International festival of polyphonic music heads for remote places
The International Festival of Polyphonic Songs, which started recently and will run to August 6, will make 16 stops during its tour in remote regions both within Greece and abroad. It is a journey of meetings, discoveries and memories, in the natural and social surroundings where polyphonic singing has survived. This rare get-together of voices, peoples and languages embodies art and civilization. Twenty-seven polyphonic vocal ensembles and instrumental bands from five countries (Greece, Albania, Serbia, Italy and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) will interpret traditional songs like funeral laments and songs about homesickness, love and the mountains, in places like threshing floors, ravines, monasteries, stone-built squares, abandoned villages and next to riverbanks. The journey started in western Macedonia and will move on to the remote regions of Epirus, then on to northern Epirus and finally to southern Italy. Stops include Avdella in Grevena, Drosopigi, Kefalovrysso, Chrysodouli, Sotira, Delvinaki, Sopiki, Drymades, the springs of Langavitsa, Povla, Kalochori, the Kalamas Gorge, Kokkinia and Palia Sagiada, before going to Sternatia and Calabria in southern Italy. This year’s tour by the International Festival of Polyphonic Songs will be accompanied by the festival’s mobile camp site, which follows all the singing events. The festival is organized by the non-profit Apeiros organization, with co-organizers in all the municipalities of the remoter parts of Epirus and with the support of the Ministry of Culture. For information, call 210.331.0919.
