ABSTRACT
Five days a week, Monday to Friday around 7.30pm, Greek-Cypriot viewers have been greeted for the past three years by a traditional music duo on their TV sets: a violinist and a laouto player, the latter doubling as a singer. They are there to entertain the viewers with their songs and to quiz participants on their knowledge of folk tunes. At some point during the show, the participants are asked to identify a tune from its instrumental introduction, and then to complete the lyrics sung by the laouto player/singer. For some, this is fun; for others, it is intimidating. At exactly the same time on a competing TV channel, a man in his seventies – his bottom half in modern clothes, his upper half in traditional costume – prepares to improvise a rhyming couplet in 15-syllable verse to suit every situation and mood that arises on the set, to the delight of the presenters and participants. Two opposing teams are then asked to dance and sing to the accompaniment of yet another traditional music duo, as one of the two presenters – a woman in her seventies – gets ready to slap (a recurring gag) whoever gets out of line.
