Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Lyra and tsambouna @Dim@Dimitrios_Dallasums by Dimitris Papadimitriou, vocals by Farya Faraji. Special thanks to Dimitris Kap for helping me out with the prosody of the text. The Epic Byzantine series is a project that uses the sounds of the current, living heritage of Greek traditional music to explore the themes, myths, and folklore that originated in the medieval Eastern Roman (Byzantine) period. These works are not reconstructions of medieval Greek music, nor "epic music" in a cinematic soundtrack sense, but an ethnomusicological project reflecting the living tradition of Greek music as it exists today. The repertoire of Greek traditional music is a direct continuation of the narrative traditions that crystallised in the Byzantine period, including the Akritic songs and other local legends. Likewise, Greek traditional music continues the modal and monophonic musical language of medieval Greece, preserved in forms such as Byzantine chant. The Epic Byzantine series therefore explores Byzantine-era epic narratives through today's Greek traditional music, understood as a direct continuation of that earlier cultural and musical world.
This is a folk song from the island of Karpathos, belonging to the Akritic genre of poetry: a body of text and poetry originating in the Middle-Ages and centred on the stories of the Akritic Corps, the frontier guardsmen of the Eastern Roman Empire. Theirs was a story marked by battles with other civilisations such as the Arabs, and the stories reflect this. Over time, the Akritic stories have made their way into the folk repertoire of the many regions of the Greek-speaking world, and can now be found as folk songs such as this one. This song was first collected and recorded by Greek musicologist Domna Samiou, and it can be listened to here: youtube.com/watch?v=12jcTGnioJI
The folk music of Karpathos is one of the most unique and rich in Greece, with very conservative tendencies compared to other regions. Older lyra constructions with bells on the bow are still used there, with archaic, medieval tunings, and the karpathos bagpipe also has the usage of drones not found in many other bagpipes of the country like the askomandoura or the typical Cycladian tsambouna. Karpathos' music is one of the most clear enduring examples of Greek medieval music and showcases clear archaic and pre-modern tendencies.
Lyrics available in the pinned comment.
Lyra and tsambouna @Dim@Dimitrios_Dallasums by Dimitris Papadimitriou, vocals by Farya Faraji. Special thanks to Dimitris Kap for helping me out with the prosody of the text. The Epic Byzantine series is a project that uses the sounds of the current, living heritage of Greek traditional music to explore the themes, myths, and folklore that originated in the medieval Eastern Roman (Byzantine) period. These works are not reconstructions of medieval Greek music, nor "epic music" in a cinematic soundtrack sense, but an ethnomusicological project reflecting the living tradition of Greek music as it exists today. The repertoire of Greek traditional music is a direct continuation of the narrative traditions that crystallised in the Byzantine period, including the Akritic songs and other local legends. Likewise, Greek traditional music continues the modal and monophonic musical language of medieval Greece, preserved in forms such as Byzantine chant. The Epic Byzantine series therefore explores Byzantine-era epic narratives through today's Greek traditional music, understood as a direct continuation of that earlier cultural and musical world.
This is a folk song from the island of Karpathos, belonging to the Akritic genre of poetry: a body of text and poetry originating in the Middle-Ages and centred on the stories of the Akritic Corps, the frontier guardsmen of the Eastern Roman Empire. Theirs was a story marked by battles with other civilisations such as the Arabs, and the stories reflect this. Over time, the Akritic stories have made their way into the folk repertoire of the many regions of the Greek-speaking world, and can now be found as folk songs such as this one. This song was first collected and recorded by Greek musicologist Domna Samiou, and it can be listened to here: youtube.com/watch?v=12jcTGnioJI
The folk music of Karpathos is one of the most unique and rich in Greece, with very conservative tendencies compared to other regions. Older lyra constructions with bells on the bow are still used there, with archaic, medieval tunings, and the karpathos bagpipe also has the usage of drones not found in many other bagpipes of the country like the askomandoura or the typical Cycladian tsambouna. Karpathos' music is one of the most clear enduring examples of Greek medieval music and showcases clear archaic and pre-modern tendencies.
Lyrics available in the pinned comment.
