Tsampouna

Tsampouna is a tape piece that was made during a residency at Syros Sound Meetings, on the Greek island of Syros. It is constructed from a field recording of four local musicians gathered at a bar, casually performing a song about the 'tsampouna', or Greek bagpipes. The piece begins with the straight recording – a single voice, a bit of a drum, and of course the bagpipes, accompanied by lute and tzouras – then layers the second phrase on top of the first, continuing layering each successive phrase on top of the previous phrases. This slowly builds, eventually becoming a swirling mass of human noise. The lyrics of the song's first phrase are clearly heard – "The bagpipe reminds me of a season that starts again..." – ringing out again and again, throughout the piece. It is tempting to interpret the work along political lines: beginning a single voice, numbers build, to a larger chorus of greater and greater size, becoming the chanting of a crowd, with an ever-increasing sense of mass and urgency... From simple folk song, to anthem, to the chanting of an angry mob.