Author Description

REVISED AND AUGMENTED SECOND EDITION The more than three hundred Greek folksongs and poems in this collection were dictated from memory by Vasiliki Scotes from her ninety-seventh year until the beginning of her hundred and fourth. The collection comes from a time now long gone, lived out in a remote mountain village in Greece when folk customs and beliefs were still vigorous and unaffected by urban and foreign influences. It also marks the end of an eons-old Greek tradition of oral transmission, which Vasiliki ably personified and maintained and whose riches she passionately and hopefully wanted to convey to future generations. Songs of love, songs of death, songs of war, songs of bandits, songs of work, songs of prayer, songs of satire, songs of children, songs of lullabies and of fun - all will be found here. Also included are proverbs and maxims, an integral part of daily discourse in the Greek villages of yesteryear. Translated and annotated by her son, this collection might be likened to Vasiliki's last “flokati” woven on the loom of her memories, recalling the days when she sang many of these same songs seated at another loom in her family's house high in the Pindus Mountains. * This is truly a remarkable collection of songs from one of the world's most vital folk traditions. It has the authenticity of a voice that carried the songs for many years and that has now been translated with care and affection. I recommend it with full heart. Edmund Keeley, author of “Inventing Paradise: The Greek Journey, 1937-1947” * Tom Scotes preserves the residue of a disappearing tradition and here weaves it an arresting pattern. These memories of his mother's oral tradition become, and will remain, our memories, as well, once we pick up this collection and make it our own. Gregory Maguire, author of “Wicked”