Manastırka from Európe by Kairos Collective / Michiel van der Meulen
MANASTIRKA
Poustséno / Pušteno
This piece is inspired by a melody I once transcribed from memory, one that I think I learned from my father, who neither remembers who taught him, nor where the song is from, nor what it is called. Based on the type of melody and rhythm we agreed it must be Macedonian. It might very well be that the song as we used to play it does not actually exist: in criminological terms the chain of evidence is hopelessly compromised, and I must admit that I never found a melody sounding much like it. Pedigree set aside I really like its meter, which belongs to a family of dances that exists in the Macedonian region, and is referred to as Poustseno (Πουστσένο), Pousteno (Πουστένο) or Levendikos (Λεβέντικος) in Northern Greece. The piece may sound traditional to western ears, but the people who live in the region would find the opposite. This is partly due to the modal instrumentation, which brings coherency to the fairly eclectic contents of this album. I thank Harris Lambrakis for clarifying a rhythmic issue. Once that was sorted the musicians created the intro, which will immediately take you to mountainous Northern Greece, and very clearly exposes the Epirotic family roots of the Papaioannou brothers.
The definition of Macedonia, by the way, is a rather touchy subject that is best left alone by non-natives of the states involved. Manastırka refers to a city and region that has been inhabited for centuries by Slavs who call it Bitola (Битола), Albanians who call it Manastir, Aromanians/Vlachs who call it Bitolia, Greeks who call it Monastiri (Μοναστήρι), all of whom ruled by Ottoman Turks who called it Manastır. Between 1864 and 1912, Manastır was the capital of the homonymous vilayet, a first-level administrative division of the Ottoman empire. The basis of that division was geographic rather than ethnic, because Europe’s current exclusive relationships between peoples and countries has only existed since the empires fell and nation-states were established. The Ottomans were rulers of territory and its inhabitants regardless of their ethnicity, not of peoples and their countries. Anyway, Manastırka refers to a region where at least the meter must be somewhat familiar. For those who are unsatisfied with this etymology, the name could however also refer to Šljivovica Manastirka (Шљивовица Манастирка), an internationally famous Serbian brand of Slivovitz having 45% of a substance that has a great and proven potential to unite us all.
Kairos Collective is the occasional ensemble that Michiel van der Meulen assembles to record or perform his contemporary modal music. Kairos is the personification of the right moment, the time to act or an opportunity to be seized, encapsulating the spirit and atmosphere of the collective's sessions.