Why do I sing Asia Minor songs when I've been born and raised in Crete? An explanation, excerpt from my CD "My Precious Ruby and Sapphire: Songs and Tunes of Asia Minor."

“From all that’s good in humankind, words alone enthrall

uplifting each and every heart, solace bringing to all

and he who knows to craft with words is someone truly blessed

‘cause tears or smiles to eyes he’ll bring, forgetting all the rest.”

Erotokritos

A few words from me to you…

Whether you know me as friends or know me not at all,

you’re all probably wondering how someone born and raised in Crete (the village of Zouridi, Rethymnon, is where I hail from)

has come to sing Asia Minor songs. If those songs were the traditional Rizitika songs of Crete, there would be no reason for you to wonder. From time to time, I have wondered myself on that issue.

My curiosity was quenched some months ago when I accidentally ran into a wise witch (she must have been a sprite, no question about it) at one of Crete’s enchanting areas. 

And after inadvertently putting a spell on her through my songs in the “beauteous garden” we were sitting, in the wee hours, I asked her to talk to me about:

“my errant fate that never heard of respite or of rest

and runs amok high up above putting me to the test.”

I asked her to explain to me why my fate

“hurls me up high yet seeks below,

shows me what’s sweet, poisons me though.”

And this is what the bewitched witch told me:

“In times of yore, in glorious times,

one of Byzantium’s young nobles you were

who came and settled in celebrated Crete.

That’s where your fate and noble face come from,

therefrom your songs and your angelic voice”.

I thanked the witch whose face, mien,

and words so wise had cast a spell on me,

and right at dawn, I turned and frankly said:

Do let me go, temptress and witch of love,

do let me go, exile myself back to my own homeland.

Ibidadieu, beforeIgo, akissIgive to her,

a song I sing, worthy of such beauty

and that’s when both she and I our minds we lost…

Today, as times are changingrighthereinCrete,

I often sing songs of olden days.

And just as they came to me, I hand them down

to those whose nobleness of heart is rivaled

only by their word and actions, bidding them

to remember and honor too “the land of toil and blood”.