DANCES AND SONGS FROM PONTOS

  DANCES AND SONGS FROM PONTOS/ANGEIOU (TOULOUM)

ΠΟΝΤΙΑΚΟI XOPOI KAI TPAГOΥΔΙΑ

AГГEIOΥ (TOΥΛΟΥΜ)

Vasipap, 1975, TC-LVAS 206

 This is one the many tapes produced in Greece for the Pontic community by Pontic Greeks whose parents or grandparents came from Anatolia in 1923 when the war between Greeks and Turks led to the formation of the Republic of Turkey. According to a nationalistic vision (coming from the Western world !) Atatürk decided to expulse all the Greek people who were on the Egean coast, in Cappadocia and on the Black Sea coast in order to have a homogeneous country. The refugees from the Pont were settled by the Greek gouvernement mostly in Macedonia to replace Slavic and Muslim people who had to leave the area as well. Since then the Pontic Greeks became part of the Greek nation but kept some of their traditions especially music. This music could be very old knowing that Greek settlements could be found 7 or 8 centuries before our era on the Black Sea. But I suppose that what is sung and played today couldn't be older than the Ottoman period. Some tunes and rhythms remind me of Thracian music (mostly modern Bulgaria and Northern Greece). This kind of music is still alive in Turkey played by Laz/Turkish people on the same instruments.
Here due to a lack of information I suppose that the singer is also the bagpipe player : Ioannis Kalpatsinidis. All the tracks have some drumming from a darbuka-like percussion. Note the term ''angeiou'' for the bagpipe while ''touloum'' is the Turkish name.
I'm very fond of that kind of music and solo touloum tapes and LPs are rare enough.  

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