Polyphonic song of Epirus

The polyphonic song of Epirus is a form of traditional folk polyphony practiced among Albanians, Aromanians, Greeks and ethnic Macedonians in southern Albania and northwestern Greece.[1][2] The polyphonic song of Epirus is not to be confused with other varieties of polyphonic singing, such as the yodeling songs of the region of Muotatal, or the Cantu a tenore of Sardinia.[3] Scholars consider it an old tradition, which either originates from the ancient Greek[4] and Thraco-Illyrian era,[5] or the Byzantine era, with influences from Byzantine music.[6] The Albanian Iso-Polyphony – which is recognized as cultural heritage by UNESCO – is considered to have its roots in the in the many-voiced vajtim, the southern Albanian traditional lamentation of the dead.[7] The Greek project Polyphonic Caravan, which aims at researching, safeguarding and promoting the Epirus polyphonic song since 1998, was inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List of Good Safeguarding Practices in 2020.

  1. ^ Bart Plantenga. Yodel-ay-ee-oooo. Routledge, 2004. ISBN 978-0-415-93990-4, p. 87 Albania: "Singers in Pogoni region perform a style of polyphony that is also practised by locals in Vlach and Slav communities [in Albania].
  2. ^ Engendering Song: Singing and Subjectivity at Prespa by Jane C. Sugarman,1997,ISBN 0-226-77972-6,page 356,"Neither of the polyphonic textures characteristic of south Albanian singing is unique to Albanians.The style is shared with Greeks in the Northwestern district of Epirus (see Fakiou and Romanos 1984) while the Tosk style is common among Aromanian communities from the Kolonje region of Albania the so called Faserotii (see Lortat-Jacob and Bouet 1983) and among Slavs of the Kastoria region of Northern Greece (see N.Kaufamann 1959 ). Macedonians in the lower villages of the Prespa district also formerly sang this style "
  3. ^ Engendering Song: Singing and Subjectivity at Prespa by Jane C. Sugarman,1997,ISBN 0-226-77972-6,page 356,A striking counterpart from outside the Balkans is the polyphonic Yodeling of juuzli from the Muotatal region of Switzerland
  4. ^ Nitsiakos, Vassilis; Mantzos, Constantinos (2017). "Negotiating Culture: Political Uses of Polyphonic Folk Songs in Greece and Albania". In Tziovas, Dimitris (ed.). Greece and the Balkans: Identities, Perceptions and Cultural Encounters Since the Enlightenment. Taylor & Francis. p. 200. ISBN 978-1-351-93218-9.
  5. ^ Shetuni, Spiro J. (2014-01-10). Albanian Traditional Music: An Introduction, with Sheet Music and Lyrics for 48 Songs. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-8630-4.
  6. ^ Koço, Eno (2021). Albanian Identity in History and Traditional Performance. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 113–114. ISBN 978-1-5275-7189-1.
  7. ^ Tole, Vasil S. (2022). "Kabaja With Saze as a Ballad Without Words" (PDF). Studia Albanica (2): 43–50. ISSN 0585-5047. pp. 43–45.