By Sotiris Bekas
A particularly significant musical record from the Central Macedonia region appeared a few weeks ago. The release, titled Meglen: Songs with Lyrics from the Moglena-Karatzova Region, brings to light songs that were once only played with musical instruments, without the lyrics that used to exist. As with any tradition, these lyrics expressed various aspects of the society that inspired them. The reason for this change lies in the well-known issues that have troubled the region for over a century, one of which revolves around the language of the local Slavic-speaking people, referred to as “Macedonian” or by the locals as “Makedonski.” It is also often called “local” or “endopika,” as historian Leonidas Empeirikos, an external collaborator of the Music Folklore Archive of the Asia Minor Studies Center, explains in the introduction of Meglen. Over time, the lyrics of these songs fell silent, their expression “muted, internalized, and self-censored from above,” leading to a situation where the music in the area could only be expressed through instruments, without singing.
The person behind the release of Meglen is Christos Apsis, originally from Emporio, Ptolemaida. He is a traditional dance teacher who systematically collects traditional songs and records customs and dances from the central and western Macedonian regions. He first visited the Aridaia region in 1993. Through his field research, he became so attached to the place and its people that he now considers Aridaia his own home. In fact, as he told folkradio.gr, the release of Meglen is a small gift to the people of Aridaia for the love and hospitality they so generously offered him.
During his research and the recording of material, he received generous help from many people who shared the common desire to keep this tradition and its songs alive. One of them was Nikos Mavrikis, from Theodoraki, Aridaia, who had gathered many songs from the elderly in the village and happily cross-referenced his recordings with Christos Apsis to see what was missing and what could be added.
For example, many informants couldn’t remember the songs in their entirety, or in the more classic example, a specific melody would be associated with different lyrics from village to village or even between informants.
As noted in the album’s preface, “In this particular region, this expression fell silent, internalized, self-censored, leading to a point where it was only expressed through instruments, without the song, the lyrics, and the accompanying poetry. Therefore, the expression we know are the so-called ‘Macedonian songs,’ which were incorporated into Greek folklore as a special region of ‘songs without words’ in national Greek folklore. However, these Macedonian songs only gained special visibility after 1981-82 and primarily after 1985 when the album Local Greek Music and Dances from Western and Central Macedonia was released by Giannakis Zlatanis‘ orchestra, produced by Vasilis Dimitropoulos and Dick van der Zwan. It was then, for the first time, that the titles of the songs appeared in the Macedonian language, but without their lyrics.”
As can be understood from the above, Meglen is a particularly important project, but it was realized within a framework of many complexities, as Christos Apsis, the person who conceived and carried out this collection of songs, explains to folkradio.gr.
“I faced many difficulties, especially in gathering the songs. One of the first challenges was to earn the trust of the people who held the information because they had many reservations, and rightfully so, given their experiences. Unfortunately, many times I recorded people who didn’t even want their names mentioned. I left homes empty-handed because their children wouldn’t let their elderly parents sing for me. Or in another instance, after I finished recording, the grandmother who sang for me came out on the balcony and shouted, ‘Don’t tell anyone that I sang these songs for you.’”
In conclusion, Meglen is an exceptional musical production that revives songs from a tradition at risk of extinction, which has certainly been under heavy pressure in its expression. The album’s material covers songs collected in the Aridaia region, as mentioned, and more broadly in the Almopia municipality. These are songs that are either native or borrowed and incorporated into the region’s repertoire over the years. They are all traditional, folk songs, most of which were previously played instrumentally, and now they are found here with their lyrics restored. This significant restoration was pursued and achieved by Christos Apsis and his collaborators. The album also includes, apart from the songs, Christmas carols, Epiphany carols, Lazarus carols, ritual songs such as the one sung by girls on St. George’s Day when, sitting on swings, each would reveal the boy she liked. There are also a traditional game and pure renditions—by informants—of a lament and a song about love and exile.
Special mention should be made of the musical arrangement of the material, which offers a very high-quality and interesting approach. On one hand, it sounds modern, but it fully includes the musical elements that defined this specific musical tradition. The person responsible for this is Stamatis Pasopoulos, a lecturer in the Department of Music Science and Art at the University of Macedonia. As Christos Apsis explains, “I entrusted the musical arrangement to Stamatis Pasopoulos, and our goal was to use the full range of musical instruments that were heard in the area. We used the brass instruments that still exist today, as well as the gaida (bagpipe), soupelka (flute), and kaval, along with the tambouras, instruments that are no longer played in the region. Stamatis based his work on archival material and enriched it with elements of today so that, as he says, the result is not a model but a proposal, as tradition is a dynamic process that constantly evolves.”
I believe Meglen is a collective work. The research may be mine, but a large number of musicians, singers, and others worked hard, supporting the project from their own perspectives. Tireless companions throughout this long effort were Stamatis Pasopoulos—without whose help the album wouldn’t have had this result—and Kostas Kondos, who handled the mixing, mastering, and sound recording. Finally, I felt I fulfilled a goal concerning my own identity, doing something as a duty for the people who passed away before they could hear their songs again. I shaped Meglen, and it shaped me too.”
Research – Christos Apsis
Music Supervision – Stamatis Pasopoulos
Sound Engineering, Editing, Mixing, Mastering – Kostas Kontos
Translation of Lyrics into Greek – Maria Doumba, Dimitris F. Ioannou, Dimitris Moulis
Translation of Lyrics into English – Tom Petsinis
Lyrics Supervision – Nana Kouli, Stamatis Pasopoulos, Natasa Tsakiridou, Kaiti Sakellariou, Christos Apsis
Transcription of Lyrics into Latin Alphabet – Alexandra Ioannidou, Dimitris K. Ioannou
Translation of Articles into English – Ioannis Manos, Yiannis Oikonomou
Article Supervision – Popi Polemi, Spyros Karavas
English Text Supervision – Antony Rokakis
Map selection – Spyros Karavas
Photo Editing – Giannis Oikonomou
Historical Information – Leonidas Empirikos
Printed Material Supervision – Stamatis Pasopoulos, Yiannis Oikonomou, Christos Apsis
Graphic Design – Myrto Vravosinou
Printing of Booklet – Angeliki Altintzi
CD Printing – CD-WAY
Singers:
Maria Davka, Christina Bentsi, Alexia Tanouri, Elena Moudiri-Chasiotou, Christos Tsiparis, Simos Dinis, Stavros Tzivanis, Petros Dourdoubakis, Female Vocal Ensemble, Maria Zaeiki, Nana Kouli, Maria Ioannou, Lina Tsernou, Kaiti Sakellariou, Tania Dourdoubakis, Alexia Tanouri, Christina Bentsi, Male Vocal Ensemble, Dimitris Moulis, Yiannis Veskos, Christos Apsis, Stamatis Pasopoulos, Yiannis Oikonomou, Thodoris Miskas, Children’s Vocal Ensemble, Miltiadis Sarvanis, Filippos Sarvanis, Angeliki Gkogkou, Nikos Gkogkos, Lydia Gkogkou, Eleftheria Gkogkou, Martha Gkogkou
Musicians:
Clarinet – Petros Tsiparis, Savvas Ioannou, Christos Michos
Trumpet – Tasos Diskos, Yiannis Veskos, Giannis Pegiou
Percussion – Giorgos Kinas, Manos Karkaretsis, Ilias Miskas
Trombone – Simos Dinis
Soprano Saxophone – Savvas Ioannou
Kaval – Stratis Pasopoulos, Minas Davkas, Yiannis Oikonomou
Flute – Stamatis Pasopoulos
Bagpipes – Savvas Ioannou
Accordion – Stamatis Pasopoulos, Stavros Misios, Maria Davka
Tambouras (Traditional Lute) – Thodoris Miskas, Dimitris Papadopoulos, Stamatis Pasopoulos, Yiannis Oikonomou, Savvas Ioannou
Storytelling (Narration): – Dimitris Moulis
