I made this mix for the Queer Mubarak! art exhibition at Gül Gallery in NYC, “art exhibition celebrating queerness from the Balkans to Bengal & Beyond”.
My mix was played on June 19th, 2025 from 4-6 PM ET.
I poured my heart and soul in this project. It is a journey of sadness, grief, realization, processing, anger, release, nostalgia, and celebration. All connected to my identity, a queer Greek-Cypriot diaspora kid.
Honourable mentions:
- Violin by my brother, George Theophanous
- Kleftika by my grandfather, Rev. George Saitanis and spoken word by Rev. Panagiotis Salatellis from their CD “To Kleftiko Tragoudi” (IYKYK)
- Features an original production of mine
If you’re fully committed to the journey and want to follow along, I recommend listening to the mix while reading the descriptions and lyrics below.
TW: Themes of occupation, murder, suicide, enslavement, sexual assault.
0:00 - ASSAFIR - Την πατρίδα μ’ έχασα // ASSAFIR - Tin Patrida M’Ehasa
This is a song that is about the Pontian Greek Genocide (1915 - 1923), when entire villages and cities were devastated by the Ottoman government. By 1923, out of 700,000 Pontian Greeks who lived in Asia Minor, an estimated between 350,000 and 360,000 were killed, and almost all the rest were forced to flee to neighbouring countries.
Source
Lyrics
2:02 - Κωνσταντίνα Τούνη - Ο χορός του Ζαλόγγου // Konstantina Touni - Dance of Zalongo
The Dance of Zalongo refers to the mass suicide of Souliote women and their children that is said to have occurred in the aftermath of the invasion of Ottoman troops on Souli on December 16, 1803. The event is commemorated in Greece in the context of the Greek War of Independence. About 60 women were trapped at Mount Zalongo in Epirus during the period of Ottoman control. Rather than submit to the Ottoman troops chasing them, they decided to turn towards the cliff’s edge and die with their infants and children. According to tradition, they did this one after the other whilst dancing and singing. The story of the Zalongo women became so popular within the Greek community that more Greek women chose to commit suicide rather than to suffer rape and enslavement.
This is a popular Greek dance-song about the event. I myself, growing up part of a Greek dance troop in Montreal, have performed this dance.
Source
Lyrics
5:27 - Σταμάτης Σπανουδάκης - Η ζωή εν τάφω // Stamatis Spanoudakis - I Zoi En Tafo
7:05 - Φοίβος Μπόζας - Aι γενεαί πάσαι // Fivos Bozas - Ai Geneai Pasai
9:05 - Καβαρνός - Ω Γλυκύ μου Έαρ // Kabarnos - O! Gliki Mou Ear
The above three songs are part of the “Egkomia” (Εγκώμια), a set of hymns that are chanted on Greek Orthodox Holy Friday at the procession of the Epitaphios (aka, Christ’s funeral).
When I was young, Holy Week was my favourite time of year to go to church, especially Good Friday. It’s a day of loss and grief; but most of all I saw it as a day of community gathering and connection. Grief is best experienced in community, anyway.
The Egkomia are my mom’s favourite chants; she participates in church choir every year singing them. My grandfather sang them very soulfully and beautifully; I know there are recordings of that somewhere and I’ll eventually get my hands on them.
This is one of the moments in this mix that represents very complex emotions for me. A big one is grief for the passing of my grandfather, and wishing I could talk to him.
10:15 - Voulaki - Xryso Flouri (“Χρυσό Φλουρί”) (Ambient Mix)
This is an unreleased original production of mine. The melody is from a song that I learned at Sunday school and performed with the children’s choir at the annual Christmas show. I’ve searched really hard to find the song online and haven’t been able to, so it’s just in my memory.
12:30 - Klaada - Song of the Sybil
A Gregorian chant about a prophecy describing the Apocalypse and Judgement Day. I put this in because it’s beautiful, not because I believe God will one day come down and judge each of us and either send us to heaven or hell. (:
15:20 - Monsieur Doumani - Το σύστημα // Monsieur Doumani - The System
Taking us out of the churchy section and building the energy: “This is a rearrangement of a traditional Cypriot song, a song that easily reflects the present situation in Cyprus (financial crisis [2013]). There are two variations in terms of its lyrics. The first is a love song (for the Greek-Cypriot community: ‘Na sou goraso mihanin’, for the Turkish-Cypriot community: ‘Dolama Dolamayı’). The second variation Gavur İmam ‘apparently talks of the 1833 uprisings against the Ottoman administration, by both Greek-speaking and Turkish-speaking Cypriots.’ It is the second version that has inspired this adaptation. Soundscape layer: field recording of an anti-fascist demonstration in Faneromeni square-Nicosia, in 2012”
Lyrics
20:50 - Kolleyio - Omen
24:34 - Πατήρ Γεώργιος Σαϊτάνης - Αχός Βαρύς Ακούγεται // Rev. George Saitanis - Ahos Varis Akougetai
Mixed with the previous song, this is a version of a Greek folk song sung by my grandfather. “Kleftika”, means kleft-songs. “Kleft” means thief, and refers to the brave people that lived in the mountains during the Ottoman occupation, fighting their oppressors.
Despo Botsi was a woman from Souli who went down in history for her heroic resistance to the soldiers of Ali Pasha. On Christmas 1803, while Souli had surrendered, Despo was surrounded, in the tower of Dimoulas, in the village of Riniasa (present-day Riza) of Preveza.
She had her daughters, daughters-in-law and grandchildren with her. After resisting as best she could, she set fire to gunpowder and blew herself up along with her entire family. Her sacrifice has been immortalized in one of the most beautiful and heroic folk songs.
Source
28:00 - Elias Fassos RisK (Gr) - Moira (feat. Rashid)
30:15 - Πατήρ Παναγιώτης Σαλατέλλης - Του Αντρειομένου Τ’άρματα // Rev. Panagiotis Salatellis - Tou Antreiomenou T’armata
Mixed with the previous song, this is spoken word by Father Panagiotis Salatellis, a good family friend whom I spent a lot of time with as a kid and cherish very much.
Taken from the “To Kleftiko Tragoudi” CD.English Lyrics (Google Translate, edited):
“Parga, Turkey has beseiged you, Turkey is surrounding you.
It is not coming for war, it is taking you with treachery.
The Vizier did not defeat you with his many armies.
The Turks fled like hares from the Parga rifle.
The poor did not want to come to fight,
You had brave men, brave women,
They ate bullets for bread, gunpowder for food.
The whites sold Christ, the whites are selling you too.
Take the mothers, the children, priests, the saints.
Leave the arms and leave the rifle,
Dig wide, dig deep, all your coffins,
And dig up the hardened bones of your parents.
They did not bow down to the Turks; Turks, do not step on them”
32:18 - Ali Kuru - Efsun
35:17 - Hraach & Armen Miran - Lullaby (Original)
37:29 - Alkyone - Ξενιτεμένα μου πουλιά // Alkyone - Xenitemena mou poulia (Radio Edit) (feat. Lencasea)
A traditional song from Epirus, Greece, which is about the diaspora. Being a first generation Greek-Cypriot, I relate to this song a LOT.
Lyrics
41:02 - Sam Shure - Opus
42:56 - Desert Dwellers - One That Shows the Way (Unders Remix)
44:18 - Γεώργιος Θεοφάνους - Σκάρος // George Theophanous - Skaros
Mixed with the previous song, this is a violin rendition by my brother of a popular traditional Greek song from Epirus.
45:23 - Αλέξια - Κυπριακό // Alexia Vassiliou - Cypriot (Matheos’ Vocal Mix)
“The Story of Cyprus, through the eons. The song of the refugees and of the missing persons”. “Born in Famagusta, Cyprus in 1964, Alexia is a child of political conflict and war, as a result of the 1974 Turkish invasion and continued illegal occupation in Cyprus. Alexia’s music reflects her memories, experiences and the injustice caused by Turkey to her homeland."
Alexia is from the same generation as my dad; He was born in 1959 in Morphou, Cyprus, which was also invaded in 1974 and is still occupied by Turkey. This song really hits home.
Towards the end of the song, she talks about “watching Cyprus from far away… one day not being able to take it anymore… running away… opening my voice… and let my voice, let our voices be loud…” which I relate to with my queerness; Cyprus and several of my family members are homophobic and transphobic, and I’ve been reluctant to go visit, watching from far away as my parents go twice a year for months at a time. My grandmother is in her late 90s and I want to go see her, but it’s not exactly safe for me there, especially not how I look like now (post T & top surgery). I don’t mean to equate or even compare this pain to that of your home being invaded and being a refugee; more-so shed a light on the effects that war, illegal occupation, colonization, and the Church have had on culture and families. Why is Cyprus (and Greece, and pretty much every other Christian country) so homophobic and transphobic? Why are their people estranged from their own family members when they don’t fit the “norm? Why are their governments Israel-supporters and complicit in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people? You’d think that as a culture who suffered so much from occupation and oppression for hundreds of years would not support the same thing inflicted on others? It’s systemic, and it’s all connected.
Greek Lyrics
English Lyrics (Google Translate)
[INTERLUDE] 49:27 - Athens State Orchestra, Stefanos Tsialis - 36 Greek Dances for Orchestra, AK 11, Series 1: No. 9, Dance of Zalongo
Orchestral rendition of the “Dance of Zalongo” (second song in this mix) by the Athens State Orchestra.
51:26 - Liquid Bloom, Tylepathy - Ripples Through Time (feat. Nizhoni)
53:19 - Σταυρούλα Σεϊτανίδου - Σαπφώ - Ωδή στην Αφροδίτη // Stavroula Seitanidou - Sappho - Ode To Aphrodite
Mixed with the previous song, this is an Ancient Greek poem by Sappho of Lesbos (aka, where the word “lesbian” comes from), in which she asks Aphrodite for help in the pursuit of a beloved.
Lyrics
55:52 - Terra Nine - Holy Mountain (Suduaya Mix)
1:01:12 - Android Cartel - Wake Up Call (Desert Dwellers Remix)
1:03:53 - Martins Garden - Amun (Whitebear & Halfred Remix)
1:06:14 - Eartha Harris - Pretty Planet (Original Mix) (feat. BLUETECH)
1:08:20 - Lauge - Northbound (feat. Feeding Spring)
1:10:14 - Πατήρ Παναγιώτης Σαλατέλλης - Επίλογος // Rev. Panagiotis Salatellis - Epilogue
Mixed with the previous song, another spoken word piece by Father Panagiotis Salatellis.
English Lyrics (Google Translate, edited):
“The kleftes and the armatoles, fighting unwaveringly,
Brought the great enemy, Turkey, to its knees.
Piece by piece, they ransomed the pieces of our homeland,
Which for four hundred years had been oppressed by foreigners.
They acquired their freedom and the time had come to sing the end of the rifle.
Kleftes, stop striking with the sword for a while.
And as they fought with many, they gave their bravery,
So our national poet may write the appropriate poems:
‘Oh, three hundred, rise up and come back to us.
Your children will see how much they resemble you.
Their freedom that was cultivated and spread and strengthened,
Was nurtured in the girls and mothers.
My soul rejoices, how the bosom of each one,
The sweet breast prepares the milk of valor and bravery.
Wherever you dig in the land of Greece,
you will unearth two of its gifts joined together:
Ancient cities and villages, with amulets and treasures, relics of the primeval spirit.
And together, arms and bones of the kleftes who gave freedom back to the land.
From the sacred bones of the Hellenes arisen,
And valiant again as you once were, Hail, o hail, Liberty!’ "
1:13:40 - Klaada - Inner Strength
1:16:28 - ASURA - Deva Delay
1:19:24 - Tron Sepia - Desert
1:22:55 - Iorie - Less (Unders & Noraj Cue Remix)
1:24:07 - Γεώργιος Θεοφάνους - Συμπεθέρα // George Theophanous - Sympethera
Mixed with the previous song, this is a violin rendition by my brother of another popular traditional Greek song from the island of Ikaria. The word “sympethera” literally means mother-in-law, but it’s also used as a term of endearment for a close female relative or friend.
1:28:13 - Namito Uone - Kakadu
1:31:31 - Two-S - Naked Soul (Zone+ & Usif Remix)
1:34:14 - John Lead - Desert Knights (Veytik Remix)
1:37:16 - Indie Elephant, Magic.Made.By.R - Izum
1:39:02 - Γεώργιος Θεοφάνους - Καβοντορίτικο // George Theophanous - Kavodoritiko
Another beautiful violin piece by my brother of a traditional Greek song from the island of Evia (again, mixed with the previous track).
1:40:34 - Valeron - Zucca (Original Mix)
1:42:07 - Krista Papista - AMAN AMAN (feat. JD Samson) (JD Samson Remix)
“Part spiritually enhanced manifesto, part ode to decadence, the song tracks the story of Aman Aman a fictitious neo-nationalist girl gang named ‘AMAN AMAN’ whose members migrated from Afghanistan, Greece and Cyprus to London. The gang is a modern, sarcastic recreation of the Greek political party Golden Dawn; the women are the heroines of every immigrant in London. Unlike the Golden Dawn, they are international, sexually liberated and intelligent while still cultivating the same obsession for power displayed by the leaders of nationalist parties. The song is their anthem, the red Greek flag their banner. The track is their anthem and the red Greek flag their banner."
Lyrics
1:46:12 - Marina Satti - Koupes (Kolleyio Remix)
I imagine myself singing this to my child self. :)
Lyrics