Save Erimitis: Musical message to the Government
Erimitis
14 Jun 2020
/ 11:14
΄Down in Erimitis΄ - a musical message specially dedicated to Adonis Giorgiades!
A group of young people, members of the movement to save the virgin environment in Erimitis, has adapted and arranged a popular traditional Corfu song 'Down in Ai Giorgi'. It is one of Corfu's oldest traditional songs and belongs to the category 'Acritic Songs' ('frontiersmen songs' - epic poems that emerged in the Byzantine Empire probably around the ninth century).
According to tradition, the song refers to a folk hero who lost his life during one of the Ottoman sieges on Corfu fighting bravely on the coast near the 'Cold Waters' in Ai Giorgi.
Down in Erimitis, in the cold waters
They sold nature to make money.
Money, money, money, money, money, money...
Koulis came first, and then came Adonis
Then came the Hadjidakis Law and all the special interests.
Money, money, money, money, money, money...
People didn't let them, they shouted loud and clear,
Erimitis is the heritage of our young children
Children, children...
Our young children.
The sea, the lake, the otters and the birds
don't have owners and don't have bosses.
Birds, birds fly free.
Children, children enjoy the beauty.
Inspired by the fight to save Erimitis, the youngsters that came together for the annual clean-up of the area created a special arrangement of the song - specially dedicated to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Adonis Giorgiades and Kostis Hadjidakis, who are encouraging the investment that will destroy the rich habitat - one of the few virgin areas that Corfu, oversaturated by tourism, can be proud of.
The history of the original song as told by folklorist Stefanos Poulimenos
The song is one of the oldest to have been saved from Corfu's traditional music. It has its roots in the Acritic Songs, which emerged in the middle of the Byzantine Period and describe the life, deeds and feats of the frontiersmen at the eastern border of the Empire - approximately at the border between modern-day Turkey and Syria.
The words of the song refer to a historical personality at the end of the 10th century and beginning of the 11th - Yiannakis, who was the son of the well-known frontiersman Andronicus.
Yiannakis was killed in a battle between the Turks and the frontiersmen, causing lamentation throughout Byzantium.
The lamentations turn into legend in the form of an epic poem and song which reaches all the corners of the empire in various forms - Pontus, Cappadocia, Crete, Macedonia, Thrace and Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Kythira and Corfu.
The Corfu version of the song, originally recorded in Lefkimmi, can be seen and heard in this video of a performance by the Kinopiastes 'Yitonia' Song & Dance Group in Ioannina in March 2015.
The Group is accompanied by Theodoros Karydis on violin, Giorgos Hondroyiannis and Dimitris Metallinos on guitar and Spyros Skordilis on accordion.
Coordinator: Giorgos Anifantis
Folklore research: Stefanos Poulimenos
According to tradition, the song refers to a folk hero who lost his life during one of the Ottoman sieges on Corfu fighting bravely on the coast near the 'Cold Waters' in Ai Giorgi.
Down in Erimitis, in the cold waters
They sold nature to make money.
Money, money, money, money, money, money...
Koulis came first, and then came Adonis
Then came the Hadjidakis Law and all the special interests.
Money, money, money, money, money, money...
People didn't let them, they shouted loud and clear,
Erimitis is the heritage of our young children
Children, children...
Our young children.
The sea, the lake, the otters and the birds
don't have owners and don't have bosses.
Birds, birds fly free.
Children, children enjoy the beauty.
Inspired by the fight to save Erimitis, the youngsters that came together for the annual clean-up of the area created a special arrangement of the song - specially dedicated to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Adonis Giorgiades and Kostis Hadjidakis, who are encouraging the investment that will destroy the rich habitat - one of the few virgin areas that Corfu, oversaturated by tourism, can be proud of.
The history of the original song as told by folklorist Stefanos Poulimenos
The song is one of the oldest to have been saved from Corfu's traditional music. It has its roots in the Acritic Songs, which emerged in the middle of the Byzantine Period and describe the life, deeds and feats of the frontiersmen at the eastern border of the Empire - approximately at the border between modern-day Turkey and Syria.
The words of the song refer to a historical personality at the end of the 10th century and beginning of the 11th - Yiannakis, who was the son of the well-known frontiersman Andronicus.
Yiannakis was killed in a battle between the Turks and the frontiersmen, causing lamentation throughout Byzantium.
The lamentations turn into legend in the form of an epic poem and song which reaches all the corners of the empire in various forms - Pontus, Cappadocia, Crete, Macedonia, Thrace and Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Kythira and Corfu.
The Corfu version of the song, originally recorded in Lefkimmi, can be seen and heard in this video of a performance by the Kinopiastes 'Yitonia' Song & Dance Group in Ioannina in March 2015.
The Group is accompanied by Theodoros Karydis on violin, Giorgos Hondroyiannis and Dimitris Metallinos on guitar and Spyros Skordilis on accordion.
Coordinator: Giorgos Anifantis
Folklore research: Stefanos Poulimenos
