Nisiotika

Music of Greece
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Genres
Specific forms
Media and performance
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Music festivals Thessaloniki Song Festival
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National anthem "Hymn to Liberty"
Regional music
Related areas Cyprus, Pontus, Constantinople (Hasapiko)
Regional styles

Nisiotika (Greek: νησιώτικα) is the name of the dances of Greek islands including a variety of Greek styles, played by ethnic Greeks in Greece, Cyprus, Australia, the United States and elsewhere.

Nisiotika, has a well known folk dance tradition, which comes from the dances of ancient Greece like: Syrtos, Kalamatianos and Sousta. The lyre is the dominant folk instrument and other like klarino, violin, askomandoura with Greek characteristics vary widely. In the Aegean, the violin and the Cretan lyra are very widespread Greek musical instruments. Famous representative musicians and performers of Nisiotika include: Mariza Koch as credited with reviving the field in the 1970s, Yiannis Parios, Domna Samiou, the Konitopouloi family: including Giorgos Konitopoulos, Vangelis Konitopoulos, Eirini Konitopolou, Nasia and Stella Konitopoulou and other.

There are also, prominent elements of Cretan music on the Dodecanese Islands and Cyclades.

Greek folk dances of Nisiotika include:

Nisiotika is a significant aspect of Greek culture, both within Greece and in the diaspora.

See also

References