KANTADA /CANTADA

The Serenade in Ionian Islands and Athens

The Ionian Islands until the 19th century
The Ionian Islands possess a distinctive culture within the Greek area mainly due to the fact that
they did not experience the Ottoman occupation. From 1204 the Republic of Venice controlled
Corfu and gradually all the Ionian Islands fell under Venetian rule. Therefore, Italian influence is
evident in Ionian music. The music styles developed in this area follow the rules of western
harmonics due to this influence.

The serenade in Ionian Islands

The Cantada (serenade) constitutes a perfect sample of popular urban song in the Ionian Islands.
Its name originates from the Latin “cantare” meaning “to sing”. It is characterized by western
type polyphony, consisting of two or more independent melodic voices as opposed to music with
just one voice. Several songs of this type were created by composers of the Ionian Conservatory
and the Greek National Conservatory, like Dionysios Lavragas, while many poets wrote the
lyrics, among who was Dionysios Solomos. However, there are many songs by artists unknown
to us.
The songs were usually accompanied by guitars and mandolins, though they were often sang
without instrument accompaniment.

The Athenian serenade

It seems that the Ionian serenade spread out to the Greek mainland after the union of the Ionian
Islands with Greece in 1863. It became particularly popular in urban areas and gave birth to the
Athenian serenade, connected to the Athenian romantic poets of the late 19th and early 20th
century, like Georgios Drosinis, Ioannis Polemis and others.
The Athenian serenade was created, nurtured and developed parallel to the Athenian. The
Athenian serenade, benefited by the romantic trend, continued to be created until the 1930s. The
Athenian serenade differs from the Ionian in character; The Ionian had a mainly folk character
while the Athenian had more of a scholarly character.

Romantic serenades
The serenade became closely related to young men singing the songs at night under their love
one’s balcony in order to express their affection. However, the repertoire used for this purpose
did not include strictly serenades but several other types of song.
Unfortunately, there are no websites exclusively or even satisfactorily concerned with serenade
('kan'tada in Greek). Most are sites with tourist information from Greece or abroad, which refer
to the beauties of the Ionian Islands and simply mention serenade as one of its old/colorful
customs, with no reference to its history, lyrics or form, in a way that could provide a complete
view to someone seeking information without having heard one. However, even in more
specified websites, the serenade appears only in connection with other modern kinds of music.

Eptanesian and Athenian kantada

Kantada or cantada, in general, is a type of serenade. There are mainly two types, the kantada
from the Ionian Islands, and the kantada of Athens, which are quite distinct. The former's most
evident characteristic is being polyphonic (usually in 4 parts) and using (sometimes in a special
way) western harmony. The latter is accompanied by guitar and mantolin, and there is a single
dominant melodic line accompanied by backing vocals. The lyrics, in both types, refer to Love
and the beauties of nature and life.
Unfortunately, there are no web sites that deal exclusively, not even adequately, with kantada.
Most links lead to Greek or foreign sites of touristic interest (for the beauties of the Ionian
Islands), so they simply report "kantada" as one old / picturesque custom, without dealing with
its history, lyrics, or form. They do not provide a complete picture of kantada to somebody
seeking information on it, without ever having heard one before. But, also in more specialized
web sites, kantada is presented only in connection with other, current at that time, types of song.