THE PONTIC MUSIC HOME PAGE

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" The structure of these (Pontic) songs is quite different from those we meet in ancient Greek music or Turkish music as we know them. They seem to belong to an archaic culture related to the Celtic family "

Alain Danielou - International Institute for Comparative Music Studies - liner notes for a UNESCO Recording

In 1922 the Treaty of Lausanne officially ended the First World War. One of the terms of the Treaty stated that - except for the areas of Thrace and Constantinople (present day Istanbul) - all Muslims in Greece were to be transferred to Turkey and all Orthodox Christians in Turkey were to be transferred to Greece. In this huge uprooting of many ancient peoples and cultures, the Greeks of Pontos were settled mostly in Macedonia. In many cases whole villages were moved together , for example, villagers from Matsouka to Kavala, those from Kars to Kilkis and so on. For the last three quarters of a century, Pontic culture has been mostly an unknown to the world, including in Greece itself, and is now just beginning to become exposed to the world at large.

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