Meliti/Ovcharani, Florina/Lerin, Greece: The “forbidden” songs are alive despite repression.” That's the title of a recent article (in Greek) about Macedonian songs and their performance in modern-day Greece.
For most of the 20th century, the public (and sometimes private) use of the local Macedonian language in the part of Macedonia that came under Greek rule after 1912 was strictly banned. While this was policy for all non-Greek local languages all throughout Greece, due to greater sensitivities, historic hostilities and the perceived greater disloyalty of its speakers, Macedonian was particularly targeted. One of the results of this repression was that for decades, and still often the case, Macedonian songs would be performed at public events without lyrics (tragoudia dihos logia).
However, with the change in political environment that came after the election of Greece’s first outwardly socialist government in 1982 under Andreas Papandreou, locals in the Florina/Lerin, Edessa/Voden and Kastoria/Kostur regions of Greece started challenging this ban. Fast forward to the present and it’s now a regular occurrence (though not a given) at events throughout Greek Macedonia in villages traditionally populated with Macedonian speakers to have bands exclusively performing Macedonian songs with their original lyrics, much to the chagrin of Greek nationalists and many in Greece’s establishment (such as the Greek Orthodox Church).
The article (link above) covers the history and resilience of the performance of Macedonian-language songs in northern Greece, plus two very interesting ethnomusicological projects involving these ‘forbidden’ folk songs in modern-day northern Greece and the diaspora: Meglen by Hristos Apsis and Malo Mome by Haroula Apostolidou.
Here's a clip of a Macedonian band performing at the main Saint's Day celebrations in my grandmother's birth village of Ammohori/Pesoshnitsa. The song says "They say we [ethnic Macedonians] don't exist but here we are". Apt!
.%20A%20day%20of%20campaigning%20%E2%99%80%20%E2%80%A6%20or%20a%20day%20to%20buy%20flowers%20%F0%9F%92%90.jpg)
