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Photo credit: By Joan - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6728097 |
Next we are taking the ferry from Türkiye over to Cyprus. Cyprus is mostly known as a holiday destination given it's mild climate and beach resorts. It only gained independence from Britain in 1963. The 2 main ethnic groups on the island, the Greeks and the Turks, were at loggerheads about the future direction of the island, and following an invasion by Turkish troops in 1974 the island was effectively split in half by a UN patrolled buffer zone into the Turkish speaking north, which unilaterally declared independence, and the Greek speaking south. Northern Cyprus is only recognised as a country by Türkiye. There are ongoing efforts to reunite the 2 halves of the island.
Musically and culturally the 2 halves are of course also influenced by Türkiye and Greece respectively, although some musicians have started bridging the divide. Our first stop in the North is the abandoned village of Achna (Düzce in Turkish), which is just north of the buffer zone. After the Turkish invasion the predominantly Greek population de-camped a few miles south and rebuilt their village. This is where young musician Vassilis Philippou claims to be from, although I suspect he was born in the Netherlands in 1991 and now lives back on the island. He performs his own compositions, but very much in the traditional Cypriot style, incorporating both Greek and Turkish elements, sung mostly in the Cyrpiot Greek dialect. Here is a live performance of part of his 2021 debut album Sol Aurorae - Ο Ήλιος της Αυκής:
Avant folk band Monsieur Doumani is also headed by Antonis Antoniou and was founded in 2011 in Nicosia. They fuse traditional Cypriot folk songs with contemporary elements and other world influences creating their own unique style singing about contemporary issues. In 2019 they were awarded the best group award by Songlines Magazine and they regularly tour internationally. Here is a song from their 2021 album Pissourin called Alavrostishiótis:
Another project by Antonis Antoniou is post-Rembetiko band Trio Tekke, who were actually started in London. They take the traditional Greek genre of Rembetiko (alternative spellings are available) to a new modern level, dragging it into the 21st century. Here is the title song of their 2021 album Strovilos (Whirlwind):
That's it from Cyprus for now, next we are hopping over to the Greek islands, although in real life there don't seem to be any direct ferry options from Cyprus, but hey, this is just a virtual trip after all. In the meantime you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline Map.