The Lyra (kemenche), is the traditional musical instrument that expresses in the most eloquent of ways the region of Euxinus Pontus but also its Pontic inhabitants. The Pontic people of Turkey, perhaps even other races that we are unaware of, praised the love and expressed their pain in the freest of ways, for centuries, through the lyra and its players. The time came (1924) and the Greeks (Rum) of Pontus were forced to leave our/their homeland. This "separation" however must come to an end. Στα Ελληνικα  In Turkish

THE REUNIFICATION OF THE PONTIC LYRA

 23rd OF JUNE 2011

Our dancers have passed us by
neither did history give us reason for this
nor our kemenches.

My grandmother told me secretly
the sound still in my ears
with the sad folk songs that departed
falls the rain like bread crumbs
today on us, tomorrow on you. 

These people, all these years later, began seeking common melodies. They realised, however, that the melodies were the same. With the reunion of Turkish and Greek lyra players based on the conviction that "music has no borders", 87 years onwards, they began exchanging their lyras, and shared between them, their songs.

Today, we, ask that 2011 be declared "The Year of the Reunification of the Pontic Lyra". Initially, our objective is, that on the 23rd of June 2011, 87 years on, to assemble, the lyra players of all the world, in the main square of Trabzon (Trapezunta). The thousand lyra players that will assemble (from various parts of Turkey), will be received at the main square of Trabzon by thousands of lyra players that will come with boats from Greece. For this reason, we will seek guidance from the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Municipality of Trabzon in collaboration with the Municipality of Thessaloniki. With the support of common opinion we will be achieve the final result.

We therefore, inaugurate the idea of The Reunification of the Pontic Lyra.

Source

Translated to English by pontosworld.com