Pontiaka...

The main instrument used in Pontic music is the "kemenche" ("lyra" in modern Greek), a bottle-shaped, 3-stringed fiddle played in the upright position. Traditionally, other instruments used are the "tulum" (a double chanter bagpipe with no drone that is also played in other parts of Eastern Turkey and Georgia); the "davul" (a double-headed drum); and occasionally, the "zurna" (double reed oboe) and more rarely a flute. Modern Pontic bands use keyboards, guitar, drums and sometimes clarinet and violin - but always the "kemenche" as well.
Most of the music is based around the dance; but there are also songs that are sung or played in the "moiralogia" or "epitrapezio" free rhythm style.

The oldest known Pontic dance is probably the "serra" or "pyrrikheos", a pyrrhic dance that is described by Xenophon in the 4th century B.C. A mens' war dance, it is sometimes danced with knives or short swords similar to the Caucasian kinjal.

The most commonly used mode is the Phrygian/Ushak type, although Hijaz is also used and recently the Western minor scale is being played in many songs. Both the instrumental and vocal styles are heavily ornamented and in many cases instruments will try to mimic other instrumental styles e.g. kemenche playing in tulum style. The melodic range of many of the songs, especially the older ones, is a fifth or less. The music is played around shifting centres, the most common being {I, III, II, VII, I} {I, IV, VII, I} {I, VI, VII, I}. Some of the older melodies will centre on the second and the seventh below only hitting the tonic on the last note of the verse or occasionally, never resolving to the tonic but constantly switching between second and seventh.

The older style singing is very glottal Caucasus and Persian influenced but this is being lost. Some dances such as Shairanitsa, Kots, Sarigouz, and Lechina are unique in that they have only one melody. Others are imported such as the Russian "Kazaska" and "Tash" a 6/8 dance from the Caucasus, a variant of the originially Daghestani but now pan Caucasian dance Lezginka.

Pontic music - with ancient rhythms and sung in Pontic Greek (a mixture of Ancient and Byzantine Greek, Ottoman Turkish, as well as some Persian and Caucasian words) - has influenced and been influenced by other cultures of the area. For example, the music of the Caucasian Laz peoples in Turkey is very similar - same instruments and styles, but with not as many dance forms and much less decorated ornaments. In comparison, the Laz kemenche is slightly thinner than the Pontic instrument and is sometimes called "zil kemence" by Pontic musicians. This thin kemenche was also the only one played by Pontic Greeks before 1922, the thicker version that is played now was created in Greece after the Exchange .

There are variations in musical style and instrumentation within the Pontic area. The kemenche and tulum are prevalent in the Eastern regions around Trabzon, Of, Surmene and Giresun while Western Pontos especially Ak Dag Maden is stylistically closer to local Turkish music with the Halay being common. Kars, in the east is known for clarinet and accordian styles.

As well, there is the "kemane", a sort of large kemenche with four main and four sympathetic strings, similar but with fewer strings than that played in the Cappadocia region of Turkey by the Karamanli Christians. Some of the Karamanli argued against being transferred to Greece in 1923, saying although they were Orthodox Christians they were not of Greek lineage but descended from the pre-Byzantine indigenous population. They speak their own language, Karamanlidika, written with Greek characters but loosely based on Turkish, yet when they were transferred to Greece they were settled within the Pontic community.

There is a relationship between Pontic music and that of Iran, the Caucasus and Central Asia. For example, the Kochari melody can be found in the Caucasus, in Iranian and Kurdish areas and as far east as Pakistan and Afghanistan. In many of these areas, even the name is the same. As well several of the rhythms and melodies of other Pontic songs and dances are found in Afghanistan (especially the North) and Uzbekistan and Central Asia in general. Numerous other 5/8 and 7/8 melodies played by Pontic musicians can also be found in Iranian areas. Several Dipat rhythm melodies can be found in Bektashi/Alevi communities in Turkey.

Recently, - due to its high energy - Pontic music has also influenced the music of southern Yugoslavia and even other parts of Greece itself. Today, a large proportion of Greek singers of all styles are Pontic in origin.

...currently listening to Ziyia From The Mountains To The Islands...(Ziyia is a Greek Folk group from Albany (Bay Area), they're probably the most talented group of Greek Folk musicians in the US...their song "Ta Daoulia Kroun" being the Pontic beat!)