Mike Paterson and Piping Today are very grateful to musician and writer Souzanna Raphael for her invaluable advice and assistance with interviews and translation, and to pipers Mihalis Houzouris and Nikolaos Moustakis and their families, in particular, for their warm welcome and generous hospitality. GREEK ISLANDS ’ pipes face uncertain future THE TSAMBOUNA OF THE

ISITORS arriving by ferry at the Over the centuries, the island fell variously uncovering the ruins of an ancient Sanctuary Greek island of Naxos are welcomed under Athenian, Spartan, Macedonian, Egyp- of Dionysus a few kilometres from Hora the Vby a tall marble portal called the tian, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and main town. “Portara”, built 2,500 years ago as the im- Turkish rule, before at last becoming a part of Archaeology has also revealed walls and posing entrance of a never-completed temple the modern Greek state in 1830. stone houses, the pottery and art of a well- to the ancient Olympian god Apollo, divine Naxos, says one version of the legend, is developed society that existed here more than patron of music. where the omnipotent god Zeus was raised. It 5,000 years ago. In the south central , Naxos rises, is where his son Dionysus — the Greek god of Fruit, nut and olive groves, potato cultiva- often steeply, to the 1,004-metre high peak of wine, peace and civilisation, farming, celebra- tion, sheep and goat farming and fishing, Mt Zas. It is the largest of the Cyclades Islands, tion and the theatre — was born, grew up and cheese production, marble and emery mining long envied for its relative fertility and famed for wed the beautiful Ariadne after her abandon- have long been the island’s economic main- its wine. The snowy-white marble of Naxos was ment by the hero king of Athens, Theseus. stays but, over the past 25 years, tourism has widely prized in the classical world and many Her death and rebirth were the focus of a cult surged. Mid-summer peak time holiday-makers of the island’s sculptors and craftsmen became that wildly celebrated the ripening, death and outnumber the island’s resident population of wealthy contractors in the raising of monu- regeneration of nature. An ongoing excavation about 25,000, but hotels, rooms and studios ments and buildings that came to visually define by archaeologists from the University of Ath- then stand vacant through the winter and many the formative era of western civilisation. ens and the Technical University of Munich is shops, cafes and tavernas close for the season.

PIPING TODAY • 26 Munich. the Technical Universityof University ofAthensand archaeologists fromthe an ongoingexcavationby SANCTUARY onNaxos… THE DIONYSUS PIPING TODAY •27

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Although more than 600 Christian Ortho- MIHALIS HOUZOURIS dox chapels, churches and monasteries now dot the landscape and many islanders are devout in of … “no-one their religious observations, island traditions can teach you how to still sometimes evoke the ancient gods. One such time is Apokries, a carnival period play the tsambouna; it’s a that falls in the later part of the Greek winter, occupying the three weeks immediately before self-taught instrument. You Lent in the Orthodox Church calendar. This have to feel it inside you. year, it took place 29 January -18 February. And it is only at this time of the year, in a You have to love it first, to season once associated with Dionysian celebra- learn the craft.” tions, that the island’s bagpipe, the tsambouna, is brought out and played in public, invariably really want. But they last many years. accompanied by a small double-headed drum, “They are very sensitive, and more difficult the toumbaki. A consequence of the festival’s to tune with the bridle thread than a laouto timing is that very few peak season visitors to (a lute-like traditional string instrument) or Naxos become aware of the instrument’s herit- violin.” age which, some islanders assert, reaches back He made his own instrument in 1950, us- rather more than 2,000 years. ing a goat’s shin bone for the blow pipe and a The tsambouna certainly has the appear- goat kid’s skin for the bag — “but the bag, of ance of olden simplicity about it, and the bag course, has to be changed from time to time. is held in front of the player’s body rather than We all get old.” under the arm, in a way that is seen in some Mihalis Houzouris places a straw in the early pictures and paintings of pipers. Anthony right pipe, which makes the instrument sound Baines, in his 1960 study, included it among mellower and more balanced. “Without it, it his “primitive” bagpipe types. But the double- doesn’t make the right sound,” he said. chanter playing technique is far from naïve “The songs we play now came from old and the sound produced is complicated and singers and dances. There are Apokries songs acoustically ‘busy’. and there is, for example, a special song in Most players make their own instruments, rhymed couplets that is played and sung for so there are many variations of detail between conscripts who are leaving home to do their instruments. But essentially the tsambouna Army service.” of Naxos consists of two cane pipes, waxed THE REEDS made by Mihalis Houzouris of Koronos for his Mihalis Houzouris worked as a blaster — the tsambouna… “All of us who play tsambouna have made a side by side into a carved yoke which itself fits lot of reeds. To get two good matched ones, you can make Koronos area was an important world source of snugly into a cow horn bell. This assembly, the 100, 200 reeds without finding the ones you really want. emery — and in 1956 he travelled to Australia: But they last many years.” “pipikia”, is tied into a bag of salt-cured goat “32 days and nights from Piraeus by ship. or sheep skin, which has been turned inside “I liked Australia and worked there for three out and with the hair or wool trimmed away. years,” he said. But he returned to Naxos and There is no drone. experienced the harsh times of the 1967-74 Each pipe has five finger holes and is sounded Fascist military junta. He remembers singers by its own single-bladed cane reed. Reed cane, on Naxos being arrested for singing an old Arundo donax, locally called “kalami”, is traditional song that includes the lyrics: “My plentiful locally but of mixed quality, growing old woes come and go, but my new one become wild and commonly planted as windbreaks snakes that devour me.” and hedges. The words were interpreted as referring to “For reeds, it is best to cut cane grown in a the junta, he said, “and officers on Naxos locked dry place, away from water,” said 77 year-old people up for it until they learned that the song veteran player Mihalis Houzouris of Koronos. really was an old one.” Long hair, miniskirts Getting two reeds that match for pitch, qual- and trade unions were banned, and newspapers ity, volume, hardness, and tone can take many were censored so heavily that many shut down attempts. “It is very difficult,” he said. “All of us in disgust. People suspected of leftist leanings who play tsambouna have made a lot of reeds. were arrested and many suffered torture. To get two good matched ones, you can make Playing the tsambouna was discouraged at MIHALIS HOUZOURIS’ ‘pipikia’, showing finger 100, 200 reeds without finding the ones you positioning. this time as “backward”, and had been banned

PIPING TODAY • 28 GREEK ISLANDS GREEK ISLANDS

“We worry about the tsambouna tradition dying out; it is the only instrument we have that comes from ancient ; violins, the traditional instrument of Naxos has been here only the last 150-200 years. The tsambouna has been here since ancient times. “I think many people feel it is important but things have changed. We have changed the style of our life to be more American and more European. If we had no tourists here, this would not be a problem. We have different jobs now and they all want to go to Hora and near to the beaches and the sea; the tsambouna is from the high villages and the mountains, and it is different. “People listen more to the pop music… and THE DIONYSUS SANCTUARY on Naxos… an ongoing excavation by archaeologists from the University of Athens and the Greek music, but not the traditional Greek music.” Technical University of Munich.

under the five-year right wing dictatorship of learn; there is no school for teaching this instru- NIKOLAOS Moustakis of is a player and General Ionnis Metaxas, 1936-41. ment. The younger generation doesn’t want to pipe maker who has made and sold more than But all of the evidence points to the tsam- learn from us, so the tradition will die. People 100 instruments, most of them going to aspir- bouna having once been the most important just want football and easy money; no-one is ing players in expatriate Greek communities in instrument in the Aegean region. It is still interested any more and it is very sad. the United States, Canada and Australia. played, in different characteristic styles, in most “Most of the modern ones are lazy, they want “There is nostalgia in these communities and of the Cyclades, most of the Dodecanese, in easy money; the old footpaths are overgrown. dancing,” he said. “They listen to recordings parts of and in Samos, Evvia and Hios. The easier people live, the more problems they and learn that way.” But it has now gone from Kassos, Rhodes, Symi, suffer. But we don’t know where things will go Nikolaos Moustakis’ father, Andreas, and Kastellorizo, Halki and Tilos. And its future on in the future.” grandfather, also Nikolaos were pipers before Naxos is uncertain. In many villages, there are empty houses and him. “The tsambouna is a shepherds’ instru- Mihalis Houzouris had no teacher. “My few young people anyway. ment,” he said. “It’s how we enjoyed ourselves father didn’t play so I learned by studying the Maria Vasilaki has a shop in Halki and is a and it’s how we learned. I have three brothers, good players in the village,” he said. He listened traditional dancer involved with a local associa- one of whom also plays. and watched and made himself a floyera (a tra- tion that seven years ago began offering free “My father was an excellent player: sweet ditional end-blown flute which has more notes dance and traditional music tuition to children sounding, precise execution… and he had a and a bigger repertoire than the tsambouna) and and anyone else who is interested. huge repertoire. He once played three days and gained a sense of how the fingering worked. “We do not have money, we do not charge nights without stopping but I can’t keep it up From there, he moved on to a reeded single and there is no pay. We try to get grants but for more than two hours. My father watched pipe, before finally making his own bagpipe the agencies are not very interested. We have the feet of the dancers and a good dancer could when he was 20 years old. some friends, though, who give us donations make him play even better. “Older players — men in their 40s-60s, so to help us to continue because we do have to “Bad players, on the other hand, will jumble they were not so old — were free with their buy things from time to time. their scales and notes and have careless tech- knowledge and at that time, in the 1950s, there “In this village, almost all of the people are nique… and you can’t dance to them.” were maybe five players in this village,” he said. old; the younger ones you see here are almost The tsambouna needs the accompaniment “Now, I’m the last. But there are still players in all from other, bigger villages. But we decided to of the toumbaki (small drum), he said. “The Kinidaros and in Komiaki. form this society because so little was happening tsambouna player would find it monotonous “However no-one can teach you how to play here and the few young people here had nothing without the energy of the drum. The kind of the tsambouna; it’s a self-taught instrument to do. We have teachers for traditional dances tunes on the tsambouna can be very simple and and, although a lot of younger people like to and for instruments and, for two years, we have skeletal but, if you played the same tunes on the hear the tsambouna, they don’t get involved. also had art lessons. And we organise events to violin, you would have do filling in or it would You have to feel it inside you; you have to love bring people together, not only from this village. become boring. it first, to learn the craft. It is a difficult instru- And it has changed the life here I think. “You can play 100 tunes with just a few notes ment to play well. “We have about 10 people involved with the on the tsambouna. But the modern tunes aren’t “Surely, it will die out. We have just lost a society, three teachers and about 60 learners, so simple and use notes outside the tsambouna very fine old piper here,” he said, “and, unfor- but non-one is learning the tsambouna here,” range.” tunately, there aren’t young people who want to said Maria Vasilaki. Nikolaos Moustakis was eight years old

PIPING TODAY • 29 NIKOLAOS MOUSTAKIS of Filoti plays with a sheepskin bag… “The tsambouna is a shepherds’ instrument. It’s how we enjoyed ourselves and it’s how we learned.” GREEK ISLANDS GREEK ISLANDS

model. There is no teaching for makers; maybe it is seen as something too difficult. You have to have it inside you and you have to know how to play the tsambouna to make a tsambouna.” Nikolaos Moustakis’ instruments have a finely crafted finish to them, the cow-horn bells notched and engraved for decorative effect. If the pipes are secured into the yoke with wax, a damaged piece of cane can be readily replaced. If glue is used, the whole assembly has to be replaced. But gluing is a cheaper option in the first instance. He leaves the choice up to his customers, with prices starting at 150-200 Euros. He prefers sheepskin bags to goatskin: they are softer. But some customers want kidskin bags. The blowpipe valve is traditionally created by leaving an extended piece of leg skin hanging into the bag beyond the tie-in of the blowpipe. Pressure in the bag closes the moisture-softened skin surfaces together. This kind of valve can stick, however, and Nikolaos Moustakis has de- veloped the use of a balloon for the purpose. But he has a problem: thanks to changed farming practices, de-horning pastes and the earlier slaughter of cattle, large, fine-looking cow horns have been difficult to find and ex- pensive to buy. He has obtained some suitable horn from Skinoussa a small island south of Naxos, but artificial insemination has made bull ownership less essential and further reduced the supply. A fine piece of imported cow horn can add markedly to the cost, and Nikolaos Mous- takis is exploring the possibilities of turning bell sections from oleander wood.

THE three-week Apokries Carnival is celebrated throughout Naxos. On the final weekend, most THE BLOWPIPE valve… traditionally created by leaving an extended village squares are given over to celebrations piece of leg skin hanging into the bag beyond the tie-in of the blowpipe. Pressure in the bag closes the moisture-softened skin surfaces together. with food, wine and local music. The high mountain village of

A FINELY FINISHED pipikia assembly made by Nikolaos Moustakis… has long has a distinctive character, more reso- “There is no teaching for makers; maybe it is seen as something too lutely traditional than other communities on difficult. You have to have it inside you and you have to know how to play the tsambouna to make a tsambouna.” Naxos and with a dialect that sets it somewhat apart. And its celebration on the last day of when he began to learn to play the tsambouna, taught Apokries is dramatic. by his father. “In grammar school, there were three or It begins as boys weighted down with sheep four of us who played. It used to be that young children and goat bells and swinging staves begin to began playing but I’m the youngest one playing here run and bound through the narrow streets and now. I’m 47. No-one is learning. They play laouto and into the square, jumping to clatter their bells. violin instead.” As they are joined by the older ‘koudounati’ It was from his father that Nikolaos Moustakis also (bell wearers) in hooded cloaks, the commotion learned to make tsambounas… “and I try to make better of the bells rises with the mounting energies instruments that he did,” he said. “I had his work as a and excitement of the moment. A character

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VANGELIS KORRES of Komiaki plays for an Apokries dance in Halki’s village square … “To make it alive, you have to live it. Playing (the tsambouna) is about a way of life.”

IN the mountain village of Apeiranthos, boys with sheep and goat bells tied around their bodies and swinging staves run through the narrow streets and into the village square of to launch the traditional pre-Lenten festival observation. They are joined by the older ‘koudounati’ (bell wearers) in hooded cloaks, and a character representing a bear is led around the crowded square.; A mock wedding is conducted and dancers circle the square to the amplified sound of tsambouna and toumbaki, all of the activity having to do with banishing winter and summoning in a fertile spring.

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ANDONIS ANAMATEROS was playing the tsambouna for festival activities at the mountain village of Apeiranthos on 18 February: the last day of Apokries this year.

ANDONIS ANAMATEROS of Apeiranthos features on a representing a bear is led around the crowded poster for Apokries entertainment at Maro’s Taverna in Hora, a good traditional foods restaurant that is one of the square and a mock wedding is conducted; danc- very few bagpipes-welcoming venues in the main town of ers circle the square to the amplified sound of Naxos. tsambouna and toumbaki, all of the activity having to do with banishing winter and sum- the teacher,’ because I wanted to make sure he Vangelis Korres said there was no govern- moning in a fertile spring. had respect for me as a teacher.” ment support for the tsambouna tradition and The origins of the symbolism and ritual Florios Kritikos is also making an open offer the orientation in schools and music schools is are generally attributed to the ancient cult of to teach anyone at no cost, whether a young wholly towards western classical music. “We Dionysus. child or adult, any night of the week at the have a big aspect of music missing,” he said. Apeiranthos has two tsambouna players: local culture centre. “But this is exciting, maybe it survives,” he Florios (“Tigris”) Kritikos, 56, and Andonis “I want to teach; I don’t want this tradition said, looking at the children who were obvi- Anamateros, 76. Florios Kritikos is the village’s to be lost,” he said. “I will teach using record- ously enjoying the celebration, although none only toumbaki player, and he is keenly resolved ings. Because there are only a limited number of them is learning the tsambouna. to perpetuate the tradition if he possibly can. of notes and therefore simple songs, if I sing He remembers first hearing the pipes when “It’s all over if we don’t show others how to the songs onto cassette, learners can listen to he was a young boy: “I was very young — and play,” he said. the cassette, and get the tunes in their heads. something happened to me. I’m not sure what it He was rebuffed by older players when, as a And, if I show them how the fingers work on was about… the music, it felt like some calling boy of seven or eight, he first wanted to learn. the instrument, they will be able to learn to from the archaic past.” “So I decided to start by myself with a single play the tunes.” He finally learned to play the tsambouna pipe. I found the rhythm and I learned by ear. One other tsambouna player on Naxos who when he was 20, making his own instrument “And, because nobody was willing to teach is actually teaching at this point is Vangelis and learning the styles of both Karpathos and me, I want to do things differently,” he said. So Korres He and a toumbaki player provided Naxos by ear from older players. far, he has one pupil, Ioannis Ikonomou, a 14 the music for a festival night in the village of “The life comes again with the young peo- year-old distant cousin who is the son of the Halki. ple but the knowledge has to be passed on,” local Orthodox priest. Wearing a borrowed goat horned head- he said. “An uncle of his, on his father’s side, played dress and a robust phallic accessory, he led a “It all came from life. No books have yet and this boy has it in his blood. He will learn procession of torch bearers and dancers, many been written about it but books are perhaps for toumbaki too,” said Florios Kritikos. of them children who are learning traditional people who want only to know about a tradi- “He came to my house one night, and I dance and music through a voluntary cultural tion, who want the knowledge, but to make it showed him a little. It used to be that, when he society there. alive, you have to live it. saw me in the street, he would slap me on the He is an Athenian who has settled in the “To be a good player is to feel a need to back and say, ‘hi Florios,’ but when he started to village of Komiaki and teaches with a cultural transmit the ecstatic feeling the pipes give you take lessons, I said to him: ‘now I’m not Florios, society there. He has two pupils. “Athens is to other people… to let go, to move past the I am somebody else … we’re not going to laugh, not for people like me,” he said. “It is too mind. and you’re not going to call me ‘Florios’. I am crowded.” “Playing is about a way of life.” l

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