Country of the eastern Mediterranean of 9251 km2. It gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1960. A Greek-inspired coup followed by an invasion of Turkish forces in 1974 led to the partitioning of the island, which is currently divided into the Republic of Cyprus, largely inhabited by the majority Greek-speaking Cypriots, and the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Turkey. Population estimates for the two parts of the island are 714,000 (1992) and 177,120 (1994) respectively. The following article deals mainly with the musics of the Greek-speaking majority.
Interest in studying Cypriot traditional musics started in the late 19th century, although most studies focussed only on the song texts and rarely referred to the music itself. Most were written by amateur researchers whose interests were mainly philological. In 1910 a musical text was published which contained 21 Cypriot songs and dances. The most important publication of the 1950s was the collection of Cypriot songs and dances by T. Kallinikos, who transcribed the music in both Western and Byzantine notation. After independence in 1960 several collections were released on the island by Cypriot musicians. Ethnomusicological work started in the 1980s, carried out by Cypriot students in universities in Greece, elsewhere in Europe and in the USA.
Cypriot music is traditionally based on the scales known as tropos (‘mode’), a term borrowed from the ancient Greek. Although there is little to link them with the tropos of antiquity there is clearly some correspondence with the eight Byzantine modes. A tropos has characteristic intervals and the use of a specific tropos indicates the use of a certain melodic line, basic notes and phrase endings. In addition, some Cypriot tunes are performed in Western major and minor scales which have been absorbed into the musical culture.
The most characteristic musical tradition in Cyprus is that of the fonai or fones. The fonai are traditional tunes which constitute melodic models to which different verses are adapted. The relationship between melody and text is important, as changes of poetic texts are very common. The use of the fonai may be a continuation of an old Greek musical practice. The practice of fitting an old or new poetic text to model tunes sometimes happens by fitting new text into laika melodies, Greek popular songs.
The most famous fonai are: the Isia (‘straight’), the Paralimnitiki (named after the village Paralimni), the Avkoritiki (named after the village Avkorou) and Anamisi (‘one-and-a-half’, after the one-and-a-half lines of verse fitted to this melody). These are mainly for the two-line songs called tsiattista. Other well-known fonai are the Akritikes, on which the songs Akritika are mainly based, and the Piitarikes, on which the poems of poiitarides (professional poet-singers) are sung. Equally important are the fonai which are sung during the wedding ceremony and party, the fonai sung with a poetic text of religious content and the fonai sung during the traditional game of sousa (a traditional swing). These are usually sung in a joyful or erotic style. The music of Cyprus used to be transmitted by oral tradition: most of the older Cypriots know one or more of the fonai and can sing them with two-verse poems according to the occasion.
The musical form of the fonai is either strophic or AB. In the strophic form the music is repeated with a different poetic text each time. The AB form has a different text for each section. The vocal part of the Isia that follows is in AB form (ex.1). This Isia also has an instrumental introduction (not notated here) giving a three-part structure, rare in vocal music but found in many pieces of dance music. It was sung by Hatziirene Kiniyou, a 95-year-old refugee from Dioriosi, a village near Kirenia. The text deals with her status and feelings as a refugee. Other fonai, traditionally sung locally and derived from this one, consist of variations on either the A or B part only (thus are strophic in structure).
In addition to the songs created out of the fonai, a great number of songs have been imported and assimilated into Cypriot traditions from mainland Greece, e.g. kleftika, nisiotika and mikrasiatika. Many Cypriot songs use Greek rhythms such as 7/8 (3 + 2 + 2), 5/8 (3 + 2) and 9/8 (3 + 2 + 2 + 2 or 2 + 2 + 2 +3). However, rhythms such as 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 are also to be found.
The most typical of the dances of Cyprus are those of the karsilamas. There are two separate sequences of dances, one sequence for women and one for men. They are performed with the dancers standing face to face (the name of the dance comes from the word karsi, ‘opposite’). Each of the two sequences is composed of five movements performed in succession. The five movements in both the women's and men's dance are called: protos (‘first’, in 9/8), devteros (‘second’, in 7/8), tritos (‘third’, in 2/4) and tetartos (‘fourth’, in 9/8). The fifth movement, pebtos, is often called ballos and is performed in either 3/4 or 7/8. Sometimes there is a devteros ballos performed in 2/4 or 3/8. This ‘walking dance’ leads on to the sirtos, which is always danced after the five movements of the karsilamas.
Dances from all over Greece are performed in Cyprus, many of them being taught by schools, cultural societies and private workshops. The major dances from mainland Greece are the tsamikos and the kalamatianos; those originating in Smyrna are the zeibekikos and the arabies; those from the islands are the sousta and the sirtos.
The instruments traditionally used in Cyprus are the violin (violi), the laouto, the pidkiavli and the taboutsa (a frame drum). The violin may have replaced the Cypriot lira as a melody instrument in the mid-19th century. The commonest combination is for the violin to play the melody, the laouto to play an accompaniment and the taboutsa to keep the rhythm. It is probable that the laouto and the taboutsa were imported from the Greek islands. The pidkiavli, a reed wind instrument, was usually played by shepherds out in the fields where they would play fonai and other pieces, including improvisations. The pidkiavli is becoming increasingly rare.
The traditional ensemble is known as violarides, literally ‘violin players’, but also referring to the combination of instruments playing together. Instruments such as the accordion, the Bouzouki and the guitar are usually found in the ensemble.
Music teachers in Cyprus are mostly Western-educated with only a few having knowledge of either the Byzantine or traditional music systems. Music education in schools is mainly based on Western classical music and very few schoolteachers base their lessons on traditional Cypriot musics. In private institutions children are taught Western music, usually learning the piano or a Western symphonic instrument. The traditional way of playing the violin, laouto or pidkiavli is passed on from generation to generation within a few families. These are well known on the island but the younger generation seems less and less interested in learning from them.
As a result of the coup and invasion of 1974, 200,000 Greek Cypriot refugees fled from the north of the island and settled around the cities of Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca. (An estimated 41,000 Turkish-speaking Cypriots have also emigrated from the Turkish-occupied area since 1974.) They brought with them their own local traditions, which they maintain, but also created a new, urban cultural environment. This is reflected in the popularity of international ‘hits’ and contemporary Greek songs (laika), released in Cyprus at the same time as in Athens. As yet, there is no indigenous recording industry. However, local groups influenced by Western and Greek pop music often appear at local ‘song contests’.
Cypriot immigrants, mainly in London, the USA and Australia, have adapted the music they brought with them to their new musical environment. To a large extent the music and songs have been retained with the use of new instruments (e.g. keyboards, electric guitars and drum kits) which are easily available. Using the fonai the immigrants change the old texts for new ones which better describe their feelings in the new environment. The feeling of homesickness and the desire to return to the homeland figure highly in these, particularly among many of the immigrants in London who arrived as refugees in 1974. They also write poems on the same subjects and recite them in the manner of the poiitarides.
See also Cyprus: medieval polyphony; Greece, §IV.
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S. Mikaelides: ‘Kypriakē laikē mousikē’ [Cypriot popular music], Kypriaka grammata, ix (1945), 115–26
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PANICOS GIORGOUDES