Τρεις καλοέροι κρητικοί

Here performed by Anna Nikolaou from Tala in Paphos (from this project).




There are many versions of this song, from Asia Minor to Mainland Greece.

Post-apocalyptic survival skills

To take advantage of the recent constant power cuts, one could take the time to memorise long poems, such as this one.

Του Άϊ Φιλίππου / Δηλαδή για να / Portakal Atisalim / Oğlan Oğlan Kalk Gidelim / Αψέντης, etc

Once, at a Turkish restaurant somewhere near Angel, I was startled when hearing a quasi-classical-music adaptation of this song.

This is a field recording of it sung by Stelios Spyrou, from the Cyprus Music Network.

There are various versions of it (more 'clean', i.e. with less sexual innuendo), including this one by Kyriakou Pelagia, this one by Michalis Tterlikkas, and this more 'modern' one:



This one, by the 'Cypriot Kazantzidis' (kind of like an oriental Elvis-impersonator), starts with the same tune, and then hints at 'Ta Riallia':


The real Kazantzidis, on the other hand, sung 'Oğlan Oğlan Kalk Gidelim':



Its earliest recording is this one, by Marko Melkon Alemserian:



There's another song by Kyriakou Pelagia which has a similar melody and rhythm, and completely different lyrics:



It also bears at least some family resemblance (a term I'm invoking to cover up a lack of musicological analysis) to one of those songs which exist in different versions from Iraq, to the Balkans, to Spain. It is known in Greek as 'Από ξένο τόπο', in Turkish as 'Üsküdara gider iken', in Arabic as 'Talama Ashku Gharami', in Landino as 'Fel Shara', in the American Klezmer/Jazz version as 'Der Terk in Amerika', in Bosnia as 'Anadolko', and in various other versions throughout the Balkans. It is the subject of Adela Peeva's 2003 documentary 'Whose is this song?'.

(Interestingly, in some countries the lyrics sung to this melody are also used with other melodies, e.g. in the Greek version in this example from Karpathos, and in this Arabic version.
In this version by Kyriakou Pelagia, one stanza refers to a young girl of a specific age, approaching the theme of the Greek variant (compare 'μια μαυρομματούσα χρονών δεκαεννιά' with 'ένα κορίτσι, φώς μου, δώδεκα χρονών'). It also combines 'Αψέντης' and 'Του Άϊ Φιλίππου'.)

[In a related discussion with F. and E., E. pointed out a similar theme in Kostas Montis' 'Δροσουλα' (e.g. 'Εσούσαι τα χαράματα του φου / που μολοούσιν μέραν τζιαι ξυφώτιν / τζι’ εγιώνι το σουρούπιασμα λαλώ / μα όπου τζιαι ναν’ η νύχτα καρτερώ την'), here read by the author.]