Digenis Akritas - Epic Byzantine Music

Painting by Dimitris Skourtelis, please check out more of his wonderful work here: Arrangement and vocals by Farya Faraji, including traditional Pontic Greek motifs and a traditional Byzantine chant. Please note that this isn’t reconstructed Byzantine music, and nor does it seek to be, it’s modern Greek music with a Byzantine theme. Digenís Akrítas can be said to be the Medieval Greek Herakles: he is a folk figure emerging in the tradition of the Akritic songs; epic poetry detailing his heroic deeds and adventures. Digenis is the son of a Saracen and a Cappadocian Greek woman, hence his name “Digenis,” the “two-blooded,” and Akritas is a reference to his function as a border guard of the empire, the akritai. Given the character’s dual Arab-Greek origins, I wanted this piece to be a fusion of Arabic and Greek music, therefore I researched traditional Pontic Greek motifs played on the Pontic Lyre, and played it alongside traditional Arabic musical so