The Bizarre Instrumentarium Pt 4: The Cretan Lyra

After the prototype on a mandolin body, here's the true Cretan lyra !
A bowed string instrument played with nails instead of the finger tips (pushing the strings from aside), it is mainly used for dances and songs but also for more calm and meditative contexts.
Cretan music, like other Greek repertoires, is at the crossroads of Western Europe and the East.
The piece you hear is called Stafidianos Manes and is part of the tabachaniotiko repertoire, wich gather pieces and songs higly influenced by Asia Minor cultures.
The Cretan lyra is progressively becoming a major part of Enokham's identity.
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Après le prototype de lyre crétoise sur un corps de mandoline, voici enfin la vraie lyre crétoise !
Un instrument à cordes frottées joué avec les ongles au lieu de la pulpe des doigts (pressant les cordes par le côté), elle est très souvent utilisée dans le cadre de danses et chants mais aussi dans des contextes plus calmes et méditatifs.
La musique crétoise, tout comme dans d'autres régions grecques, se situe au carrefour de l'Europe occidentale et de l'Orient. La pièce interprétée est "Stafidianos Manes", faisant partie du répertoire appelé tabachaniotiko, qui regroupe des morceaux et chansons fortement influencées par les cultures d'Asie Mineure.
La lyre crétoise devient progressivement un autre instrument typique de l'indentité d'Enokham.
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[@matts1451]

Damnnn this is so warm and relaxing

[@enokhammusic]

Thank you, I'm glad you appreciate this humble effort and can only encourage you to dig Cretan's musical tradition ! Feel free to have a look at the composition work on this channel (which is truly "Enokham").

[@matts1451]

@@enokhammusic may i ask your permission to use some of this music at one of my healing centers?

[@enokhammusic]

@@matts1451 Concerning those particular videos which are using traditionnal folk music or improvisation in a somehow traditionnal style, it's free and you can use it for sure ! Concerning the composition works/repertoire of Enokham IF you also meant it, being French and member of the SACEM, using that music (which is declared to that agency) in a professionnal, lucrative context (may it be on a pub's radio or a village party) should be declared to the SACEM which leads to paying rights to the music. That's basically how it works fo, but I can ask about it if you want to.

[@kabouktli]

Why bizarre? Variants of this instrument are played throughout the Balkans, in Italy, in Turkey etc. The idea of fingering a bowed instrument from aside with the nails is also followed in the case of the Indian sarangi. Without this principle but otherwise with the general shape of the lyra there have also existed several western / northern European bowed instruments in past centuries (the whole rebec family, from Spain and France to Scandinavia). It's not any kind of rarity at all!

[@enokhammusic]

Thanks for your comment ! You're right, this kind of playing is spread all through the Eurasian area. However, if you haven't watched the other videos from this serie or read the description texts, please keep in mind that the title is just a mere point of view. Those videos were made as a kind of informative content towards people I could personnaly meet in the street here in France or at my gigs... and that don't necessarily have a solid organological and musical background. Or simply who would ignore those elements from the culture represented in the present video. Where I live, a Cretan lyra is exotic, and so is an Irish bouzouki (an instrument « from » Western Europe). It is also kind of weird for Greek friends I have here for example, who define the « true » bouzouki as the greek one. Yet the Irish one does exist although it became closer to a mandolin/mandol/cittern than the round-3 coursed instrument from the Mediterranean Sea. So yeah, I totally agree with your argument ! But this serie of videos is only a gateway for random people to discover something beautiful and wide as an ocean. ;)

[@kabouktli]

@@enokhammusic Wide as an ocean, indeed!

[@alexandrosstefanakis1621]

nice play and salute you for your interest in our traditional instrument. If you want to learn more, fee free to message me.

[@enokhammusic]

Thank you !

[@giorgosioannou4607]

μπράβο από έναν Έλληνα. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👍👍

[@enokhammusic]

ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΩ !