Musical Travelogue with Domna Samiou - Euboea, Kymi
Music program, Television, ERT, 1977
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“Musical Travelogue with Domna Samiou” (“Musiko Odiporiko me ti Domna Samiou”) was a television series researched and presented by Domna Samiou and broadcast by Greek National Television in 1976-1977. Each episode was dedicated to the music and dance tradition of a different area of Greece.
Travelogue to the musical tradition of Kymi area in Euboea during December 1976. Songs, dances, and tunes by locals that are either typical of the region or are influenced by the musical tradition of the Aegean islands and mainland Greece. Musical stations are Kymi, Aghios Ioannis, Aliveri, Vitalo, Kalimeriani, and Taxiarches.
In Kymi, a group of locals sing the song I Am a Fisherman's Son.
A group of women sing and dance the love song Grass From the Meadow.
In Kymi, a group of men and women sing and dance a typical wedding song Blessed Time. This dance, known as "klistos" (closed) or "nyfiatikos" (bridal) is danced at weddings and engagements, without instruments, with couplets praising the bride and groom.
A local tradition in Kymi is the "mariniarika" songs, sung by seamen in the past. Their rhythm is slow and have marine or love distichs. Should You See a Vessel Pass is one of these songs, sung by Assinou Bounia and a group of women. Based on this recording, Domna Samiou performed the song in her album Songs of Dame Sea.
In the Kalimeriani village, Vassilis Stamatiou sings the songs Wake Up, You Slept a Lot and Long Narrow Passageway.
In the village Taxiarches, the musicians Giorgos Katrakos and his son Vassilis Katrakos play two well-known tunes of the area, Kavodorítikos and Tell Me, My Carnation. Kavodorítikos or Dance From Kavodoro is a typical local dance. Kavodoro (Cavo D'Oro) is a promontory on the southeastern tip of the island of Euboea in the Aegean Sea.
In south Euboea, Asia Minor musical tradition is also known brought either by the seamen or by the refugees from Asia Minor who settled there, after 1922. In the village of Aliveri, Dimitris Mallios, a former barber who plays the violin and his old friend Vassilis Leventis who always accompanies him with the lute, they play the Asia Minor tune Aptalikos.
The same musicians continue with the instrumental tune from Epirus Himariotiko. In the end, they continue with the song A Brunette together with Domna Samiou.
In the village of Vitalo, three veteran musicians who have stopped playing for many years gathered at the village barbershop took their musical instruments and played the instrumental tune Wire Netted Anchor.
In the village of Aghios Ioannis, Domna Samiou meets Giorgos Papageorgiou, a manufacturer of folk musical instruments and also a carpenter, who plays the violin and the lute and is always accompanied by his friend Mr. Vassilis in the lute.