Music has always been one of the favourite pastimes of
the people in Syros. Music is cultivated in many ways here: through musical bands, clubs and
well-educated music teachers. One can still admire the well-known band of
Hermoupolis who started their performances in 1894. This band has been present
in all important events of the town (parades, religious processions etc.) What
is remarkable is that in the years of prosperity (19th century and
part of the 20th century) the band had its own permanent place on
the marble platform of the central square where the musicians played to amuse
the aristocracy who were going up and down the square numerous times enjoying
their evening “promenade” all dressed in formal clothes and fine hats.
On the other
hand, in Ano Syrtos and the countryside of Syros, the music sounds were more
traditional. It was a local sound which survived through centuries and was
accompanied by traditional musical instruments like “tsambouna” (wind
instrument) and “toumbi” (percussional instruments). This kind of music can
still be heard in local festivals, the celebration of “pig butchering” and the
carnival of Ano Syros.
What is
worth mentioning is that in Ano Syros, a form of local local music called
“Rembetiko” was born and developed. The so called “Rembetes” were people from the
poor, lower parts of the society at the beginning of the 20th
century who expressed themselves against the hard times of their lives
producing a kind of rebel, reactive local music.
Since 1922 this kind of music (which has
been widely rejected previously) has been combined with the local tradition of
Syros as well as Byzantine and eastern sounds and with the help of the wind
instrument called “bouzouki”, it became a kind of music of national acceptance.
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