Christopher King: Lament From Epirus

In a gramophone shop in Istanbul, renowned record collector Christopher C. King uncovered some of the strangest—and most hypnotic—sounds he had ever heard. The songs, King learned, were from Epirus, an area straddling southern Albania and northwestern Greece and boasting a folk tradition extending back to the pre-Homeric era. Lament from Epirus is an unforgettable journey into a musical obsession. As King hunts for two long-lost virtuosos—one of whom may have committed a murder—he also tells the story of the Roma people who pioneered Epirotic folk music and their descendants who continue the tradition today.

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[lindahealey]

Tut-tut, Chris, you are a gifted writer and a pleasure to read.

[ScrapwoodCity]

This book is amazing! As a Greek it gave the shivers! I also felt embarrassed for myself, for not knowing as much as this American man does, about my culture! Big thanks to Mr. King, his book is a Jewel in my bookcase and in my heart from now on!

[acefeeley]

I just finished Mr. Kings book.
Very good!!

[carolfreeman]

I've been listening to music from Ipirus for more than fifty years, and have worked with some of the finest Ipirot musicians. Even so, I wouldn't deign to present myself as an expert on the music. No use for self-proclaimed experts who are Johnny come latelys who really do not hav a broad perspective on the tradition. I'd prefer to learn from those with lifelong research and/or musical involvements.

[weezie]

Beautiful and profound. The music by the great players at the end, and some of the Epiros records sounds like Bela Babai ("King of the Gypsy Violin"), a record I grew up with. Thanks to Christopher King for a fine book and an enjoyable talk.

[CaptainNavman]

you should contact Kostas Lolis in Ioannina. A violinist who has studied polyphonic history in the region for decades

[TheloniousCube]

On a skeptical note, is there any historical support for the idea that this music in some way pre-dates Homer? That's a pretty strong claim.

[mackyv]

Fantastic, as is the book which I'm currently reading; Epiriote music & dance is very very special, totally sublime; not read the White Goddess book, but an obvious connection is the tradition of Irish keening.

[phillipjones]

We must talk Mister King. Write back soon.

[erlisshahu]

Another thing to Mr. King, the Roma he talks about are not really Roma's but they're actually Egyptians, there is a misconceptions since romas are called Cigani, whereas egyptians, in the Albanian part especially where this music is played are called Evgjit(Egypt) the similarity is not in these graphems but phonetically sounds even closer. They're the best preservers of this kind of music. The romas play a different type of music, more vocal and rythmi actually. Thanks for this video

[Truthful]

Mr. Kings book was very interesting to read. Now, I want to learn more about the Arvanites. They must have been through unthinkable difficulties to create such music. They were bilingual and spoke mixed Albanian-Greek and played a fundamental role in freeing the Balkans from the Ottoman empire. However, we are just discovering the roots of these heroes thanks to your channel.




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[ScrapwoodCity]

Does anyone know where can I find a contact e-mail of Mr. King?

[gentipenko]

Who has eat their 👅 maestro? Buzuk is Turk instrument how you find Greek music with buzuk in epir?

[erlisshahu]

I am surprised with the nationalistic views on video and in comment field, I, an Albanian, find it ignorant and stupid to devide such culture, and just put it as Greek or Albania, while this music is older than Greece and older than Albania. And while to the Nationalist Greeks i just have a questions, how come that in Albania, the orthodox with Greek roots, in most cases have names like Homer, Diogen, Akil, Euripid in Greece most of the names are Giannis, Panaioti, all other types of orthodox saint names. Dear Greeks please rip all your history books and try to start fresh because Greece is not the center of the world, in it never was even during Hellenic times....in this rounded globe there will and always be plenty of other civilizations. Spartans are greek, so are Athenians, but if you'd go back and ask them, they'd deny their similarities, and don't forget that the war with Sparta took Athens to bankrupcy. Back to music, let it vibrate and forget which ethnicity it you for the music. With respect an Albanian

[simvlos]

Ελλάς Άπειρως Γη .🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷 Ελλάς οικουμενική..

[MKokalari]

What Epiros? It is Çameria, Vagenetia. Look at the names of songs. The song of Osman Taka is now samantaka? WTF!! All Albania from bay of Ambrakia northwards. There is no Epirus music. It is southern Albanian music. Southern Epirus became part of Greece in 1912.

[donjumbo]

This has nothing to do with Greeks
Epir means above in Albanian and is stilla toponym used even in Dardania, Kosovo

Dimale was illyrian,
the Taulantii were Illyrian
the Bulliones and Byllis was Illyrian

[zedsian]

For those that keep on insisting that Arvanitika was a clearly Albanian form of language. It was not. Apparently (1) there were more Greek entries than Albanian, (2) the grammar was Greek, and (3), from the Albanian entries (1701), there were approximately 500 Greek loan words. Percentage-wise, Arvanitika was much more Greek than Albanian. Your claims about the Arvanites being Albanian are poor. The Arvanites themselves did not identify as Albanians, not only during the period where Metaxas ruled but before him also. Actually, they felt insulted to identify with the Albanians since they strongly considered themselves to be Greek. Thus they fought for the recreation of the Greek nation and not for any other nation. They spoke the only form of Greek-Albanian (Arvanitika) and the Greek language. Their vocabulary was in such an old form that to the Albanians and to the Greeks they sounded a bit archaic. Do not forget, Arvanite were not the only ones who were bilingual. Pontic Greeks who still live in Pontos speak their own dialect (which includes mainly Greek with many Turkish-Arabic-Persian words) and Turkish due to living in the proximity of Turks. Just like the Greeks of Pontos-Turkey, Mariupol-Ukraine, and South Italy, the Arvanite were bilingual. Nevertheless, the Arvanite did not speak clearly or fully the Albanian language. To end this message on a positive note, the Arvanite envisioned something beautiful; and that was a Greco-Albanian nation.

The Greek-Albanian dictionary aka Botsari's lexicon.

The original manuscript of the dictionary is at the National Library in Paris (Supplément Grec 251). Botsaris titled his dictionary “Lexicon of the simple Romaic and Arbanitic language” (Λεξικόν της Ρωμαϊκοις και Αρβανητηκής Απλής (sic)). The Greek terms are in columns on the left of the pages, not in alphabetical order, and the Albanian words on the right, written in Greek letters. Apart from single words, the dictionary includes complexes of words or short phrases. The Greek entries are in total 1701 and the Albanian 1494.
On the first page there is a hand-written notice by Pouqueville: “Ce lexique est écrit de la main de Marc Botzari à Corfou 1809 devant moi.” This manuscript, which includes also a kind of Greek-Albanian self-teaching method with dialogues written by Ioannes Vilaras and a French-Albanian glossary by Pouqueville, was donated by the latter to the Library in 1819. The dictionary was dictated to the young M. Botsaris by his father Kitsos (1754-1813), his uncle Notis (1759-1841) and his father-in-law Christakis Kalogerou from Preveza. Titos Yochalas, a Greek historian who studied and edited the manuscript, noticing that some Greek words are translated into Albanian in more than one way, believes that M. Botsaris was writing the Greek words and the elders were translating into Albanian. As many of the entries seem unlikely to be useful either for the Suliots or the Albanians of that time and circumstances, Yochalas believes that the dictionary was composed after Pouqueville’s initiative, possibly as a source for a future French-Albanian dictionary. He also observes that the Albanian phrases are syntaxed as if were Greek, concluding that either the mother tongue of the authors was the Greek or the Greek language had a very strong influence on the Albanian, if the latter was possibly spoken in Souli (Yochalas, p. 53). The Albanian idiom of the dictionary belongs to the Tosk dialect of south Albanian and retains many archaic elements, found also in the dialect spoken by the Greco-Albanian communities of South Italy and Sicily. In the Albanian entries there are many loans from Greek (approx. 510), as well as from Turkish (approx. 190) and Italian (21).[23]