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Pontus Songs (Tr: Pontus Şarkılari, Gr: Τραγούδια του Πόντου) is a collection of recordings of over 60 Pontic songs. The anthology was recorded in Athens, Greece in 1930 by musicologist, Melpo Merlier. The musicians are all natives of the historic region of Pontus and arrived in Greece during the 1920's. The songs are in the Pontic Greek dialect (also known as Romeyka) many of them accompanied by the kemence, the tulum (bagpipe) or the gaval (flute).
In the introductory notes, Markos Ph. Dragoumis says the following:
Listening to this double CD, one cannot hide one's admiration for all participants, both singers and instrumentalists. Not only do they possess rare vocal qualities and an exceptional virtuosity, but are also stirring interpreters of their deeply compassionate music. And our admiration becomes stronger upon the realization that some of them play and sing simultaneously, or talk, sing and weep with the truth and persuasiveness of a highly gifted actor. This art could become a starting point for the modernisation and renewal of speech expression in ancient Greek tragedy.
Included in the recordings are songs and dance tunes played and sung by first generation Pontic Greeks, the way they were played in their homeland. There are lamentations, a lullaby and other theatrical and emotional dirges. A few popular tunes include:
- Forty Red Apples
- Lazikon (Serra)
- Lemona
- Apo Pan Keka
- Makryn
- Pipilomatena
The recordings were released in Turkey under the title Pontus Şarkıları: 1930 Ses Kayıtları (Pontus Songs: Recordings of 1930) by Kalan Muzik and in Greece under the title Τα Τραγούδια του Πόντου. Listen to some of the songs here.