B4 Makrys skopos (lira) (Δημητρης Ταυριδης)

μακρύς σκοπός
Kemenche [Lira], Voice – Dimitris Tavridis

track B4 from the compilation:
Musik Der Pontos-Griechen: Nordgriechenland
(Music of Pontic Greeks: Northern Greece)
Label: Museum Collection Berlin (West) ‎– MC 5
Released: 1980

Recordings and commentary: Christian Ahrens

The Pontic Greeks were almost totally expelled from Turkey after 1921, and settled primarily in Northern Greece. Like their language and culture, their music is also quite different from that of the rest of the Greeks. It is distinguished by two traits: a strong preference for instrumental music, and polyphonic musical practices. The most important instruments are the lira (three-stringed bowed instrument) and the touloum (bagpipe, without a drone pipe). Besides these, the clarinet (klarino) and drum (daouli) ensemble, frequently supplemented with a violin, occupies and important position, mainly withing wedding ceremonies.

About the track:
B4 Makrys Skopos

Recorded on 9 October 1972 at Langadas/Saloniki, in a coffee house. Lyra and voice: Dimitris Tavridis, b. 1927, owner of the coffee house.
Makrys skopos ("Long song" - even the designation shows parallels to the Turkish uzun hava - "long melody") has a permanent place in the Pontic wedding ceremony and is played, for instance, when the bride leaves her parent's house. Musically, the pieces of this type display a close relationship with the epi trapezios pieces.
The present interpretation contains two strophes, both of which are repeated in their entirety. The strophic form is bipartite, the sections are likewise connected by interludes, as are the individual strophes. The melodic range is a fifth (f-c'), whereas the f is only used as the leading tone on occasion to the finalis g. In this interpretation the singer held the initial b-flat quite long, likewise the final tone g, while the inner finalis at the end of the A section is short. The pressed vocal quality is also obvious here. The lira accompaniment is almost monophonic throughout, only now and then does the specific lower string act as a bourdon. Only in the postlude, which represents quasi a transition to another piece, are parallel fourths again emphasized.

Text:

1. Come, when I whistle,
Come, when I strike with the axe.
You let me fall in love
And I am still so young.

2. Come to me
Come finally, come closer.
Take my hand as a pillow,
My heart gives you solitude.