military junta

Description

"To Mystiko" A Requiem for Kamanche Music /Maria Farantouri Imagery/Sergei Parajanov Edit&Visual Adaptation/Massod Vadiee Created by Arden Zahedi-Bogucka A Dokumuzik Projek 2012 https://vimeo.com/user8590870 Kamancheh (kamānche or kamāncha) (Persian: کمانچه‎) is a Persian bowed string instrument related to the bowed rebab, the historical ancestor of the kamancheh and also to the bowed lira of the Byzantine Empire, ancestor of the European violin family. The strings are played with a variable-tension bow: the word "kamancheh" means "little bow" in Persian (kæman, bow, and -cheh, diminutive).[1] It is widely used in the classical music of Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, with slight variations in the structure of the instrument. In Kashmir, kamancha is known as saaz-i-kashmir.[2] Traditionally kamanchehs had three silk strings, but modern ones have four metal ones. Kamanchehs may have highly ornate inlays and fancy carved ivory tuning pegs. The body has a long upper neck and a lower bowl-shaped resonating chamber made from a gourd or wood, usually covered with a membrane, made from the skin of a lamb, goat or sometimes fish, on which the bridge is set. From the bottom protrudes a spike to support the kamancheh while it is being played, hence in English the instrument is sometimes called the spiked fiddle. It is played sitting down held like a cello though it is about the length of a viola. The end-pin can rest on the knee or thigh while seated in a chair. Famous Iranian kamancheh players include Ali-Asghar Bahari, Ardeshir Kamkar, Saeed Farajpouri, and Kayhan Kalhor. Famous Azeri kamancheh player is Habil Aliev. The Turkish and Armenian kemenche or kemençe is a bowed string instrument with a very similar or identical name—but it differs significantly in structure and sound from the Persian kamancheh. Other bowed string instruments akin to the kamancheh, yet differing more than slightly from it, include the kemenche of the Pontic Greeks of the black Sea, the old Russian Gudok, the Persian Ghaychak, and the Kazakh Kobyz. Persian traditional classical music also uses the ordinary violin with Persian tuning. The kamancheh and the ordinary violin are tuned in the same way and have the same range but different timbres due to their differing sound boxes. Maria Farantouri (sometimes spelt Maria Farandouri) (Greek: Μαρία Φαραντούρη) was born in Athens on 28 November 1947.[1] She is a Greek singer and also a political and cultural activist. She has collaborated with prominent Greek composers such as Mikis Theodorakis, who wrote the score for Pablo Neruda's Canto General, which Farantouri performed. During the Greek military junta (1967--1974) Maria Farantouri recorded protest songs in Europe with Mikis Theodorakis. In 1971 she recorded "Songs and Guitar Pieces by Theodorakis" with English guitarist John Williams which included seven poems by Federico García Lorca. She has recorded songs in Spanish ('Hasta Siempre Comandante Che Guevara'), Italian, and English ("Joe Hill" and Brecht's "Alabama Song' from Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny), as well as works by Greek composers Manos Hatzidakis, Eleni Karaindrou and Mikalis Bourboulis ('San Elektra' and 'Tora Xero') in which she realized a special fusion of vocal and instrumental beauty with musical accompaniment by Vangelis. She also sang the notable 'Mauthausen Cycle'. Her voice is deep contralto with about an octave and a half range. Maria Farantouri was an elected member of the Greek Parliament from 1989-1993 representing the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).[2] She is married to the PASOK politician Tilemachos Chitiris