Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Artwork by Dimitris Skourtelis, vocals by Dimitris Kap, kaval, gaida and lyra by Dimitrios Dallas, daouli by Stefanos Athinaios, ison vocals by Farya Faraji.
The Epic Byzantine series is a musical project that uses the sounds of modern 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" of the cinematic, heightened soundscape genre, 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 modern Greek traditional music, understood as a direct continuation of that earlier cultural and musical world.
This is an akritic song from Northern Greece. The Akritic Repertoire is a body of folk stories and songs originating in the Middle-Ages, centred around the Akritai, the border guards of the frontiers of the Eastern Roman Empire. All the border regions, like Crete, Cyprus, Anatolia and Thrace have their own songs rooted in the regional style of that area. In this case, we are dealing with Thracian music, a style grounded in the usage of the gaida bagpipe, the daouli drums, kaval flute, laouto to provide the backing chords or drones, and Thracian lyra, a gut-stringed lyra.
Lyrics available below.
Artwork by Dimitris Skourtelis, vocals by Dimitris Kap, kaval, gaida and lyra by Dimitrios Dallas, daouli by Stefanos Athinaios, ison vocals by Farya Faraji.
The Epic Byzantine series is a musical project that uses the sounds of modern 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" of the cinematic, heightened soundscape genre, 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 modern Greek traditional music, understood as a direct continuation of that earlier cultural and musical world.
This is an akritic song from Northern Greece. The Akritic Repertoire is a body of folk stories and songs originating in the Middle-Ages, centred around the Akritai, the border guards of the frontiers of the Eastern Roman Empire. All the border regions, like Crete, Cyprus, Anatolia and Thrace have their own songs rooted in the regional style of that area. In this case, we are dealing with Thracian music, a style grounded in the usage of the gaida bagpipe, the daouli drums, kaval flute, laouto to provide the backing chords or drones, and Thracian lyra, a gut-stringed lyra.
Lyrics available below.
