As previously mentioned, I was born in India but my parents and I were obligated to live in Cephalonia, during World War II and the Italian and German occupation. Before the war started, we had a fabulous time touring around this beautiful island, and I remember with deep nostalgia the melodic songs of the Ionian Islands called "cantades". Small groups of men used to serenade during moonlit nights and young Romeos expressed their passion and admiration to the girls they loved by singing cantades under their bedroom windows.
Cantada is a perfect example of the popular, urban song of the Ionian islands. These islands have a distinctive culture, mainly because their customs were hardly changed by the Byzantine civilisation, unlike the rest of Greece. From 1204, the Republic of Venice governed these islands for over 400 years. So obviously, Ionian music was influenced by Italy, therefore the musical styles that developed in this area followed the rules of western harmonies, bel canto.
After 1894, when the Ionian islands joined Greece, cantades (serenades) spread to the Greek mainland, became very popular and were transformed into the so-called Athenian serenades.
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| Maestro Panayiotis Barbatis at Work |
We must all be very grateful to the famous Cephalonian music conductor Maestro Panayiotis Barbatis, who collected all these traditional gems and orchestrated them beautifully, with slight jazz innuendoes. He also formed three exceptional choirs with celebrated leading singers, like Babis Velissarios, Helen Voudouraki, Eipiniki Zervou and Pantelis Zervos. He is also famous for his mandolinata, an excellent mandoline orchestra composed by extremely talented musicians.
pastehttps://youtu.be/qwV9z3XV_0s?list=RDqwV9z3XV_0s&t=9
(I wish to thank the Greek television show "To your Health, Dear Friends" on SKAI TV for the inspiration, and ERT, and Wikipedia for the very interesting information for this post.)
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| Three Daffodils by Rosemary Lewis |
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