Builders of Arta - Epic Byzantine Music

Lyras by ‪@stefanoskrasopoulis‬ and ‪@Dimitrios_Dallas‬, vocals by Eleni Dimopoulos, Panagiotis Athanasiou and Farya Faraji, music based on folk motifs from the island of Skiathos. The Epic Byzantine series is a project that uses the sounds of the current, living heritage of Greek traditional music to explore the themes, myths, and folklore that originated in the medieval Eastern Roman (Byzantine) period. These works are not reconstructions of medieval Greek music, nor "epic music" in a cinematic soundtrack sense, but an ethnomusicological project reflecting the living tradition of Greek music as it exists today. The repertoire of Greek traditional music is a direct continuation of the narrative traditions that crystallised in the Byzantine period, including the Akritic songs and other local legends. Likewise, Greek traditional music continues the modal and monophonic musical language of medieval Greece, preserved in forms such as Byzantine chant. The Epic Byzantine series therefore explores Byzantine-era epic narratives through today's Greek traditional music, understood as a direct continuation of that earlier cultural and musical world. This song is based on a very common folk motif around Greece, a story of the building of the Bridge of Arta in Epirus, where the builders, in order to maintain the stability of the bridge, have to engage in human sacrifice and entomb someone alive within it. Like the Acritic songs, this folk motif descends to us from Medieval Greece, part of a broader corpus of myths and legends from that time. Many different melodies based on largely the same lyrical patterns exist throughout the country, but I specifically chose the one from Skiathos, which was documented by folk musicologist Domna Samiou here:    • Της Άρτας το γεφύρι - Σκιάθου (ΕΡΤ 1977)   I took the melodic progression and turned it into the minor scale, and wanted to move away from the region-bound sonority of some of the previous Epic Byzantine tracks by mixing in aspects from different regions in order to get a more pan-Greek sound. Stefanos and Dimitrios play a variety of different lyras from the Greek-speaking world, while a laouto, kanun, bendhir and daouli accompany the rest of the instruments. Lyrics: Σαράντα πέ… σαράντα πέντε μάστοροι κι εξήντα μαθητάδες, έλα πουλί μου έλα μοσχοκάρφια και κανέλλα. Καμάρα χτί… καμάρα χτίζουν στο γιαλό καμάρα δεν στεριώνει, έλα πουλί μου έλα πουλί μου έλα μοσχοκάρφια και κανέλλα. Ολημερί… ολημερίτσα χτίζανε κι αποβραδίς χαλνούσε, έλα πουλί μου έλα πουλί μου έλα μοσχοκάρφια και κανέλλα. Πουλάκι πή… πουλάκι πήγε κι έκατσε δεξά ‘πό την καμάρα, έλα πουλί μου έλα πουλί μου έλα μοσχοκάρφια και κανέλλα. Δε κελαηδού… δε κελαηδούσε σαν πουλί ανθρώπινα μιλάει, έλα πουλί μου έλα πουλί μου έλα μοσχοκάρφια και κανέλλα. Σα δε στοιχειώ… σα δε στοιχειώσεις άνθρωπο καμάρα δεν στεριώνει, έλα πουλί μου έλα πουλί μου έλα μοσχοκάρφια και κανέλλα. English translation: (This translation I found seems subpar to me so Greek viewers are welcome to provide a superior one). Forty-five masters and sixty apprentices, come my bird come my nutmegs and cinnamon. A bridge they build in the field, but it does not stand, All day they build it and in the evening it breaks, come my bird come my bird come nutmegs and cinnamon. A bird came and sat down next to them, come my bird come my bird come my bird come nutmegs and cinnamon. Not singing, its voice was human come my bird come my bird come my bird come nutmegs and cinnamon. If not haunted by man, the bridge will not stand.