Why The Mountains Are Black '24: The Musical Cultures of the Southern Balkans

Friday, June 28 | 20:00–00:00

Christopher King will introduce “Why the Mountains Are Black '24: The Musical Cultures of the Southern Balkans” by playing thematic 78s of male polyphonic music of Albania, a rare recording of pipiza, clarinet music of a gypsy group from southern Albania, other 78s, and describing the context of the music for the evening.

• 1st Act: Grupi Lab (six male polyphonic singers from Labëria, Albania, led by Golik Jaupi)
• 2nd Act: Elias Kakaroukas Group from Agrinio (three Roma musicians from Agrinio accompanied by members of the “St. Symios” Association of Feast-Goers
• 3rd Act: Screening of “Gjeneral Gramafoni” by Viktor Gjika (a film about the music of southern Albania during the Italian occupation), introduced by the director's daughter Ester Gjika and Christopher King with Demetris Dallas translating.

Saturday, June 29 | 20:00–00:00

Christopher King continues the narrative of “Why the Mountains Are Black '24: The Musical Cultures of the Southern Balkans” by playing 78s from around Croatia, North Macedonia, Thesprotia, and other 78s.

• 1st Act: Adam Semijalac and Fige (Croatian Freak Folk and Vocal Choir)
• 2nd Act: Nova Prespa Band with Panos Skouteris and Aurel Qirjo (Brass Band from Lake Prespa region, North Macedonia, with Epirus musicians)
• 3rd Act: Screening of “Memento” by Nikos Ziogas (a film about the passage of time, the changes in tradition, and the presence of music in a village in Thesprotia), introduced by the director and Dimitris Chrysomallis, with Demetris Dallas translating.

Sunday, June 30 | 20:00–00:00

Christopher King closes the narrative of “Why the Mountains Are Black '24: The Musical Cultures of the Southern Balkans" by playing 78s from Macedonia, Bulgaria, and elsewhere.

• 1st Act: Alkyone (Greek folk song and dreamy fusion from Macedonia)
• 2nd Act: Samir Kurtov (Roma zourna virtuoso quartet from southwestern Bulgaria)

Saturday, June 29 | 11:00 UTC +3 | Old Market Square

Duration: 90 –120 min | Language: English, Croatian, with Greek translation

Traditional Songs of Croatia workshop with the Fige Choir

“Gjeneral Gramafoni” by Viktor Gjika

*The film will be screened on Friday, June 28

Directed by filmmaker Viktor Gjika, this black and white drama tells the story of a talented clarinet player and a group of musicians who are pressured to stop playing traditional Albanian music in favor of popular Italian fascist melodies. The film takes place during the time of Albania's monarchy under King Zog, a ruler who eventually capitulated to the rule of Italy.

“Memento” by Nikos Ziogas

*The film will be screened on Saturday, June 29

“Memento,” a lyrical documentary, is an elegy to a vanishing Epirus but also a tribute to an Epirus that knows how to survive. It is a love song for all those who never left and those who migrated, for its musicians and its unparalleled nature.

In “Memento,” we are transported to the village of Giromeri, Thesprotia, during the days of Easter. Through the camera lens, we become observers of the everyday life and people of this small village while searching for the roots of this special custom. Through songs, words, and sounds, the handful of inhabitants try to keep the traditions and legends alive and extend life even after its natural end. Here we have a documentation of a custom that exceeds ethnography, with its origins lost in the recesses of time, where the colored film footage of the past is weaved with current black-and-white material and where the sounds of the clarinet echo through the stones, the mountains, and the faces. “Memento” is an attempt—counter to our era’s ruthless digitization ethos—to keep the analog memory of the Greek countryside alive: a memento of life.

Surrounded by imposing mountains, myths and legends, the house of Hamko—mother of Ali Pasha of Ioannina—is a well-hidden time machine in the plain of Konitsa. A historic and protected monument that was once enclosed by high walls with embrasures and secret passages, the set of buildings that comprised Hamko’s manor house transports the visitor back to the 18th and 19th century; a meeting point of people and traditions from the Balkans, and not least a fertile and solid ground upon which the foundation of here and now could be laid. Nowadays, only few parts of the archaeological site remain intact: the impressive arched gate, the high tower, some annex buildings, as well as sections of the surrounding walls.

"This second year of ‘Why the Mountains are Black: The Musical Cultures of the Southern Balkans’ beckons our attention to two themes: the modern concept of musical confluence and the role of the Roma people in the music of the southern Balkans. What we hear today throughout Greece and the Balkans is the result of people both maintaining and adapting their music in order for it to remain relevant, alive, and vibrant. If music is indeed necessary as a tool for our survival, then our tools must be as adaptable as ourselves. Otherwise both will cease to exist.

And there is no place richer with such life-affirming music than here in Greece and in the southern Balkans.

The current national borders in the southern Balkans emerged out of the collapse of the multiethnic Ottoman Empire during the early 20th century. Musical traditions in the regions of the southern Balkans reflected a mosaic of various ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups that inhabited the broader area. However, music in these regions has taken on national characteristics, as opposed to ethnic ones, as borders become consolidated and populations shifted. Nonetheless, the common origins of these different musical traditions continue to be apparent to this day as they evolve into their contemporary forms.

‘Why the Mountains Are Black '24: The Musical Cultures of the Southern Balkans’ explores how these traditions have developed, changed, absorbed, and manifested themselves in the 21st century. These three days of music, dance, and rarely seen cinema from both sides of the northern Greek border are curated by Grammy Award-winning producer and writer Christopher King. The events are fully produced by Onassis Stegi and hosted at Hamko's house in Konitsa, a literal and spiritual center of southern Balkan music. To fully appreciate the rich cultural asset of Greek demotic music, we must understand all the parts that contribute to the whole."

— Christopher King, ethnomusicologist, writer, producer, and advocate of traditional music