Ornamentation in Greek traditional violin art

Ornamentation, thus the art of adding “poikilmata” (ornaments) and “melismata” (improvisational micro-melodies), is the most characteristic practice of violin performing in traditional Greek music. The 1st in its genre study by Giannis Zarias, records and analyzes this practice, that has mainly evolved and passed on through oral tradition, and focuses on its many different ways of interpretation in the traditional Greek violin performance. In the 1.100 pages of the book more than 1.000 musical examples are transcribed and the main traits of the various different ornamentation idioms of the Greek peninsula are accentuated and classified. The accompanying CD enhances these examples through authentic audio excerpts, while in the book’s extensive addendum one can find, gathered for the first time, biographical information and the discography of about 1.700 traditional Greek violin performers, as well as relevant photographic material. By using the “debate” between traditional and other music fields as its base line, the study contributes to the demarcation of a “transcribed” system to assist in the execution of the traditional Greek violin “language” and, through it, highlights its expressional particularity. It is primarily addressed to performers and musicologists, but can also appeal to anyone that loves traditional music and desires to delve into its distinctive qualities.