The music of Greece's mountain villages, Dimotiko (literally, "coming from the people"), emerged as a fusion between traditional Greek music and the Byzantine choir music of the Turkish Empire, which occupied the Mediterranean nation for four centuries. Distinguished by the sounds of the santouri, the luth, and pipes, dimotiko reflects the hard, simple lives of the villagers; many of its traditional songs are laments, which are similar in sound and spirit to the flamenco.
