Greek Folk Music

Music of Greece
General topics
Ancient music Byzantine music Opera Greek musical system Greek musical instruments Greek dances Worldwide
Genres
Church music (Byzantine) Classical music Ionian School Greek folk Laïko Rock Hip Hop Punk Greek New Wave (Neo kyma)
Specific forms
Contemporary Entehno Nisiotika Rebetiko Skiladiko
Media and performance
Music awards	Arion Awards MAD Video Music Awards Pop Corn Music Awards
Music charts	Greek Albums Chart Foreign Albums Chart Singles Chart
Music festivals	Athens Festival Epidaurus Festival Olympus Festival Thessaloniki Song Festival
Music media	Difono MAD TV (MAD World, Blue) MTV Greece
Nationalistic and patriotic songs
National anthem	"Hymn to Liberty"
Regional music
Related areas	Cyprus, Pontus, Constantinople, South Italy
Regional styles	Aegean Islands Central Greece Crete Epirus (polyphonic song) Ionian Islands Macedonia Peloponnese Thessaly Thrace

Greek folk music (Dhemotikó) includes a variety of Greek styles played by ethnic Greeks in Greece, Cyprus, Australia, the United States and elsewhere. Apart from the common music found all-around Greece, there are distinct types of folk music, sometimes related to the history or simply the taste of the specific places.

The Greek islands of Kárpathos, Khálki, Kássos and Crete form an arc where the Cretan lyra is the dominant instrument. Kostas Mountakis is probably the most widely respected master of the lyra, which is often accompanied by the laouto which resembles a mandolin. Bagpipes are often played on Kárpathos. Crete has a well known folk dance tradition, which comes from ancient Greece and includes swift dances like pentozalis and other like sousta, syrtos, trizali, katsabadianos, chaniotikos, siganos, pidichtos Lasithou, maleviziotikos, tsiniaris, ierapetrikos and laziotikos.

The Aegean islands of Greece are known for Nisiótika songs; Greek characteristics vary widely. Although the basis of the sound is characteristically secular-Byzantine, the relative isolation of the islands allowed the separate development of island-specific Greek music. Most of the nisiótika songs are accompanied by lyra, clarinet, guitar and violin. Modern stars include Yiannis Parios and the Konitopouloi; Mariza Koch is credited with reviving the field in the 1970s. Folk dances include the ballos, syrtos, sousta, chiotikos, kalymniotikos, stavrotos, lerikos, kamara, mihanikos, trata, panagia and ikariotikos.

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