds of years. Versions of these songs exist today, accompanied by modern Pontic instruments and singing techniques. More recent folk songs include love songs, mourning songs, and war songs. These date to the late 1800s or earlier during Ottoman times. Some songs appeared after the creation of the Pontic diaspora with the 1923 population exchange; many of these speak to the hardships of the exchange and longing for home.

Traditional instruments used today include the lyra, daouli, zurna, dankiyo, tulum, and oud. Pontic music often incorporates polyphony. Instrumental music may be accompanied by vocals. Singing in Pontic music often incorporates heavy use of vibrato. Some songs are set up in a call-and-response style, with a lead singer and a chorus. Pontic music is structured in hexachords with a rapid tempo. Parallel 4ths and 2nds are common. Asymmetrical rhythms are common, and sometimes, the accompanying dance does not follow the rhythm. The 5/8 rhythm is typical of modern Pontic music.

Because the Black Sea region has a rich cultural history, Pontic Greek music has been influenced by the various cultures present in the area throughout history, especially Laz music.

Cultural role
When Pontian refugees came from the Pontos to Greece in the 1920s, they brought traditions of music and folklore with them. Between the 1950s and the 1980s, Pontian clubs used music, dance, and folklore to portray themselves as both patriotic Greeks and as a distinct group unto themselves. The focus was mainly on assimilation; to this end, Pontian musicians might censor songs with Turkish verses. In the 1980s, when some of the original Pontian refugees began to pass away, the focus of Pontian music in Greece began to shift. The focus moved to remembering the original refugees and their experience. Music and folklore became more inclusive; for example, musicians began to openly perform Pontian songs with Turkish verses, such as "Tsambasin."

A parakathi, or muhabeti, is an important form of social get-together for Pontians in the modern day, describing "a banquet where music is the main activity." Parakathi gatherings always include music, including epitrapezia, or "tabletop melodies." Tablemates go back and forth, singing original or remembered rhyming couplets to one another. The couplets are in iambic meter or trochaic meter. The lyra provides instrumental support. The music is very spontaneous. The goal of a parakathi performance is to express emotions through the use of remembered verses, and to share these feelings with one's community. Couplets may be used to communicate sorrow, to express longing, or to flirt. Scholar Ioannis Tsekouras argues that parakathi gatherings first emerged among refugees as ways to discuss their memories of genocide and deportation.

Instruments


Pontian musicians utilize a variety of musical instruments. The most iconic is the lyra, also called the Pontic kemençe or simply the kemençe.

Lyra
The lyra is a three-stringed instrument made of dense wood. The instrument is tuned in fourths, typically from the highest string to the lowest string. Lyras come in three different sizes: the largest, about 60 cm long, is called the kapani and has the lowest pitch. The smallest, the zil, is 45 cm long, and it has the highest pitch. The zilokapano falls in the middle, both with regards to size and pitch.

Trills and mordents are common in lyra playing. The player, or lyraris, holds the instrument in their non-dominant hand, using their fingers to manipulate the strings. Like in violin, the lyraris presses down on the strings vertically. They hold the bow (doksar) in their dominant hand to play the lyra. The instrument is not held against the musician's chin, as with the violin; rather, the body (skafí) may rest in the musician's lap, or the neck (ghoúla) may rest against their shoulder. The lyraris may opt to simply play, sing while playing, or lead a dance while playing. To produce polyphonic sounds, the lyraris presses down two strings with the same finger. There are four different hand positions for lyra playing, with first position being the most common.

The origin of the lyra is unknown. It may have ties to the Persian kamancheh or to other Byzantine or medieval European instruments. The lyra is shared with other cultures in the area, including Lazes and Turks.

The lyra remains important to the musical traditions of Pontic Greeks, Lazes, and Black Sea Turks, especially those who speak Romeika. In religious rural areas of the Black Sea, Islamic preachers have decried the lyra as a gavur aleti, "giaour (infidel) instrument." Despite its importance to musical tradition, there is some stigma associated with the lyra; stereotypes exist of lyra players as promiscuous, irreligious alcoholics. Some devout Muslims in the Black Sea area believe that playing the lyra is a sin. Nevertheless, it remains an important part of the local folk culture.

Daouli
The daouli is the main Pontian percussion instrument. It is typically paired with the lyra. This double-sided drum is used throughout the Middle East and the Balkans, where it goes by many different names. A daouli is made from a wooden cylinder, usually beech or walnut, covered by goatskin on both sides. The instrument is suspended by a strap around the percussionist's neck and torso. The percussionist plays by hitting the daouli with two wooden drumsticks. One is thicker, and is held in the dominant hand; the other, thinner drumstick is held in the non-dominant hand. Sizes of daoulia may vary. Illustrations of the daouli appear in Byzantine manuscripts from the 800s. It is always played alongside other instruments, typically at large outdoor gatherings.

Touloum
The touloum is a bagpipe, also played by Laz people. It has two melody pipes, no drone pipe, and is played to accompany many folk dances. The bag itself is typically made of goatskin or sheepskin, while the two pipes are made of cane. There is no separate drone pipe. The bagpipe has five fingerholes, some of which may be plugged with wax to achieve different sounds. By manipulating the fingerholes, it's possible for musicians to produce double sounds, which makes it easy to play polyphonically. The two melody pipes allow for heterophony. Although the instrument is not very popular among the Pontian diaspora, the touloum is undergoing a revival in Turkey. Some Turkish artists, including Laz and Hemshin musicians, released albums with touloum music in the 2010s and 2020s.

Other instruments
Another Pontian instrument is the zourna, also called o petinos (literally "the rooster"). The zourna is a woodwind instrument related to the oboe. They come in various sizes, ranging from 22-60 cm. The zourna has seven airholes, and a thumbhole on which the zournacis (zourna player) places their thumb.

Pontians also play the ghaval, a six-hole flute similar to the tin whistle of the British Isles or the bansuri of the Indian subcontinent. Pontians also play the pipiza, another wind instrument similar to the zourna. Another is the floghera, a type of flute.

Additionally, Pontians from certain regions have traditionally played the kemane, the oud, and the violin. The violin, however, is played upright in the musician's lap, as if it were a lyra. Pontians in Georgia may use the accordion rather than the lyra.

Vocals are an important part of Pontian music. Singers tend to use vibrato. Often, a lead singer will sing a line, and then a chorus of other singers will repeat that line. Sometimes singers duet, typically with one leading.

Pontians use their own language, Romeika, to describe instruments and their parts. For example, the soundholes on a lyra are called rothónia, literally "nostrils."

Byzantine period
Some Romeika-language Acritic songs date back to the Byzantine Empire and Empire of Trebizond. These songs depict akritai, soldiers who defended the eastern border of the Byzantine Empire. The Acritic songs typically featured folk heroes, such as Digenes Akritas. The lyrics are in an antique, medieval form of Romeika that had much less influence from Turkish.

One song, Ton Márandon hartín erthén, ("Marandos received a letter") depicts a legendary soldier named Marandos, who goes to war for seven years and leaves his young wife. Upon his return, his wife fails to recognize him. The homecoming theme is reminiscent of nostos from classic Greek literature.

The songs offer glimpses into medieval Pontian life. Both Ton Márandon hartín erthén and Akrítas óndes élamnen ("When Akritas plowed") discuss livestock, farming equipment, and traditional farming techniques. The song Akrítas óndes élamnen follows Akrítas, literally "frontiersman," who speaks to a small bird. The bird sits on his ploughshare while he works and sings to him. It says,

Birds, including the eagle, were a common motif in Pontian folklore, and Greek folklore at large. One song, Aitén'ts eperipétanen ("An eagle flew high"), speaks of an eagle carrying the arm of an unknown soldier in its claws. The fallen soldier himself lies dead on the mountainside. The song is highly allegorical. Many Acritic songs from the Pontos reference struggles against outsiders and conquerors.

Another Acritic song, T'íl' to kástron ("The castle of the sun"), dates from the 1400s. The song is also known as To kástro tis Orĭás, ("Beauty's Castle"). The ballad centers on a beautiful Byzantine castle with a beautiful young woman inside. Turkish soldiers tried and failed to take the castle for years. However, a young Pontian who had defected to the Turkish side deceived the people living in the castle into opening the gate.

Early modern
Ioannis Parharidis, a Pontian Greek teacher born in Trapezounta in 1858, did field work studying Romeika-language musical traditions around the Black Sea region. In Christian villages near Trapezounta, he found that many people sang traditional folk songs. These generally related to historical events and had a patriotic character. Greek Orthodox Pontians also typically sang mirologoi, or mourning songs, for the recently deceased.

In the Ophis region, which had a large population of Sunni Muslim Romeika speakers, Parharidis found that the locals tended to improvise songs rather than sing well-known folk songs. Additionally, villagers participated in dialogs called atışma, literally meaning "battle of words." During the dialog, two singers teased, argued, and attempted to outsmart one another using rhyming lyrics. Muslim Romeika speakers also sang mirologoi. Their lyrics tended to mix Romeika and Turkish.

Many different Pontian folk songs have survived through to the 21st century. There are a variety of subjects: historical events, warfare, romantic love, fantastic situations, and sorrowful events. Slow, sad songs are known as karslidhika. Many songs rhyme; some are humorous. Some love songs include Elenitsam ("My Elenitsa"), I kor epien so parhar ("The girl went to the highlands"), and Serranda mila kokkina ("Forty red apples"). Some love songs, like Kortsopon lal'me ("Girl, call me"), are duets between a female and male singer. Some songs reference historical events, like Tsambasin. Still other songs are religious. One such song is Souméla len tin Panagiá ("The Panagia's name is Soumela"), referencing the Panagia (Mary) and Soumela Monastery. Many recordings of Pontian folk songs exist on CD; modern Pontian folk musicians also play these songs at gatherings and community events.

Some songs were written in response to the Greek genocide and the subsequent population exchange. For example, the song "Courageous Men from Pontos" (Παλικάρια α σον Πόντον, romanized as Palikária a son Pónton) centers on legendary folk heroes who led guerrillas to fight against Turkish çetes during the genocide. Some distichs used in parakathi singing also center on the genocide: "Many Romiyi [Greeks] lost their lives on the way to Erzurum. / May these years go away and never come back."

Folk music in the modern day
The Greek Orthodox population of the Pontos had to leave their traditional lands during the Greek genocide and subsequent population exchange in the early 1910s-1920s. Most resettled in Greece. As a result, their musical styles naturally diverged from those of the Muslim Pontic Turks, who remained in the area.

In Turkey
Some Black Sea Turks still speak Romeika and use traditional Black Sea instruments. For example, Merve Tanrıkulu, a Turkish singer from Trabzon, released an original Romeika-language lullaby in 2019. The title is Romeika ninni, literally "Romeika lullaby." Sinan Karlıdağ accompanied her, providing the lyra (kemençe) music. Tanrıkulu told a local news outlet that she recorded the lullaby in order to keep the culture of her region alive. She speaks the highly endangered Ophitic dialect of Romeika.

Apolas Lermi is a singer and guitarist from Trabzon. His birth name is Abdurrahman Lermi, but he goes by the stage name Apolas, for the Greek god of music Apollo. His albums include music in both Turkish and Romeika. Lermi says he received death threats after including Romeika-language songs on his 2011 album Kalandar ("January," literally the month of caroling). Despite the threats, he kept performing music in Romeika. In 2016, Lermi released an album titled Romeika, composed entirely of Pontic Greek songs. He has also performed duets with Greek singers such as Pela Nikolaidou.

In the diaspora
Some famous lyra players who emigrated from Pontos during the exchange went on to record music while in Greece. Many were from Trapezounta and the surrounding area. They helped to preserve Pontian musical tradition abroad and publicize it for a larger audience.

The lyra is historically played outdoors. Today, among the diaspora, playing indoors is more common. As a side effect, lyras are becoming larger to produce music that is lower in pitch compared to historical lyras. Modern Pontic music in Greece has been heavily influenced by traditional Greek music styles, such as rebetiko. Some prominent lyra players, notably Giorgos "Gogos" Petridis, also learned to play the bouzouki, which influenced their lyra playing.

New Romeika songs came about after the creation of the diaspora. One such song is Tim batrída'm éχasa, in English I Lost My Homeland. Kostas Siamidis composed the music, while Christos Antoniadis wrote the lyrics. The song title refers to the sense of loss many refugees felt after the population exchange in the early 1920s. The song includes many components of traditional Pontian folk music: vocal vibrato, repetition, and singing with lyra accompaniment.

Since the 1970s, the Neopontiaki genre has emerged. This Neopontic music emerged from the nightclub scenes; it combines traditional Pontian instruments like the lyra with other instruments, like synthesizers, drum kits, and electric guitars. Neopontic has become a catch-all term for Pontian music that is not traditional.

In popular culture
Some radio stations, mostly in Greece, play Pontic music.
 * Radio Akrites 102.3 FM, based in Thessaloniki, Greece
 * Radio Alexios Komninos 105.8, based in Alexandroupolis, Greece
 * Radio Lelevose 101.3 FM, based in Kavala
 * Radio Pontos Stockholm, based in Stockholm, Sweden
 * Radio Trapezounta, based in Boston, USA

Kostas Ageris, winner of the second season of The Voice of Greece, performed the Romeika song Tim batrída'm éxasa to lyra accompaniment on Greek national television in 2015. Ageris' family is Pontic.

Lyra

 * Matthaios Tsahouridis (1978-), born in Greece to refugee parents

Composers

 * Iovan Tsaous (1893-1942), from Kastamonu

Singers and songwriters

 * Stelios Kazantzidis (1931-2001), singer and guitarist, born in Greece to refugee parents from Pontos and Asia Minor
 * Chrysanthos Theodoridis (1934-2005), singer-songwriter, born in Greece to a family from Kars
 * Apostolos Nikolaidis (1938-1999), born in Greece to refugee parents
 * Lefteris Hapsiadis (1953-), songwriter of both traditional and pop music
 * Apolas Lermi (1986-), Turkish singer from Trabzon who performs in both Turkish and Romeika

Popular and classical music
These Pontic Greek musicians make popular music, classical music, or Greek folk music rather than Pontic Greek folk music. Their music is typically in Greek, rather than in Romeika. They tend not to use folk instruments.
 * Odysseas Dimitriadis (1908-2005), Georgian conductor born to Pontic Greek parents
 * Vasilis Triantafillidis (1940-2018), comedian and singer
 * Pavlos Sidiropoulos (1948-1990), Greek rock musician born to a Pontian father
 * Diamanda Galás (1955-), American singer-songwriter and avant-garde musician with some Pontian ancestry. Her album Defixiones: Will and Testament focused on the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek genocides.
 * Lefteris Pantazis (1955-), Greek skiladiko and laïkó singer