Music from Europe and the Mediterranean: Mediterranean music - 4th EP

 

Each country, town and culture has its own songs, dances and instruments. It is traditional music or folklore.

Mediterranean countries are those whose coasts are bathed by the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean Sea is an inland sea, which runs through the Asian, African and European continents and joins the Atlantic Ocean at the western end, through the Strait of Gibraltar.

The countries bordering the Mediterranean are: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Croatia, Egypt, Slovenia, Spain, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Monaco, Montenegro, Palestine, United Kingdom (Gibraltar, Akrotiri and Dhekelia), Syria, Tunisia and Turkey

The towns on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea have very rich traditional music. These people have always been in contact. Therefore, some of their rhythms, melodies and traditional instruments are similar.

- Italy: The most popular dance is the tarantella. It is a dance with a very lively rhythm. It is danced in pairs with the accompaniment of mandolins, flutes, violins, guitars, tambourines and accordion. Some composers of classical music have composed pieces with the rhythm and form of the tarantella.

 

- Greece: The most typical instruments of Greece are the bouzouki and the baglama, which are similar to the lute and the guitar. As for dances, the Sirtaki stands out. It is a dance that begins playing very slowly and accelerates little by little until reaching dizzying speeds. It is danced in circles or lines with the hands resting on the shoulders of the partners.

- Turkey: Dervishes are the most popular musical pieces. It is music that is accompanied by a whirling dance performed by dervishes (Turkish monks). They spin around themselves, spinning faster and faster.

- Israel: Music in Israel is an integral part of national identity. Many Hasidic and Klezmer melodies have found their place in the music of Israel. Klezmer music came to Israel in the early 20th century from European immigrants. The lyrics of some songs were translated from Yiddish to Hebrew.

- Tunisia: Malouf, traditional music, is for many a Hispanic heritage, in which some have seen connections with Andalusian melodies. It is performed at weddings and circumcision celebrations, by groups that accompany the songs with violins, drums, zithers and flutes.

- Spain: Spain is a very rich country culturally and musically. Among the most important types we must highlight the cante hondo, cante jondo or flamenco, the copla, the cuplé, the fandango, the isa canaria, the jota, the muñeira, the paloteos or balls de bastons, the pasodoble, the pardiscas, the rebolada, the sardana, the verdiales and the Danza Prima, Zarzuela.