Deropolitissa (, Girl of Dropull) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ...

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

, popular in the region of

Dropull Dropull ( sq-definite, Dropulli; ''Dropoli'' or ''Deropoli'') is a municipality in Gjirokastër County, in southern Albania. The region stretches from south of the city of Gjirokastër to the Greek–Albanian border, along the Drino river. The reg ...

, southern Albania. It is also sung by the rest of the

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

, as well as in parts of

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Background and popularity

The song refers to the period of Ottoman occupation (15th-19th century) and is a lament inspired by the persecutions of the Greek Christian element during that time, when forcible conversions and Islamizations had taken place by the Ottoman authorities. Deropolitissa is a representative song from the region of Dropull, Gjirokaster District in southern

. The song is also sung by all Greek communities living in parts of southern Albania, known as

Northern Epirus Northern Epirus (, ; ) is a term used for specific parts of southern Albania which were first claimed by the Kingdom of Greece in the Balkan Wars and later were associated with the Greek minority in Albania and Greece-Albania diplomatic relation ...

, as well as in parts of Greece, such as in the village of Ktismata, in

Pogoni Pogoni (, ) is a municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Kalpaki. The municipality has an area of 701.059 km2. Its population was 6,848 at the 2021 census. History Pogoni was ...

, near the Greek-Albanian border. It is also sung in the rest of Epirus, as it is a popular song at the panigiria.

Song

The song is performed in a 3/4 tempo of 4/4 (2-2), but also in 5/8. The first soloist (the ''partis'') sings in a narrative way, while other members of the drone group, second soloist, spiner and ''isokrates'' provide the vocal backing. Deropolitissa is danced in a

Syrtos SyrtosModern Greek συρτός ''syrtós''; accusative singular συρτό ''syrtó''; plural συρτοί ''syrtoí''; from σύρω ''sýro'' . Also known as sirtos or sirto in English. is a traditional Greek dance in which the dancers link ha ...

manner in two circles.

Lyrics

The singers are urging their fellow Christian, a girl from Dropull, not to imitate their example but keep his faith and pray for them to the church. Part of the verse goes as follows:

References

External links

Live performance
in Odeon of

Herodes Atticus Herodes Atticus (; AD 101–177) was an Athenian rhetorician, as well as a Roman senator. A great philanthropic magnate, he and his wife Appia Annia Regilla, for whose murder he was potentially responsible, commissioned many Athenian public w ...

, Athens.
Live performance
by Μη χείρων group. {{Greeks in Albania Greek songs Greek folklore