Creta DanceThe traditional music of Crete constitutes a special element of its culturalphysiognomy, which has been preserved and indeed is developing today.
There is a great range of instrumental music and songs, of which some enjoy a local, others a pan-Cretan popularity.
To the former category belong the famous
rizitika songs of western Crete.
They are thus called because the place of their origin is believed to have been the villages of the
riza in the White Mountains. They are closely connected with the Cretan songs of the Byzantine period, but have slowly acquired their own identity.
Some of them originate from the years of the Venetian domination, some can be discerned as originating from the Turkish period, and there are still others which refer to more recent historic events, such as the Battle of Crete etc
These
rizitika are divided into songs of the "tavla" -
songs of the table - and songs of the "strata", which are songs of the road.
The former are sung around the table at a celebration - when a large table is laid out on planks
tavles to accommodate all the guests. They are sung without musical accompaniment, in chorus and with responses, by two groups of singers.
When will the skies be clear, when will
February be here,
So I can take my rifle, my partridge net
And go up to Omalos, to the strata ton
Mousouron
The "strata" songs are sung
on the road with musical accompaniment, and are mainly heard when the bridegroom goes to collect a bride from another village.
For this reason they are usually hymns in praise of love. Their purpose differs from that of the tavla, and they are usually of a slow, lulling rhythm.
Wait my girl, Im on my way
Put on felt slippers if it rains and white
ones if it snows.
If its fine with clear skies - the velvet
ones.
Songs which are heard all over Crete are the
rimes.
They are rhyming poems of many verses, written in iambic fifteen-syllable rhythm. They are of a narrative, mostly wailing nature, and their content is mostly historical, although some are concerned with society, religion or love.
Another category heard all over Crete are the mantinades, the famous rhyming two-line verses written in iambic fifteen
syllable rhythm.
Their content is erotic, proverbial or satiric etc. No Cretan celebration is complete without
mantinades and those that tell of love are considered the most beautiful.
I dont seek your love, for love is not
demanded
It is born of its own accord, in the
recesses of the heart.
The main exponents and composers of the mantiades are the musicians. But many other Cretans are endowed with
the gift of being able to sing in excellent, fluent rhyming couplets, some traditional and some made-up.
They are called
rimadori. When two or three of these rimadori meet at a celebration, there begin real battles of the mantinades, the
drakarismata, in which every mantinada sung becomes an attack on the previous one.
They are sung to various melodies, some of which are suited for dancing and others only for song.
Other popular songs which are frequently heard are melodic fragments of the Erotokritos or other great poems in Cretan literature.
A different category of lyrical poems is formed by the
miroloyia, particularly widespread on Crete and mostly found in mountain areas such as Anoyia or Sfakia.
Their content is always that of a lament, such as that for the dead. They are connected with the personality of the
mirologitra, a professional female mourner, who composes the rhymes by herself.
Death put me to sleep amongst the
pomegranates
Gave me tears to wake me up, gave me
miroloyia.
Dance is closely connected with music, and is the Cretan vehicle for expression.
There are five basic Cretan dances with different local variations.
The
Syrtos is particularly widely performed, and is also called the
Haniotikos because it is considered a dance native to Hania.
It is sedate, regular, and imposing. It is danced by men and women in a circle, with small steps and short, delicate movements of the legs.
The
Kastrinos owes its name to
Heraklion. It is also called
Pidiktos or
Maleviziotikos and is purely a man dance. The dancers form a circle holding each other by the wrist at shoulder height.
The steps are small and fast and the figures performed by the dancers are impressive.
The
Sousta owes its name to the
soustarisma (snapping movement) of the feel made by a pair of dancers facing each other.
It is considered the most erotic dance on the island.
The
Pentozalis takes its name from its five (pente) basic steps, the
zala, as they are locally called. It is a war dance, vigorous and with high jumping movements and allows for much self-improvisation.
It has often been suggested that this may be the descendant of a Minoan dance, perhaps that of the Curetes.
The
Siganos forms the introduction to the pentozalis, as its steps are gentle and accompanied by hushed sounds from the lyra and the laouta.
It is danced by men and women in a circle with their arms extended and holding each other by the shoulder.
There are other dances of a local
Character, such as the
Angaliastos the
Zervadexos etc.
The melodies to which the dances are performed consist of
kontilies (lit, strokes of the pencil), short, sharp melodic phrases which permit of self-improvisation, as do the dances
themselves.
The dancers follow basic steps and add their own expressive movements, according to the music and their own skills.
Among the traditional musical instruments there is the three-stringed pear-shaped
Lyra, which is divided into three types:
the
lyraki, the common lyra and the reverberating
brontolyra. It is played with a bow. The
violi is also a popular and widely heard instrument, as is the laouto,
which accompanies the latter two instruments but is also used as a solo instrument.
Among the wind instruments there is the thiamboli, an excellent instrument of pastoral origin, and the askobantotura, which resembles the Scottish bagpipes.
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