Greece Culture: Music and Dance: Arvanites (Albanian Greeks)

Like the Vlachs, the presence of Albanians in the Balkans was also documented in the 10th and 11th centuries. They are believed to be descended from the ancient Illyrians, and to have retreated from Slav invaders into the mountains , becoming shepherds instead of farmers. It is uncertain just when these 'Arvanites' made their way into Greece, though some guess that migrations happened around the 14th century, with Albanians settling in Attica, the Saronic islands, Evia, northern Andhros, and the Peloponnese. During the 15th century, when the inhabitants of Argos and parts of Attica were almost wiped out, Albanians colonized these lands, and their descendants preserved the Albanian dialect, Arvanitika, along with traditional costumes, songs, dances, and customs.

Only in the 1930s did Arvanitika give way to Greek what with universal education, commerce, increased mobility of the population and military conscription. Although their language and customs differed from those of Greeks, they were Orthodox Christians and lived in harmony with Greeks. Up until the early 1900s the musical instruments played in Arvanitika villages were the pipiza (a shawm like instrument resembling the zournas) and the daouli (which they called taouli), but these were slowly replaced with the widespread mainland ensemble with clarinet, violin, laouto and defi. In Salamina, up until the 1930s, the lyra was played, accompanied by laouto (a typical island pair), but these were also edged out by the type of ensemble just mentioned.

One of the most important dances of the Arvanites, Horos ton Koritsion (Dance of the Young Girls) was accompanied only by the acapella voice, in some places with the girls themselves taking turns singing verses, in others the first and last dancers singing. This dance had different names from place to place as well. Steps also varied but were simple and hands linked in cross hold known as stavroto; rhythms were either 2/4, 4/4, or 7/8. This dance has now moved into the province of performance by cultural societies at various celebrations on holidays throughout the year. Another favorite dance of the Arvanites was the Yerondikos (Old Man's Dance) a dance preferred by older men, with dignified slow steps, also known as the Himariotikos (meaning, from Himara, a town in Ipiros from which many Arvanites came).

Other than these, the Arvanites dance the local Greek dances in their area, including (and especially), pan-hellenic dances such as tsamiko sytro-kalamatiano, hasaposervikos. In Salamina the ballos and karsilamas are also favored, along with the hasapikos, which many fishermen used to dance very well. The Arvanites have long been assimilated into Greece and consider themselves Greek, though with pride in the role played by their antecedents in the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s.