Builders of Arta - Epic Byzantine Music (Patreon)

Based on a folk song from the island of Skiathos. The story it tells if a widely spread folk motif in Greek folklore, about builders who are trying to build a bridge in Epirus over the river Arta. The bridge keeps falling, and a bird with a human voice appears to them telling that without a human sacrifice, the bridge will not hold. The master builder proceeds to entomb his wife alive in the bridge, and this story has spread throughout Greece in many regions with diverse melodies. This melody is derived from the Skiathou version, seen here in this recording by folk musicologist Domna Samiou: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV_tRvCLuyw