Music of Cyprus
Encyclopedia
The music of Cyprus includes a variety of classical, folk and popular genres. Cypriot folk music is similar to the folk music
of Greece, and includes dances like sousta
, syrtos
, Kalamatianos
, zeimbekiko, and Rebetika
.
and Western European civilization
during the Crusades
. The island's peak as a cultural capital of Europe occurred from 1359 to 1432. During that peak, Pierre I de Lusignan made a three year tour on Europe, bringing with him an entourage of musicians that impressed Charles V
in Rheims so much that he donated 80 francs in gold to them. On his return to Cyprus, Pierre I brought with him the French Ars Nova
and, later, the Ars Subtilior
. French musicians
became well established in Cyprus, and the city of Nicosia
became a capital of the Ars Subtilior style. Janus I de Lusignan saw Cypriot music evolve into its own variety of music. His daughter, Anne de Lusignan, brought a manuscript after her marriage to Louis, Count of Geneva
, which contained 159 folios with over two hundred polyphonic
compositions, both sacred and secular. The manuscript is now a part of the collection of the National Library of Turin
.
, who flourished around 1550-1560 and, among others, proposed a system that enabled medieval Byzantine chant to correspond to the current contrapuntal practices via the cantus firmus paraphrase.
. Athanasios Demetriadis, also known as Kasavetis, was a cypriot deacon in Constantinople
when eastern orthodox patriarch
of Constantinople was his uncle Yerasimos (1794-1797). A secular song lamenting Death's preference for the young, written and set to music by him survives in a collection by Nikiforos Naftouniaris. Chrysanthos of Madytos, Gregory the Protopsaltes, and Chourmouzios the Archivist were responsible for a reform of the notation of Greek ecclesiastical music. Essentially, this work consisted of a simplification of the Byzantine musical symbols which, by the early 19th century, had become so complex and technical that only highly skilled chanters were able to interpret them correctly.
and music of Turkey, and includes dances like the tatsia
, sousta
, syrtos
, zeibekiko
s, , and the karsilama
suites. Note that unlike Greece and Turkey, there are suites of four karsilama dances, different for men and women, some of them other than the standard 9/8 tempo. Traditional music is modal, based on the makam
s. Both Greek and Turkish Cypriots use the violin
as the main solo instrument, accompanied by the lute
for Greek Cypriots
and the ud for Turkish Cypriots. Accordion
, percussion
and penny whistle (pithiavli) are also used. Notable performers of Greek Cypriot folk music include singers Michael Tterlikkas and Christo Sikkis. A niche artist of traditional music is Gianni Delfinogamis, a champion of many tshiatísta (Cypriot Greek
: τσιατίστα, "spite [song]") competitions. The tsiatísta is improvised antiphonal singing akin to the Cretan mantinada
, with satirical and comedic intent, usually performed between friends or relatives poking fun at each other. Greek-Cypriot folk music is most closely related to the Nisiotika
. The folk music of the Aegean Islands
and especially so to the music of the Dodecanese
.
s:
begins a few years after the war of 1974, during the late 1970s. This period is known as the First Rock Era of Cyprus. One of the pioneers of the rock/metal scene in Cyprus is the band known as Kimstyle TR (TR standing for Teenage Revolution). This band was the first to bring and introduce live rock shows to the Island. The bands first pop/rock single was called "The Lady & The Parrot" which was so ahead of its time, for the standards of Greece and Cyprus, that the lyrics were found offensive; therefore, it was banned by CyBC TV
and copies of the single were burnt by the customs authorities. This spawned many teenagers to start forming bands & that brought competitions amongst them in the movie theatres. Kimstyle and Kim Nicolaou's Rock & Reggae show (first of its kind broadcasted by CyBC), who later influenced the group Armageddon in the mid 1980s, with their traditional heavy metal sound are considered to have taken rock music on the Island one step further. The longest-running band to date, they have managed to be synonymous to the Cyprus metal scene throughout the years, with quality releases and a few visits abroad. Nowadays, they have moved more into the progressive side of metal.
In the early 1990s, Godblood started the local Black metal
scene, acting firstly as a school-band, and later on continuing with their small record label 'Throne Productions'. They have disbanded and only some can recall some shows they had in Cyprus with bands from the Greek scene like Rotting Christ
and an international festival in Israel in the late 1990s. In Heavy/Power metal
there were bands of great quality such as Diphtheria and later Arryan Path leading the genre.
There were also a couple of active Thrash metal
bands during that era giving great live shows such as Regicide (supporting Epidemic) and then Scotoma. Eventually, the 1990s were a very active period for the scene in general. Some other bands worth mentioning are Zenith and Aposynthesis ("disintegration").
bands), Ophiochus (Instrumental Funk/Rock),Isaac's Cello(Psychedelic/experimental), and ScarletSnowPrelude (Post-rock
/Ambient
).
is one of the newest genres of rock music entering the Cyprus music scene. It is considered to have been founded in 2004 by Quadraphonic.
Quadraphonic (a.k.a. Q4) is a Progressive rock/metal band that is well known around the island. Formerly known as Volcano, Q4 was born in Cyprus in the summer of 2004 by ex- members of metal bands Zoner (ex-Regicide), Godblood, Fallen Angel and Horny Mary. With a wide variety of influences concentrated mainly on Progressive Rock, Funk, Oriental and Metal, this band has created an original type of music free from labels that describe contemporary music today. With two demo-releases under their name and one promo-CD, Quadraphonic continue to play various gigs all over Cyprus. They are currently working on a full length album that is due to be released in the beginning of 2009.
. The album is released in the United States by Sort Of Records and combines "meditative Middle-Eastern melodies, earthy Mediterranean folk dances, Brazilian jazz harmonies, Andean rhythms, gently manipulated ambient recordings". The duo is composed of Yianna Georgiadou (voice) and Seth Mehl (piano, erhu, percussion, programming). Their first performances presented live remixes for laptop and voice of classic Greek rebetika, with performances at New York City's Golden Festival, Pittsburgh's Woodlab gallery series, and elsewhere in the United States. Mikros Kosmos's full-length original album moves away from the classic rebetika with an affection for minimal arrangements and a lyrical abstraction which is uncommon in the history of Greek music.
Recent trends have seen the rise of the island Ayia Napa
, a resort, as a home for Cypriot club music.
During the spring months of April and May Bellapais Abbey (a 13th Century Lusignan Monastery in Kyrenia) hosts celebrated musicians all over the world.
Salamis in Famagusta is another such Cyprus historic site used for concerts. Both of these places in Cyprus now host cultural activities and music festivals during spring and summer periods.
Greek folk music
Greek folk music includes a variety of Greek styles played by ethnic Greeks in Greece, Cyprus, Australia, the United States and elsewhere. Apart from the common music found all-around Greece, there are distinct types of folk music, sometimes related to the history or simply the taste of the...
of Greece, and includes dances like sousta
Sousta
Sousta is the name of a folk dance in Cyprus and Crete which is danced in Greece and generally in the Balkans. The music is generally played with a lyre , laouto, and mandolin ....
, syrtos
Syrtos
Syrtos , is the collective name of a group of Greek folk dances. Syrtos, along with its relative kalamatianos, are the most popular dances throughout Greece and are frequently danced by the Greek diaspora worldwide. They are very popular in social gatherings, weddings and religious festivals...
, Kalamatianos
Kalamatianos
The Kalamatianós Dance is one of the best known dances of Greece. It is popular Greek folkdance throughout Greece, Cyprus and internationally and is often performed at many social gatherings worldwide. As is the case with most Greek folk dances, it is danced in circle with a counterclockwise...
, zeimbekiko, and Rebetika
Rebetiko
Rebetiko, plural rebetika, , occasionally transliterated as Rembetiko, is a term used today to designate originally disparate kinds of urban Greek folk music which have come to be grouped together since the so-called rebetika revival, which started in the 1960s and developed further from the early...
.
Medieval music
Cyprus changed hands numerous times prior to the medieval era, and was an important outpost of ChristianityChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and Western European civilization
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
during the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
. The island's peak as a cultural capital of Europe occurred from 1359 to 1432. During that peak, Pierre I de Lusignan made a three year tour on Europe, bringing with him an entourage of musicians that impressed Charles V
Charles V of France
Charles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...
in Rheims so much that he donated 80 francs in gold to them. On his return to Cyprus, Pierre I brought with him the French Ars Nova
Ars nova
Ars nova refers to a musical style which flourished in France and the Burgundian Low Countries in the Late Middle Ages: more particularly, in the period between the preparation of the Roman de Fauvel and the death of the composer Guillaume de Machaut in 1377...
and, later, the Ars Subtilior
Ars subtilior
Ars subtilior is a musical style characterized by rhythmic and notational complexity, centered around Paris, Avignon in southern France, also in northern Spain at the end of the fourteenth century. The style also is found in the French Cypriot repertory...
. French musicians
Music of France
France has a wide variety of indigenous folk music, as well as styles played by immigrants from Africa, Latin America and Asia. In the field of classical music, France has produced a number of legendary composers, while modern pop music has seen the rise of popular French hip hop, techno/funk,...
became well established in Cyprus, and the city of Nicosia
Nicosia
Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...
became a capital of the Ars Subtilior style. Janus I de Lusignan saw Cypriot music evolve into its own variety of music. His daughter, Anne de Lusignan, brought a manuscript after her marriage to Louis, Count of Geneva
Louis, Duke of Savoy
Louis I was Duke of Savoy from 1440 until his death.-Life:...
, which contained 159 folios with over two hundred polyphonic
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
compositions, both sacred and secular. The manuscript is now a part of the collection of the National Library of Turin
Turin National University Library
The National University Library in Turin, Italy, is one of the country's main libraries.It was founded in 1720 as the Royal University Library by Victor Amadeus II, who unified collections from the library of the University of Turin and from the library of the Dukes of Savoy...
.
Renaissance music
A key-figure of that era was Ieronimos o Tragodistis (Hieronymus the Cantor), a Cypriot student of Gioseffo ZarlinoGioseffo Zarlino
Gioseffo Zarlino was an Italian music theorist and composer of the Renaissance. He was possibly the most famous music theorist between Aristoxenus and Rameau, and made a large contribution to the theory of counterpoint as well as to musical tuning.-Life:Zarlino was born in Chioggia, near Venice...
, who flourished around 1550-1560 and, among others, proposed a system that enabled medieval Byzantine chant to correspond to the current contrapuntal practices via the cantus firmus paraphrase.
Byzantine music
Music of Cyprus influenced by Byzantine musicByzantine music
Byzantine music is the music of the Byzantine Empire composed to Greek texts as ceremonial, festival, or church music. Greek and foreign historians agree that the ecclesiastical tones and in general the whole system of Byzantine music is closely related to the ancient Greek system...
. Athanasios Demetriadis, also known as Kasavetis, was a cypriot deacon in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
when eastern orthodox patriarch
Eastern Orthodox Patriarch
The term Eastern Orthodox Patriarch may refer to one of nine bishops or patriarchs of the Eastern Orthodox faith, such as:* Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem* Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople* List of Greek Orthodox Patriarchs of Antioch...
of Constantinople was his uncle Yerasimos (1794-1797). A secular song lamenting Death's preference for the young, written and set to music by him survives in a collection by Nikiforos Naftouniaris. Chrysanthos of Madytos, Gregory the Protopsaltes, and Chourmouzios the Archivist were responsible for a reform of the notation of Greek ecclesiastical music. Essentially, this work consisted of a simplification of the Byzantine musical symbols which, by the early 19th century, had become so complex and technical that only highly skilled chanters were able to interpret them correctly.
Traditional music
Folk music on Cyprus is similar to the folk music of GreeceGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and music of Turkey, and includes dances like the tatsia
Tatsia
Tatsia is a Cypriot traditional dance, performed with a sieve .- Description :Tatsia is a dance of skill, combining the hand and body in non-stop movement. The dancer holds a sieve in his hand with the four main fingers on the top of the inside perimeter of the sieve, while his thumb is on the top...
, sousta
Sousta
Sousta is the name of a folk dance in Cyprus and Crete which is danced in Greece and generally in the Balkans. The music is generally played with a lyre , laouto, and mandolin ....
, syrtos
Syrtos
Syrtos , is the collective name of a group of Greek folk dances. Syrtos, along with its relative kalamatianos, are the most popular dances throughout Greece and are frequently danced by the Greek diaspora worldwide. They are very popular in social gatherings, weddings and religious festivals...
, zeibekiko
Zeibekiko
Zeibekiko is a Greek folk dance with a rhythmic pattern of 9/4 or else 9/8 . The name of the dance derives from the Zeibek warriors of Anatolia. It is danced by one person only and is of free choreographic structure, which is often refers to ancient Greek tragedy...
s, , and the karsilama
Karsilama
Karsilamas , is a Turkish folk dance spread all over Northwest Asia Minor and carried to Greece by Asia Minor refugees...
suites. Note that unlike Greece and Turkey, there are suites of four karsilama dances, different for men and women, some of them other than the standard 9/8 tempo. Traditional music is modal, based on the makam
Makam
Makam In Turkish classical music, a system of melody types called makam provides a complex set of rules for composing and performance...
s. Both Greek and Turkish Cypriots use the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
as the main solo instrument, accompanied by the lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
for Greek Cypriots
Greek Cypriots
Greek Cypriots are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community at 77% of the population. Greek Cypriots are mostly members of the Church of Cyprus, an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity...
and the ud for Turkish Cypriots. Accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
and penny whistle (pithiavli) are also used. Notable performers of Greek Cypriot folk music include singers Michael Tterlikkas and Christo Sikkis. A niche artist of traditional music is Gianni Delfinogamis, a champion of many tshiatísta (Cypriot Greek
Cypriot Greek
The Cypriot dialect of Modern Greek, known as Kypriaka , Cypriot Greek is spoken by 750,000 people in Cyprus and diaspora Greek Cypriots.Cypriot Greek is distinct enough that it can be classified as a distinct dialect of the Standard Greek....
: τσιατίστα, "spite [song]") competitions. The tsiatísta is improvised antiphonal singing akin to the Cretan mantinada
Mantinada
A mantinada, — are Cretan rhyming couplets, typically improvised during dance music. Rhymed Cretan poetry of the Renaissance, especially verse epic Erotokritos, are reminiscent of the mantinada, and couplets from Erotokritos have become used as mantinades. Mantinades have either love or...
, with satirical and comedic intent, usually performed between friends or relatives poking fun at each other. Greek-Cypriot folk music is most closely related to the Nisiotika
Nisiotika
Nisiotika is the name of the dances of Greek islands including a variety of Greek styles, played by ethnic Greeks in Greece, Cyprus, Australia, the United States and elsewhere....
. The folk music of the Aegean Islands
Aegean Islands
The Aegean Islands are the group of islands in the Aegean Sea, with mainland Greece to the west and north and Turkey to the east; the island of Crete delimits the sea to the south, those of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kasos to the southeast...
and especially so to the music of the Dodecanese
Dodecanese
The Dodecanese are a group of 12 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, of which 26 are inhabited. Τhis island group generally defines the eastern limit of the Sea of Crete. They belong to the Southern Sporades island group...
.
Classical music
Notable composerComposer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s:
- Stavros Lantsias
- Vassos Argiridis
- Christina Athinodorou
- Argyro Christodoulidou
- Michalis Chrysanthou
- Nicolas EconomouNicolas EconomouNicolas Economou was a Cypriot composer and pianist born in Nicosia, Cyprus.A precociously gifted pianist, Economou came to international attention at the 1969 Tchaikovsky Competition when he was aged 16. After studying at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow he eventually moved via Düsseldorf...
- Agis Ioannides
- Evagoras KarageorgisEvagoras KarageorgisEvagoras Karageorgis , born 20 December 1957, Paphos, Cyprus is a music teacher, famous composer, lute player, singer, and lyricist.He grew up in Tsada, outside of the city of Paphos - Cyprus in 1957. His first influence was his father Γεώργιος Δ. Καράγιωρκης - Georgios D. Karayiorkis from Λάπηθος...
- Sotiris Karageorgis
- Fedros Kavallaris
- Yannis KyriakidesYannis KyriakidesYannis Kyriakides is a composer of contemporary classical music, and sound art. His music explores new forms and hybrids of media, synthesizing disparate sound sources and highlighting the sensorial space of music...
(1969-), Cyprus-The Netherlands - Mikis Kosteas
- Marios Joannou EliaMarios Joannou Elia- Education :Marios Joannou Elia studied composition with Adriana Hölszky at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts Mozarteum, Salzburg.Further composition studies led him to Klaus Huber at the University of Music in Basel...
- Solon MichaelidesSolon MichaelidesSolon Michaelides was a Cypriot composer, teacher and musicologist. He taught himself the guitar as a schoolkid. He was appointed guitar teacher in the Cypriot Conservatory, where he learned piano. He studied in the UK and France. After his studies he spend the next two decades in Limassol...
(1905–1979), Cyprus-Greece - Larkos Larkou
- Andreas Moustoukis
- Vassos Nicolaou
- Savvas SavvaSavvas SavvaSavvas Savva is a Cypriot composer, professor of musicology and pianist.Born in 1958 in Nicosia , Savvas Savva started playing the piano at an early age with Olga Mavronicola, at the local branch of the Hellenic Conservatory. Later, he continued his studies at the Hellenic Conservatory of Athens...
- Andys SkordisAndys SkordisAndys Skordis is a Cypriot composer.- Compositions in chronological order :*2011"17...why not 37?" for Piano and String Quartet ca...
- Costantinos Stylianou
- Tasos Stylianou
- Nikos Troullos
- Nicos Vichas
- Michalis AndronikouMichalis Andronikou-Life:He graduated from the Department of Music Studies, University of Athens, Greece. He also holds a Diploma in Classic Guitar, Clarinet and Music Theory from Trinity College London, and the Royal Academy of Music, and a Diploma in Byzantine Music from the Argyroupolis Municipal Conservatory...
- Kim Nicolaou
- Haris Sophocleous
First era: 1970s to 1990s
Basically, the history of Cyprus rock and heavy metal musicHeavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
begins a few years after the war of 1974, during the late 1970s. This period is known as the First Rock Era of Cyprus. One of the pioneers of the rock/metal scene in Cyprus is the band known as Kimstyle TR (TR standing for Teenage Revolution). This band was the first to bring and introduce live rock shows to the Island. The bands first pop/rock single was called "The Lady & The Parrot" which was so ahead of its time, for the standards of Greece and Cyprus, that the lyrics were found offensive; therefore, it was banned by CyBC TV
Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation
The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation ) or CyBC is Cyprus's public broadcasting service, transmitting island-wide on four radio and two television channels. CyBC is a non-profit organization that utilises its entire income for the promotion of its main mission, which is the objective provision of...
and copies of the single were burnt by the customs authorities. This spawned many teenagers to start forming bands & that brought competitions amongst them in the movie theatres. Kimstyle and Kim Nicolaou's Rock & Reggae show (first of its kind broadcasted by CyBC), who later influenced the group Armageddon in the mid 1980s, with their traditional heavy metal sound are considered to have taken rock music on the Island one step further. The longest-running band to date, they have managed to be synonymous to the Cyprus metal scene throughout the years, with quality releases and a few visits abroad. Nowadays, they have moved more into the progressive side of metal.
In the early 1990s, Godblood started the local Black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
scene, acting firstly as a school-band, and later on continuing with their small record label 'Throne Productions'. They have disbanded and only some can recall some shows they had in Cyprus with bands from the Greek scene like Rotting Christ
Rotting Christ
Rotting Christ is a Greek black metal band formed in 1987. They are noted for being one of the first black metal bands within this region, as well as a premier act within the European underground metal scene.- Line-up :...
and an international festival in Israel in the late 1990s. In Heavy/Power metal
Power metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...
there were bands of great quality such as Diphtheria and later Arryan Path leading the genre.
There were also a couple of active Thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
bands during that era giving great live shows such as Regicide (supporting Epidemic) and then Scotoma. Eventually, the 1990s were a very active period for the scene in general. Some other bands worth mentioning are Zenith and Aposynthesis ("disintegration").
After 2000
Active bands, with releases and/or live shows of the 2000s (some appeared also in magazines and webzines around the globe):- Arrayan Path
- Armageddon
- Astronomikon
- Blynd
- Bludgeond
- Crestfallen
- Diphtheria
- Inferno
- J.Kriste, Master of Disguise
- Morior
- Rite of Passage
- Prodigal Earth
- R.U.S.T.
- Scotoma
- Sonik Death Monkey
- Snakecharmer
- Soulsteal
- Starblack
- Sulphur
- StormcastStormcastStormcast is an Atmospheric Black Metal band formed in Nicosia, Cyprus in 2007. They have released one demo album entitled "Scorched Earth", it was released on April 17, 2009 recorded by City Studios.-History:...
- Temple of Evil
- Teror
- Terminal Disease
- The Low Spark
- Vomitile
- Winter's VergeWinter's VergeWinter's Verge is a power metal band formed in Nicosia, Cyprus in 2004. Winter's Verge is one of the best-known bands from Cyprus and one of the few artists signed to an international record label and having participated in overseas tours, most notably with Finnish band Stratovarius...
- Quadraphonic
- Isaac's Cello
Rock music
Some popular rock bands in Cyprus are Katadotes (Καταδότες), Full Volume, Quadraphonic, Johnny & the Liars (Punk/Alternative rock), Maenads, Forty Plus, Triple Jam and Krokes (both are Greek rockGreek rock
Rock and roll, spread around the world in the 1950s and 60s, entering Greece in the middle of the 60s. Greek rock performers in the field include Jimi Quidd , and Pavlos Sidiropoulos, the most important representative of Greek folk-rock and rock.-1960s:Greek rock , originated in the early 1960s with...
bands), Ophiochus (Instrumental Funk/Rock),Isaac's Cello(Psychedelic/experimental), and ScarletSnowPrelude (Post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
/Ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
).
Hip Hop
- Tony Jacobs
- Lyrical Eye
- DNA (Dimiourgi Neas Antilipsis)
- En Derin - Derin was born in Northern Cyprus. He now lives in London and produces Hip Hop music.
- Mario Mental's Youtube channel(Add as friend and Subscribe)
- Add Mario Mental on Facebook
- Follow Mario Mental on twitter
Progressive Rock/Metal
Progressive rockProgressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
is one of the newest genres of rock music entering the Cyprus music scene. It is considered to have been founded in 2004 by Quadraphonic.
Quadraphonic (a.k.a. Q4) is a Progressive rock/metal band that is well known around the island. Formerly known as Volcano, Q4 was born in Cyprus in the summer of 2004 by ex- members of metal bands Zoner (ex-Regicide), Godblood, Fallen Angel and Horny Mary. With a wide variety of influences concentrated mainly on Progressive Rock, Funk, Oriental and Metal, this band has created an original type of music free from labels that describe contemporary music today. With two demo-releases under their name and one promo-CD, Quadraphonic continue to play various gigs all over Cyprus. They are currently working on a full length album that is due to be released in the beginning of 2009.
Electronic and World music
In 2008 the electronic and world music group Mikros Kosmos ("small world") arrived in Cyprus and recorded their first album in NicosiaNicosia
Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...
. The album is released in the United States by Sort Of Records and combines "meditative Middle-Eastern melodies, earthy Mediterranean folk dances, Brazilian jazz harmonies, Andean rhythms, gently manipulated ambient recordings". The duo is composed of Yianna Georgiadou (voice) and Seth Mehl (piano, erhu, percussion, programming). Their first performances presented live remixes for laptop and voice of classic Greek rebetika, with performances at New York City's Golden Festival, Pittsburgh's Woodlab gallery series, and elsewhere in the United States. Mikros Kosmos's full-length original album moves away from the classic rebetika with an affection for minimal arrangements and a lyrical abstraction which is uncommon in the history of Greek music.
Recent trends have seen the rise of the island Ayia Napa
Ayia Napa
Ayia Napa is a resort at the far eastern end of the southern coast of Cyprus, famous for its sandy beaches. In recent years, apart from being a family holiday destination, it has become a 'party capital' together with Ibiza, Rimini and Mykonos...
, a resort, as a home for Cypriot club music.
Festivals
North Cyprus is becoming a generous host to Cyprus cultural events. The island began to host many cultural events over the past few years.During the spring months of April and May Bellapais Abbey (a 13th Century Lusignan Monastery in Kyrenia) hosts celebrated musicians all over the world.
Salamis in Famagusta is another such Cyprus historic site used for concerts. Both of these places in Cyprus now host cultural activities and music festivals during spring and summer periods.
See also
- Culture of Cyprus
- Ars NovaArs novaArs nova refers to a musical style which flourished in France and the Burgundian Low Countries in the Late Middle Ages: more particularly, in the period between the preparation of the Roman de Fauvel and the death of the composer Guillaume de Machaut in 1377...
- Ars SubtiliorArs subtiliorArs subtilior is a musical style characterized by rhythmic and notational complexity, centered around Paris, Avignon in southern France, also in northern Spain at the end of the fourteenth century. The style also is found in the French Cypriot repertory...
- Music history of FranceMusic history of France-Medieval Period:Some of the earliest manuscripts with polyphony are organum from 10th century French cities like Chartres and Tours. A group of musicians from the Abbey of St. Martial in Limoges are especially important, as are the 12th century Parisian composers from whence came the earliest...
- Gioseffo ZarlinoGioseffo ZarlinoGioseffo Zarlino was an Italian music theorist and composer of the Renaissance. He was possibly the most famous music theorist between Aristoxenus and Rameau, and made a large contribution to the theory of counterpoint as well as to musical tuning.-Life:Zarlino was born in Chioggia, near Venice...
- Music history of ItalyMusic history of ItalyThe modern state of Italy did not come into being until 1561, though the roots of music on the Italian Peninsula can be traced back to the music of Ancient Rome. However, the underpinnings of much modern Italian music come from the Middle Ages.- Before 1500 :...
- Music of GreeceMusic of GreeceThe music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its history. Greek music separates into two parts: Greek traditional music and Byzantine music, with more eastern sounds...
- Middle Eastern musicMiddle Eastern musicThe music of Western Asia and North Africa spans across a vast region, from Morocco to Afghanistan, and its influences can be felt even further afield. Middle Eastern music influenced the music of India, as well as Central Asia, Spain, Southern Italy, the Caucasus and the Balkans, as in chalga...
- Music of Europe