Our Tráta All Tattered

An old sea song once used to set the rhythm for tasks performed by groups of men. Tráta initially denoted the conical net used by fishermen. Over time, it came to mean the boat that fished with such nets as well as the act of hauling the laden net out of the sea, an exhausting job and one that could be achieved only if they all worked in unison. The “Tráta" was such a song, in which one of the work gang sang words to encourage their efforts and the others repeated a refrain. The melodies were rudimentary in such songs, the rhythm of which matched the task at hand and the words of which, erotic or teasing, sung coarsely by groups of men, would mock and simultaneously motivate the singers.

Over the course of the 20th century, from the time it was first recorded, this particular traditional work song -like many others of its kind- was transformed into a song for amusement and dancing, with a wide range of lyrics, moods and performance styles. At some point along the way, the song acquired its current title.

The first recording -and most likely the closest to the song’s original, anonymous form- took place in the USAa, in 1927, by Sotiris Stasinopoulos.

The variation recorded for this album comes from Karystos, in Southern Evia, where it accompanies a syrtós in a 2/4 rhythm. Miranda Terzopoulou (2018).