Rizitika songs are the oldest type of Cretan music. They mainly originate from Western Crete, but are also widespread in central and eastern Crete. Rizes are the foothills of the mountains. One view says that from the roots of the mountains those songs took their name, from Ida, Dikti and the White Mountains. Another view argues that «the songs of the roots» of the ancestors, were called by the people Rizitika. Today, Rizitika considered all those songs of unknown artists that came to our day through tradition from past centuries.
Description
Rizitika songs commonly have no conventional names, and are instead referred to by with their first verse, or with some other verse. Rizika are generally not danced, and additionally they are traditionally divided into songs της τάβλας and της στράτας. Παπαγεωργιωράκης Ιδομενέας in his book Τα Κρητικά ριζίτικα τραγούδια, classified them in 32 melodies, and found 31 songs to have their own unique melodies, always on major scales. Their music is serious, typically a singer first sings a verse, which is usually repeated chorally. This does not always happen, however. The songs do not always need to rhyme, and the verse does not always have fifteen syllables.
Songs
Digenes is a monument of the Cretan music and for many the epitome of the Acritic circle, its lyrics are considered flawless. It presents the supernatural aspect that endue Digenes, not with feats and achievements, but by misplacing the feeling of fear. Men are terrified at the sight of the earth that is about to welcome them, and shudders at the sight of the grave slab that is about cover them, in the case of Digenes those feelings are misplaced. As he is dying, he does not ask for divine help to take him to heaven and relieve him of his misery, but he wishes to climb there on his own. A historical song about the Cretan War of 1644-1669 testifies the discord among the Christians during the war, and in short explains the numerous converts to Islam that followed the fall of the castle in 1669. One of the oldest Rizitika which considered quite strange is the following. Νίκος Καβρουλάκης believes that it has its roots in the era of the emirate of Crete. He also speculates that it may be missing verses that could give it another meaning. Βίγλες from the Latin vigilare, were small settlements at the mountain peaks supervising coasts that were considered dangerous for landing of invaders. The meaning of λουβο- of the wordλουβοσαρακηνός seems to have been lost in time. The following song is the most well-known Rizitiko outside Crete, its subject is a 16th-century vendetta, among possibly the family of Γιάνναρης, and the one of Μουσούρος, whom the song refers to in all of its variants. Μουσούρος family and their place of residence are also mentioned in Venetian sources of the 16th century, not with good comments. The earliest version of the song was as following: The song became known in Greece in the following form and was associated with wars and struggles in the mainland Greece of the 20th century.
