Ilias Kementzides
Greek, 1926 - 2006
BiographyIlias Kementzides (1926-2006) was born in Kazakhstan, USSR, where his Greek family had fled from their homeland in the Black Sea area of Pontus because of Turkish oppression. Ilias, his mother, sister, and brother moved to Greece in 1940, but his father and older brother died in Russia. The family and other Pontians settled in the Greek Macedonian town of Kriavrissi, keeping together as a tightly-knit community. Music and memories supported them during the difficult war years in Macedonia. "I was a farmer, but I played every weekend for weddings or parties, or any excuse for getting together."
In Russia the family had always been musical. An uncle who played the three-stringed bowed fiddle called the lyra gave young Ilias an instrument on his name day, showing him some things about playing, but mostly the boy watched others to learn. Later in Greece, wherever he went Ilias would bring his lyra - "They wouldn't have me without it." He began to make his own lyra at the age of 26. All the photographs in his collection from the 1940's and 1950's show Ilias with a lyra; it was an essential part of his character. He carries the treasure of Pontian Greek traditions in his deep repertoire of Russian, Turkish, and Greek songs.
In America too, where he moved with his family in 1974, Ilias was revered for his musical knowledge. He was a featured performer at dances, weddings, and festivals held in Pontian communities such as Norwalk, Connecticut, and Astoria, Queens. In 1989, Ilias was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, the first Connecticut resident to be honored in this way. His children and grandchildren, who lived near him in Norwalk, have also been immersed in music. All speak Greek and visit relatives back in Greece regularly. Bill Kementzides, Ilias's son, is an excellent dancer whose Pontian traditional dance group won first prize at a competition in Greece in the 1990s. His grandchildren, Ilias and Katarina, learned to play the lyra in the way Ilias learned - through watching and trying. They would sit with their grandfather at least once a week to observe his complex fingerings on the instrument and the way he moved the bow, joining in as he played different melodies.
The grandchildren were also fascinated to watch Ilias make a lyra. In his basement, with simple tools, Ilias spent much of his time carefully crafting his own instruments, to get the sound he wants. The tone of a lyra depends on the wood it is made from. "It can't be made out of any wood...it has to be a certain kind, especially a fruit tree because it is harder...it doesn't crack. Plum tree is the best. You seldom find a plum tree but when you do, you take advantage of it for a lyra because it is easier to work with and it makes a pretty sound." Walnut gives the highest tones, blackberry and other fruit woods the deepest. Easily carved and available, cedar is also used. After cutting the entire base and neck of the lyra from a block of wood, straightening and sanding with power tools, Ilias would take a long time to hollow it out by hand with a chisel. The top was made from a special soft pine from Greece. Its shape was cut to fit over the base, then moistened, bent into an arc with heat, and attached with wood glue. Finally the instruments were protected with a varnish or stain, then strung.
For Ilias, an essential part of the lyra's character is in the decorative carving on the tongue under the strings. He drew, then hand carved designs taken from ancient and modern symbols such as the Macedonian Sun, from coins of Alexander the Great; or the sign from war medals of Greek Partisans in World War II. Finally, he added the Greek letters of his name. "I put my initials on all of them. That way they are proof." Ilias was recorded for the CCHAP and WNPR-produced 1998 CD “Sounds Like Home” and was featured in one of the radio programs of “You’ll Know Us By Our Songs” produced and broadcast by WNPR in 1996.
"In Greece, the old way, everyone would sit around a table in the tavern and start singing...everyone's eyes would be on the lyra...they were mesmerized because it would take them back to what they went through and suffered...where they came from. I was young but I knew all the old songs to play. The original, traditional ones came with us from there when we departed."
"I couldn't find a lyra with a sound I liked. Each has its own individual sound. The best quality sound is if you take time in making it...If I don't like the sound, I'm going to make my own."
"It's a hobby for me (not a business), but if lyra players want a good lyra they come to me because they know I spend a lot of time on them, it's not just putting two pieces of wood together...This way, I spend more time on it, it makes them nicer, makes the sound nicer too."
"The main thing is that the kids don't forget where they come from, their background, and if we stop this, they won't know and won't be interested in it. It's good that we keep it going. I want my kids to grow up with it."
In Russia the family had always been musical. An uncle who played the three-stringed bowed fiddle called the lyra gave young Ilias an instrument on his name day, showing him some things about playing, but mostly the boy watched others to learn. Later in Greece, wherever he went Ilias would bring his lyra - "They wouldn't have me without it." He began to make his own lyra at the age of 26. All the photographs in his collection from the 1940's and 1950's show Ilias with a lyra; it was an essential part of his character. He carries the treasure of Pontian Greek traditions in his deep repertoire of Russian, Turkish, and Greek songs.
In America too, where he moved with his family in 1974, Ilias was revered for his musical knowledge. He was a featured performer at dances, weddings, and festivals held in Pontian communities such as Norwalk, Connecticut, and Astoria, Queens. In 1989, Ilias was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, the first Connecticut resident to be honored in this way. His children and grandchildren, who lived near him in Norwalk, have also been immersed in music. All speak Greek and visit relatives back in Greece regularly. Bill Kementzides, Ilias's son, is an excellent dancer whose Pontian traditional dance group won first prize at a competition in Greece in the 1990s. His grandchildren, Ilias and Katarina, learned to play the lyra in the way Ilias learned - through watching and trying. They would sit with their grandfather at least once a week to observe his complex fingerings on the instrument and the way he moved the bow, joining in as he played different melodies.
The grandchildren were also fascinated to watch Ilias make a lyra. In his basement, with simple tools, Ilias spent much of his time carefully crafting his own instruments, to get the sound he wants. The tone of a lyra depends on the wood it is made from. "It can't be made out of any wood...it has to be a certain kind, especially a fruit tree because it is harder...it doesn't crack. Plum tree is the best. You seldom find a plum tree but when you do, you take advantage of it for a lyra because it is easier to work with and it makes a pretty sound." Walnut gives the highest tones, blackberry and other fruit woods the deepest. Easily carved and available, cedar is also used. After cutting the entire base and neck of the lyra from a block of wood, straightening and sanding with power tools, Ilias would take a long time to hollow it out by hand with a chisel. The top was made from a special soft pine from Greece. Its shape was cut to fit over the base, then moistened, bent into an arc with heat, and attached with wood glue. Finally the instruments were protected with a varnish or stain, then strung.
For Ilias, an essential part of the lyra's character is in the decorative carving on the tongue under the strings. He drew, then hand carved designs taken from ancient and modern symbols such as the Macedonian Sun, from coins of Alexander the Great; or the sign from war medals of Greek Partisans in World War II. Finally, he added the Greek letters of his name. "I put my initials on all of them. That way they are proof." Ilias was recorded for the CCHAP and WNPR-produced 1998 CD “Sounds Like Home” and was featured in one of the radio programs of “You’ll Know Us By Our Songs” produced and broadcast by WNPR in 1996.
"In Greece, the old way, everyone would sit around a table in the tavern and start singing...everyone's eyes would be on the lyra...they were mesmerized because it would take them back to what they went through and suffered...where they came from. I was young but I knew all the old songs to play. The original, traditional ones came with us from there when we departed."
"I couldn't find a lyra with a sound I liked. Each has its own individual sound. The best quality sound is if you take time in making it...If I don't like the sound, I'm going to make my own."
"It's a hobby for me (not a business), but if lyra players want a good lyra they come to me because they know I spend a lot of time on them, it's not just putting two pieces of wood together...This way, I spend more time on it, it makes them nicer, makes the sound nicer too."
"The main thing is that the kids don't forget where they come from, their background, and if we stop this, they won't know and won't be interested in it. It's good that we keep it going. I want my kids to grow up with it."
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