When we use the terms “Greek traditional,” “Grek folk,” or “Greek demotic” music today, we mean songs and tunes coming from the past, from areas that were home to Christian farmers, shepherds and sailors during the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. Mostly- though not exclusively- Greek speaking, these populations lived, as was normal then, in close proximity with other ethnic, linguistic, or religious groups. In these areas, some of which now form modern-day Greece, the oral tradition of folk song and ecclesiastical music were the only available forms of musical expression. This album is the highly anticipated re-release of the 1980 album of the same name, extended with tracks licensed from the Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association. Domna Samiou (1928-2012) was a charismatic and multifaceted personality who dedicated her life to a quest which is now synonymous with her name: the preservation, dissemination and teaching of Greek traditional “folk” music.
