Dances and songs of Zakynthos

The culture of Zakynthos has exhibited impressive accomplishments concerning music and dances. The various musical types that were formed on the island, along with the dances that accompanied them, are held in high esteem by the inhabitants of Zakynthos, and still exist nowadays. In fact they are an essential part of the islanders’ lives. The islands distinct history, as well as the soul of all the Zakynthians are the main elements that gave life to this music and the dances accompanying them.

While the islands’ music was preserved by being passed from one generation to another, unfortunately we cannot say the same about the island’s dances. The traditional dances of Zakynthos were salvaged – literally at the last minute – thanks to the elderly of each village, who kept this dancing tradition and taught it to folklorists and dancers. Recently, a systematic effort to study and salvage the traditional dances of Zakynthos has begun.

This study has proven that the dances of the island’s town differed from those of the villages. While the town was influenced by dancing trends from the West (mazurka, polka, quadrilles), the villages purely maintained the Greek element in their dances, without being denatured by foreign-brought trends. It is impressive that Panhellenic folk dances such as the tsamiko and the kalamatiano, were not performed in Zakynthos, and that they reached the island only at the beginning of the 20^th century. The dances of Zakynthos salvaged until today are the Syrtos of Zakynthos (Syrtos Zakynthinos) or Levantinikos, which presents numerous variations from village to village, the Amoiri, a carnaval, satiric, circular dance, the Yiargitos, or dance of Theseus, and the Stavrotos. All these dances are of particular folklore interest and stress the Greek character of the tradition of Zakynthos.

As far as music is concerned in Zakynthos, various musical kinds that accompanied the various manifestations of everyday life of the inhabitants were produced. So, we find the following forms: the ecclesiastical music, the arekeies, the serenades (kantades) and folk songs. In particular, the arekeies are an unusual kind of folk songs, found all over Zakynthos, and are couplet songs sung in four-part without musical accompaniment. The kantades, which were spread mainly in town and the nearby villages, are not a form of imitation, but an autonomous kind of music developed in the Ionian Islands, although they were influenced by the West. Many poems composed by eminent Zakynthian poets such as Solomos and Kalvos have been set to music mainly by local composers, and are still sung by the people of Zakynthos until today. The popular songs of Zakynthos accompany the island’s inhabitants in all manifestations of everyday life (weddings, festivals, etc.), and differ totally in style and content from the kantades which have Westerly influences. There are no pidgin Italian words in the popular songs of Zakynthos, and they do not contain any foreign loan words.

They visitors of Zakynthos will probably hear kantades and arekeies in the various tavernas’ in town and the villages, and may watch the island’s traditional dances at festivals, weddings and generally during all the festive manifestations of the people of Zakynthos.