Music as we should all know is unique and it was born by the human need to imitate the elements of nature and also by the human need to express his feelings according his way of life and thought so that we could say fairly that music is the only language that connect people.
But how music was expressed in Crete and how deeply has its roots in the past.
Cretan music, as generated in prehistoric times and in the way it was preserved or evolved until today, is the most archaic and genuine Greek and European music. There are references to it in Plato's "Laws" and "Minos", Euripides in his "Cretes", Sophocles in his "Daedalus", Herodotus in his "Historia", Aristotle, Isocrates, Thukydides, Plutarch, Diodorus from Sicily, Stravon and others, all admiring the pre-hellenic Minoan civilization.
Other evidence can be found in the music and dancing features that survived either directly or indirectly throughout the centuries and the island’s adventures, as well as in the modern-day singing and dancing practice.
The geographer Strabo, in his geographical narrations, speaks of the great musical and "orchestral" peak in ancient Crete, which is reflected in the famous "Cretan Laws" on music, poetry and dance. Virtually all historians agree that the dances Pyrrichios, Taurus, Orsites, Epikredios, Geranos, as well as all ancient sacred or secular dances, are either Cretan or of Cretan origin, which with the conquests of the island (by the Achaeans in
1500 BC, the Dorians in 1000 BC, the Romans in 60 BC and the Byzantines in 400 AD) were dispersed and became local dances elsewhere. Homer, in his "Iliad" mentions that Ariadne, Minos's daughter, was taught the dance geranos with the appropriate musical accompaniment by the ingenious and wise Daedalus.
Sophocles, in the "Aias" mentions "Knossian dances" of great attendance and fame.
The great composer Thaletas of the 7th century, won a music-and-dance contest in Karneia, Sparta, using the divine art of the lyre and the dance, which he had aquired through tradition.
Legend has it that the first composer of love songs was the Cretan kithara player Ametor, and that since then kithara players were called "Ametorides". One of the ancient Greek rhythms, "paeon" also called "Cretan", is still found today in the "rizitika" songs; it became known in Sparta by Thaletas, and was originally conceived by the Eteocritans and Coryvans as an accompaniment to the Pyrrichian melody of Paean Apollo.
One of the composite ancient Greek meters, the double trochaic, is traditionally called, once more, "Cretan".
In general, whenever there is a reference to music or dance, either in ancient or modern times, Crete appears to have contributed substantially.
Let us now take a look at the spreading and evolution of Cretan music in other centuries and places.
The Mycenean civilization, which inherited the great Mediterranean civilization of Minoan Crete, which formed the basis of the grandeur of classical antiquity, among other things inherited musical elements. These elements were transferred to wherever Greek civilization spread, were modified and gradually became local music in sacred and secular hymns and in music and dance laws (called "Cretan"). Therefore, it is with Cretan influence that all musical patterns were created, under various names.
The modes (Lydian, Mixolydian, Phrygian, Dorian etc.) which glorified classical and Byzantine hymns, and the modern European notes and staves are both undoubtedly an evolution of the seven alphabetic notes of ancient Greek music, as translated by the Romans, i.e. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and as modified in the 10th century by the European musicians Hucbald and d' Arezzo.
So, Cretan music, as it is preserved today on the island of Crete and as it evolved through different times and places, is the most archaid music, which, having been born and raised in the past, later became developed and perfected as Cretan, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and finally European music.
Moreover, the tunes that accompany us while we are dancing to the rizitika or syrtos or pendozalis dances, or other folk songs, is a simple but spectacular result of an endless and unprecedented creative tradition.
Cretan people sing about happiness, pain and love.
| Cretan Music Click on the lyra to lissen to the song |
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