The Music of Florina

The region of Florina is expressed with a special music, in which the Balkan rhythm comes alive through the brass instruments and bands. The bagpipes and the zurnas have been replaced by the clarinet, the trumpet and the trombone, which are magically united with the tambourine and play music with Asia Minor, Scopian, Bulgarian, Gypsy, Pontian and continental influences. Today in the region of Florina there are several bands (mainly family bands) that contribute to the continuation of the flow of the Balkan music river. One theory wants the brass bands to be a legacy from the foreign military bands at the time when Florina was a merchant station and had 45 hoses.
Another theory says that brass instruments appeared in Greece after the first quarter of the 19th century and the revolution of 1821, when the modern Greek state was gradually formed on Western models. The arrival of new rulers from the West also influenced the cultural life of the period.
In music, great changes took place with the appearance of Western-style music ensembles, such as the first military bands in Southern Greece from 1825 in Nafplio and the Ionian Islands, which did not experience a Turkish yoke but a Western one. The first band was founded in 1840 under the name “Philharmonic Society of Corfu”. Later at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century the spread of bands is rapid. In the region of Northern Greece and especially in Western Macedonia, the establishment of brass bands on military models takes place in this period in various cities such as Monastiri (Bitola) near Florina in 1891, in Thessaloniki in 1903, in Naousa in 1904, in Veroia in 1907, in Kozani in 1914 and in other regions of Greece. These bands met the musical needs of urban areas (parades, various ceremonies, entertainment, etc.).
The possibilities of brass instruments and their associated instruments did not leave the folk instrumentalists of Florina unmoved. These instruments, mainly because of the great volume they produce, are adopted and used in various festivals, fairs, weddings, etc., gradually replacing every old instrument. In the transitional stage there were mixed ensembles where the low volume violins, lutes and even the oud and the high-volume brass instruments coexisted at the same time. Sooner or later the two categories separated from each other, leading to the formation of a high-intensity ensemble. Thus, the popular brass ensemble or band prevailed.
For many, brass instruments have ancient Greek origins while for others they have western origins. Folk instrumentalists, however, express themselves in the traditional way of their ancestors in technique and performance. They are based on the ancient Greek musical system of Pythagoras. The brass folk bands or bands can be found today exclusively in Western Macedonia where they play the music of various local cultural groups with Epirotic and Slavic influences.

SOURCE: https://echo.nextnet.gr/mousikh_xoroi_florinas.php