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11
The Song
Digenes has taken us unobtrusively right into the heart of Cretan song.
And since Cretan song, like all folk song, is a social art, one might say a
practical art, it is time we looked at the social background and context
of these songs.
They are called ta rizitika tragoudia, which means ‘the songs from the
roots’. And the roots, rizes, are the roots of the White Mountains in the
west, which is the most fruitful area for the collector of songs. They are
divided into two categories: songs of the table, and songs of the road.
The songs of the road are those sung while the villagers go to fetch the
bride for a wedding, while they transport the dowry from her old house
to the couple’s new house, and on other such occasions which involve a
march. The songs of the table are exactly what you would expect. All
these songs are closely associated with the glendi.
A glendi is a party. It takes place whenever a few people, or many,
gather together for the sake of good company, and this happens in
honour of saints’ days, baptisms, weddings, visits of important visitors,
etc. If you go to Crete you will very likely attend quite a number of
glendia. They are exhausting but fun. When your spirits are aroused,
when the wine and food and company give you cheer, you sing the
rizitika, and also the couplets called muntinades. In between songs you
drink a lot – partly because if one man wants to drink he clinks glasses
and then everyone drinks, so you will be keeping pace with the fastest –
and you eat chunks of lamb, bread, slabs of cheese, honey, hot pilaf.
Descriptions of these performances have an odd sound to our ears.
‘One side of the table sings a phrase which is then repeated by the men
on the other side. The melodies are many and the singers never achieve
unison for each man sings in his own pitch and in such a way that his
own voice is not lost in the group singing. 11 It is exaggeration to say
that each man sings in his own pitch, thank heavens; but certainly they
often fail to observe strict unison. Another account, by a Cretan,
throws valuable light on the way such songs may be corrupted and
shortened in the course of time.
At the weddings, baptisms and so on, at which these songs are principally sung,
since all the villagers gather together with the women and children, and every-
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