Written by Sotiris Bekas
The tune of ’Trinis Defteras’ from Melanes Naxos could be another tune of ‘Apokria‘ (Carnival), like many others of this period, where according to widespread tradition, human communities prepare for the arrival of spring and celebrate the transition from winter to the season of fertility. However, things are not exactly like that.
Because this particular tune hides much more than a broader symbolism. It has its own peculiarities that make it special, and now it also has its recording as an important action of cultural rescue. But let’s take things step by step.
The tune presented in its entirety by the musician, violin virtuoso, and musicologist, Nikos Verykokkos, hides within it an important aspect of the history of a community of Naxos, the Melanes, which is a village on the plain western side of the island.
The custom of ‘Moskarada‘ exists and is observed in many communities of Naxos, but the groups or ‘Bairakia’ performing it bear different names. The ‘Bairaki’ from Melanes is called ‘Kordelades‘, and for decades, even today, the Kordelades go out for revelry with a specific group of villages every year, at the same time, namely at the beginning of last week of ‘Apokria’ (Carnival). According to the custom, the ‘Bairaki’ follows a specific ceremonial preparation (since Tsiknopempti), special attire, and then a ceremonial procession to the other villages participating in the custom, with the purpose, of course, to bring the celebration to the village they visit, while the leader of the ‘Bairaki’ or the most worthy Kordelas must know which young women of the village are newlywed in order to attempt to take their handkerchiefs and dance with them with respect and honor.
However, the custom also has also a purely militaristic dimension, as the ‘Bairaki‘ is accompanied by armed men, a symbolism that probably indicates a connection with the years of the Greek Revolution of 1821. This is supported – in this specific case – by the emblem on the banner from the Bairaki in Melanes, where the figure of Markos Botsaris, the army leader from Souli / Epirus, dominates. According to Nikos Verykokkos’s research, this may be related to a school theatrical performance that took place in nearby Syros, with the theme of the heroic figures of 1821.
The custom, especially in earlier years, lasted for three days, with the culmination being a big feast in the village square, while the Bairaki from Melanes is the only one that has its own musical tune (the other Bairakia play the Syrtos Politikos), which is repeated in all stages of the custom. The tune is called ‘The tune of Trinis Defteras‘, and Nikos Verykokkos managed to unearth and record it in its entirety because over the years, it had undergone changes, resulting in only the first part being played from the mid-1980s onwards, and this part further diminishing with the removal of a section after the 1990s.
It is also worth mentioning that during the period when the custom takes place, the accompaniment (zygia or zya) of the instruments used for the interpretation of the tune changes. Thus, from 1880 to 1920, the zya included a sougliari (flute), and a toumpaki (tambourine), from 1920 to 1960, violin, clarinet, and laouto, while from 1960 to the present, the violin and laouto are the instruments used.
It was a matter of cultural, but also family recording for Nikos Verykokkos because this specific musical tune had been established in Melanes by his grandfather, Nikolaos I. Kondylis (violin), and his version, considered complete, was played with the same structure from 1930 to 1972. Then, until today, his son, Gavrilis Kondylis, continued to perform the tune, gradually removing its second part, especially when the tune started to be danced in 1986. Finally, from 2000 onwards, another part of the tune was removed. According to Nikos Verykokkos’s research, these changes were justified by the interference of an asymmetrical part in the dance.
Verykokkos, therefore, organized the evolutionary data of the musical tune, embarked on a research process that included the recall and recording through relatives and other available sources, of the musical parts that had been omitted over time. His work was not easy, but it brought results because he himself came to significant conclusions regarding the morphology and rhythm when he decided to play the tune with a tambourine. There he realized that the tune was not made for violin and laouto, and its rhythm may have had asymmetric interventions, justified when it was made for a walking folk custom. He then started working with his uncle, Gavrilis Kondylis, who began to remember what his father had told him, how the change occurred, and gradually the entire tune was recalled, which was eventually recorded.
For now, Nikos Verykokkos presents his version of the tune with violin-lute, but he continues his work for other versions or approaches, with the aim of presenting a complete folk music piece that carries important information about a cultural event that has both local and wider significance.
Nikos Verykokkos was born in Naxos in 1978. He is a graduate of the Department of Music Studies of the School of Philosophy at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). He holds a diploma in violin from the Attiko Odeio of Athens, as well as a degree in harmony from the Greek Conservatoire.
He is a substitute teacher in public primary education and also teaches classical and traditional violin at music schools in Attica. He is an external collaborator of the Laboratory of Music, Cognitive Sciences, and Community of the Department of Music Studies at NKUA, as well as a scientific collaborator and educator at the “Sketch” Center for Pedagogical and Artistic Training, implementing the special program for vulnerable groups “Music in the Community.”
He is involved in musicological research and has publications in conference proceedings and journals focusing on ethnomusicological issues of Naxos.
Source
Nikos Verykokkos – The tune of ’Trinis Defteras’
https://shorturl.at/rGHQY
