Description

‘Songs of Memory’ is a collection of songs, memories, stories, and traditions preserved by Antonios S. Ninos of Milos, Greece.

Born in 1937 in Pera Triovasalos, Milos, Antonios Ninos began learning the accordion in 1952 under the guidance of Michail E. Tourlos (“Meneos”). From the 1950s onward, he played at weddings, festivals, celebrations, music venues, and traditional gatherings throughout Milos.

The book brings together the songs that formed part of his musical world, from traditional and folk songs to rebetika, laika, tangos, waltzes, kantades, songs of the sea, songs of the occupation, and other pieces remembered and performed on the island and throughout the Cyclades.

Alongside the songs are memories and accounts of life in old Milos: local customs and celebrations, stories of musicians and villagers, the island’s working life, historical events, traditional tales, and pieces of oral tradition passed down through generations.

What began as a personal collection of lyrics, records, memories, and research became a wider record of the musical and cultural life of an island and its people.

‘Songs of memory’ preserves not only the songs themselves, but also the memories, places, people, and traditions that gave those songs their meaning.