Is it Greek or is it Turkish? (MySpace 2/08/2008)

Subject	Is it Greek or is it Turkish?
DateCreated	2/8/2008 1:26:00 AM
PostedDate	2/8/2008 9:00:00 PM
Body	Most Americans don't know that Greeks used to live on the southern shores of the Black Sea. The Greek folk dances from that region are uniquely exhilarating - and people still do them. Very different from your average "Greek Wedding". I find them "primal" and powerful, but that's just my personal interpretation. In the USA, you can learn this type of dancing from teachers like Joe Graziosi. These dances are often done to the accompaniment of a narrow fiddle, called a "Pontic lyra". Hard to explain the appeal of this instrument, but if you hear it played live for dancing, you may feel chills down the back of your neck. A historic note for those who have not heard the story: From ancient times, there had been major Greek communities in several parts of what is now Turkey. Around the First World War, the allies devised a plan to divide up the heartland of Turkey among themselves. As might be expected, it badly backfired - resulting in the formation of a strong Republic of Turkey (a good thing), but also disaster for parts of the population, including massacres and expulsions, including the forced exchange of people between Greece and Turkey. It happened about 85 years ago - and there are still bitter memories on all sides. The easiest way to get exposed to this music and dance, short of taking a class from Joe, is via YouTube. But here is the kicker: if you poke around long enough, you will get the impression that much of this culture is still alive and well in Turkey - with more Turks involved than the Greeks overseas. Naturally, the songs tend to be in Turkish, and they have their own name for the fiddle, "kemence" (the English spelling). Please don't try to tell the Turks that these are "actually" Greek dances. But some people commenting on the videos do exactly that - and the other way round when the videos show Greeks performing. Whoa! Most comments written in English are flames regarding "ownership" and conflicting versions of a bitter history. But there are some exceptions. Here are two eye-openers: Regarding one video being argued over, someone wrote that the music and dance depicted was originally from the Laz minority group - the other peoples had adopted it. The second felt so right-on, that I copied and mailed it to several friends. Despite the faulty English, it reads like a poem: "Some say it Kemence some say it Lyra but both when they here this music their hairs stand up and only that matters!" (written by kostikas) I'll buy that.