Uploaded June 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Music from the traditional repertoire of Laz music, with improvisations by Dimitrios Dallas who recorded the Pontic lyra and tulum bagpipe, be sure to check out his awesome work here youtube.com/channel/UC3SwRGRooZwTLssMrweWeAQ. 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.
In this case, I wanted to tackle the theme of the Trapezuntine Empire, a rump state of the Eastern Roman Empire after its temporary collapse following the sack of Constantinople by the Latin Crusaders. The Empire of Trebizond was formed in the Northeastern extremities of Anatolia, close to Georgia, and a massive portion of its population consisted of the Laz people, a Kartvelian people closely related to Georgians who inhabit the region known as Lazica. For this reason, the rulers of the empire were titled Princes of the Lazes. Therefore, this song consists of a mixture of Pontic Greek and Laz traditions.
Laz music of Anatolia and Pontic Greek music overlap significantly, being essentially the same broad musical tradition and using the same fundamental features. The Black Sea fiddle is a primary instrument of the region, as is the tulum bagpipe, with the primary drum being the davul, all of them used here. I also employed a Georgian pandouri, an instrument commonly featured nowadays in Laz music, even of Anatolia, as a nod to their common kinship with Georgians.
Much of the music in this region is primarily dance music, and often structured in asymmetrical rythmic structures, such as a 5 based beat in this song. I really wanted to feature the Laz language in this composition, so I simply featured a Laz love song called Furt'unaşen Gebulur that me and my mom sang in the Laz language, and my colleague Dimitrios Dallas played expertly using the Black Sea kementze and the bagpipe, adding to it his own improvisations in the style of Pontic Greek music. A form of drone harmony is also found in Laz music, something shared with their Georgian neighbours, switching from tonic to subtonic. All in all, this composition shows an example of Pontic Greek and Laz music with Georgian elements added in, showing the fascinating musical landscape of Lazica at the junction of the Greek, Anatolian, and Kartvelian worlds.
Lyrics in Greek and Laz:
Έλα! Γιε της Ρώμης,
Η Ρωμανία ζει,
Ζει στα μαύρα κύματα,
Στα τραγούδια των Λαζών.
Furtunaşen gevulur
Nena momçi mevulur
E bozo skani şeni
P'anda çveri govulur
Rak'anis mot geladgir
Limçişi xvala xvala
Moxti mendegiyona
Mulurna çkimi k'ala
Var megocan e biç'i
Var malen skani k'ala
Ubas mu mologidzin
Muç'o mzuğaş kvanç'ala
Mtel dadepe hak renan
Çkva heşo var barbala
Ma şkurina va miğun
Met'k'oçi bincubala
English translation:
Come! Son of Rome,
Rhomania lives,
She lives in the black waves,
In the songs of the Lazes.
I'm coming down from the storm stream.
Give me a sound, I'm coming.
Girl for you,
I'm always walking around with burns.
Why are you standing on the hill?
In the evening, all alone.
Come let me take you,
If you come with me.
I don't trust you, young man.
I can't come with you.
What are you hiding in your bosom?
It looks like a stone from the sea.
All my sisters are here,
Don't be so stupid.
I have no fear,
Let me shut you up.
Music from the traditional repertoire of Laz music, with improvisations by Dimitrios Dallas who recorded the Pontic lyra and tulum bagpipe, be sure to check out his awesome work here youtube.com/channel/UC3SwRGRooZwTLssMrweWeAQ. 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.
In this case, I wanted to tackle the theme of the Trapezuntine Empire, a rump state of the Eastern Roman Empire after its temporary collapse following the sack of Constantinople by the Latin Crusaders. The Empire of Trebizond was formed in the Northeastern extremities of Anatolia, close to Georgia, and a massive portion of its population consisted of the Laz people, a Kartvelian people closely related to Georgians who inhabit the region known as Lazica. For this reason, the rulers of the empire were titled Princes of the Lazes. Therefore, this song consists of a mixture of Pontic Greek and Laz traditions.
Laz music of Anatolia and Pontic Greek music overlap significantly, being essentially the same broad musical tradition and using the same fundamental features. The Black Sea fiddle is a primary instrument of the region, as is the tulum bagpipe, with the primary drum being the davul, all of them used here. I also employed a Georgian pandouri, an instrument commonly featured nowadays in Laz music, even of Anatolia, as a nod to their common kinship with Georgians.
Much of the music in this region is primarily dance music, and often structured in asymmetrical rythmic structures, such as a 5 based beat in this song. I really wanted to feature the Laz language in this composition, so I simply featured a Laz love song called Furt'unaşen Gebulur that me and my mom sang in the Laz language, and my colleague Dimitrios Dallas played expertly using the Black Sea kementze and the bagpipe, adding to it his own improvisations in the style of Pontic Greek music. A form of drone harmony is also found in Laz music, something shared with their Georgian neighbours, switching from tonic to subtonic. All in all, this composition shows an example of Pontic Greek and Laz music with Georgian elements added in, showing the fascinating musical landscape of Lazica at the junction of the Greek, Anatolian, and Kartvelian worlds.
Lyrics in Greek and Laz:
Έλα! Γιε της Ρώμης,
Η Ρωμανία ζει,
Ζει στα μαύρα κύματα,
Στα τραγούδια των Λαζών.
Furtunaşen gevulur
Nena momçi mevulur
E bozo skani şeni
P'anda çveri govulur
Rak'anis mot geladgir
Limçişi xvala xvala
Moxti mendegiyona
Mulurna çkimi k'ala
Var megocan e biç'i
Var malen skani k'ala
Ubas mu mologidzin
Muç'o mzuğaş kvanç'ala
Mtel dadepe hak renan
Çkva heşo var barbala
Ma şkurina va miğun
Met'k'oçi bincubala
English translation:
Come! Son of Rome,
Rhomania lives,
She lives in the black waves,
In the songs of the Lazes.
I'm coming down from the storm stream.
Give me a sound, I'm coming.
Girl for you,
I'm always walking around with burns.
Why are you standing on the hill?
In the evening, all alone.
Come let me take you,
If you come with me.
I don't trust you, young man.
I can't come with you.
What are you hiding in your bosom?
It looks like a stone from the sea.
All my sisters are here,
Don't be so stupid.
I have no fear,
Let me shut you up.
