A digital archive of Amorgos and the Small Cyclades musical tradition
![A black and white photo showing a family posing together, with one man playing the violin and another man holding a musical instrument.](/media/25okvkzd/digital-archival-folklore-museum-of-music.jpg?width=350&quality=70&rnd=133693112044230000 1w,/media/25okvkzd/digital-archival-folklore-museum-of-music.jpg?width=550&quality=70&rnd=133693112044230000 320w,/media/25okvkzd/digital-archival-folklore-museum-of-music.jpg?width=740&quality=70&rnd=133693112044230000 576w,/media/25okvkzd/digital-archival-folklore-museum-of-music.jpg?width=870&quality=70&rnd=133693112044230000 768w,/media/25okvkzd/digital-archival-folklore-museum-of-music.jpg?width=980&quality=70&rnd=133693112044230000 992w,/media/25okvkzd/digital-archival-folklore-museum-of-music.jpg?width=750&quality=70&rnd=133693112044230000 1280w,/media/25okvkzd/digital-archival-folklore-museum-of-music.jpg?width=980&quality=70&rnd=133693112044230000 1920w)
In the deep blue expanse that separates Amorgos and Naxos sits a cluster of 32 islands, the Small Cyclades, of which only four are currently inhabited. A new project seeks to preserve memory of the daily life on these islands, moments of joy and sorrow, songs about fishing and migration, songs about the sea and hunting, and even pirate songs, ensuring that they are not lost to time.
In collaboration with researcher Panagiotis Liaropoulos and with support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), the Municipality of Amorgos created the Digital Audiovisual Folk Music Archive of Amorgos and its Islands—Donousa, Irakleia, Keros, Ano Koufonisi, Kato Koufonisi and Schoinoussa—to collect and preserve the musical tradition of these Aegean islands. The archive hosts audio, visual, printed, and oral sources relating to the islands’ instrumental and vocal traditional music, dance and folk poetic tradition.
With the digital archive, we’ll be able to travel to the Small Cyclades anytime we want—at least mentally.