Text 2. Traditional greek musik & dancing

Music and dancing have played an important role in Greek social life since the dawn of Hellenism. You may even think at times that Greeks live solely for the chance to sing and to participate in dancing. You wouldn’t be that wrong. Whether it be at a traditional wedding, a night club, an Athenian boîte or a simple village kafeneio, a song and a dance are not far from people’s minds.

The style of dancing often reflects the climate or disposition of the participants. In Epiros, the stately tsamiko is slow and highly emotive, reflecting the often cold and insular nature of mountain life. The Pontian Greeks, on the contrary, have a highly visual, vigorous and warlike form of dancing reflecting years of altercations with their Turkish neighbours. The kotsari is one of the best examples of this unique dance form. The islands with their bright and cheery atmosphere give rise to lilting music and matching dances such as the ballos or the syrtos, while the graceful kalamatianos circle dance, most commonly seen at Greek festive occasions, reflects years of proud Peloponnese tradition. The so-called ‘Zorba’s dance’ or syrtaki is a stylised dance for two or three men or women with linked arms on shoulders, while the often spectacular solo male zeïmbekikos with its whirling improvisations has its roots in the Greek blues of the hashish dens and prisons of pre-war times. The women counterpoint this self-indulgent and showy male display with their own sensuous tsifteteli, a svelte, sinewy show of femininity evolved from the Middle Eastern belly dance.

Music is as widely divergent as dancing. The ubiquitous stringed bouzouki closely associated with contemporary music is a relative newcomer to the game, while the plucked strings of the bulbous out! (oud), the strident sound of the Cretan lyra (lyre) and the staccato rap of the toumberleki (lap drum) bear witness to a rich range of musical instruments that share many common characteristics with instruments all over the Middle East. Musical forms range from the rembetika - the Greek blues, to dimotika - humble folk poetry sung and more often than not accompanied by the klarino (clarinet) and defi (tambourine) and to the widely popular middle-of-the-road elafrolaïka, best exemplified by the songs of Giannis Parios. The unaccompanied, polyphonic pogonisia songs of northern Epiros and southern Albania are spine-chilling examples of a musical genre that owes its origins to Byzantium. At the lesser end of the scale, the curiously popular skyladika or ‘dog songs’ - presumably because they resemble a whining dog - are hugely popular in night clubs known as bouzouxidika where the bouzouki reigns supreme, but where musical taste sometimes takes a back seat.

Text 3. Dance in south india

Assignment. Read and translate the texts paying special attention to the names of dances and instruments .Compare Greek and Indian dances.

Dance is an ancient and revered Indian art form that is traditionally linked to mythology and classical literature. Historically, accomplished artists were a matter of prolific pride among royal houses; the quality of their respective dance troupes was at one stage the cause of intense competition between the maharajas of Mysore and Travancore. Between the 2nd and 8th centuries, trade between South India and Southeast Asia brought a cultural legacy that endures in the dance forms of Bali (Indonesia), Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma). Today dance - classical, popular and folk – thrives on city stages, on the cinema screen and in towns and villages throughout South India.

South India has many kinds of folk dance: these include the Puraviattams of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, where dancers are dressed in horse costumes; the Koklikatai dance of Tamil Nadu, in which dancers move about on stilts that have bells attached; and the Kolyacha fishers’ dance from the Konkan Coast. Goa’s stylised Mando song and dance is a waltzlike blend of Indian rhythms and Portuguese melody accompanied by Konkani words.

Various forms of trance-dancing and dances of exorcism occur throughout the south, and almost all tribal peoples, including the Todas of Tamil Nadu and the Banjaras of Andhra Pradesh, retain their own unique dance traditions.

The major classical dance forms of South India:

- Bharata Natyam (also spelt bharatanatyam) is Tamil Nadu’s unique performing art and is believed to be India’s oldest continuing classical dance. It was originally known as Dasi Attain, a temple art performed by young women called devadasis. After the 16th century, however, it fell into disrepute, largely because it became synonymous with prostitution. It was revived in the mid-19th century by four brothers from Thanjavur (Tanjore), credited with restoring the art’s purity by returning to its ancient roots.

- Kathakali, one of South India’s most renowned forms of classical dance-drama, is a Keralan form of play, usually based on Hindu epics.

- Kuchipudi is a 17th-century dance-drama that originated in the Andhra Pradesh village from which it takes its name. Like Kathakali, its present-day form harks back to the 17tr century, when it became the prerogative of Brahmin boys from this tillage. It often centres on the story of Satyambhama, wife of Lord Krishna.

- Mohiniyattam, from Kerala, is a semiclassical dance form that is based on the story of Mohini, the mythical seductress. Known for its gentle and poetic movements, it contains element of Bharata Natyam and Kathakali.

- Theyyam, seen in Kannur is an ancient dance form practised by tribal people and villagers in the north Malabar region. The headdresses, costumes, body patting and trancelike performances are truly extraordinary. Tie Parasinikadavu Temple (near Kannur) stages this kind of performance.

- Yakshagana is unique to the Tulu-speaking region of Karnataka’s south coast. The focus in Yakshagana is less on the dance or movement aspect of performance, since (unlike Kathakali) the actors have vocal roles to play, both singing and speaking. As in Kathakali, the costumes and make-up are not only visually striking but are symbolic of a particular character’s personality.