Here’s a rather random thing I discovered while listening to Spotify. I’ve been re-reading The Iliad this week, and I thought I’d see if there were any ancient Greek music reconstruction albums on Spotify. In my searches, I found a set of albums by the Petros Tabouris Ensemble. So I put these on to play in the background as I read.
One track that appeared on multiple albums (under different names) caught my ear. It had a short melodic line that was teasingly familiar to me. Have a listen and see if this reminds you of anything:
After a couple of listens, I realized what I was recognizing:
Listening to these two tracks back-to-back, I have to conclude that it’s not just a coincidence. If it were just the snippet of melody, perhaps. But the entire rhythmic texture is there, too. I don’t know if it’s a clever homage or covert cover (in one of its versions it is about the Bacchae, after all) or if it’s a sneaky theft, but I haven’t seen any reviews of the Petros Tabouris Ensemble that point out this connection. I think it’s a kind of marvelous conflation of the ancient and the modern. Of course, maybe Bernard Hermann is the one who modeled his theme on a Greek folk song, but I haven’t seen that mentioned anywhere, either.
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 27th, 2011 at 11:56 am and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Ancient cover: ψυχή or Psycho?
One track that appeared on multiple albums (under different names) caught my ear. It had a short melodic line that was teasingly familiar to me. Have a listen and see if this reminds you of anything:
Petros Tabouris Ensemble – Bacchants’ Longings (Vakhon pothi) (Spotify link.)
[If you don't have or want to try Spotify, you can also hear a decent sample of this track on Amazon.]
After a couple of listens, I realized what I was recognizing:
Listening to these two tracks back-to-back, I have to conclude that it’s not just a coincidence. If it were just the snippet of melody, perhaps. But the entire rhythmic texture is there, too. I don’t know if it’s a clever homage or covert cover (in one of its versions it is about the Bacchae, after all) or if it’s a sneaky theft, but I haven’t seen any reviews of the Petros Tabouris Ensemble that point out this connection. I think it’s a kind of marvelous conflation of the ancient and the modern. Of course, maybe Bernard Hermann is the one who modeled his theme on a Greek folk song, but I haven’t seen that mentioned anywhere, either.