The song Kalinitta (Good Night), performed in the dialect of the Griko people of southern Italy. The singers are Antonio Amato, Consuelo Alfieri, Stefania Morciano and Salvatore Cavallo Galeanda.
WHO ARE THE GRIKO?
The Griko people, also known as Grecanici in Calabria, are an ethnic Greek community of Southern Italy. They are found principally in the regions of Calabria and Apulia (peninsula of Salento) The Griko are believed to be remnants of the once large Ancient and Medieval Greek communities of Southern Italy (the ancient Magna Graecia region), although there is some dispute among scholars as to whether the Griko community is directly descended from Ancient Greeks, from more recent medieval migrations during the Byzantine period, or a combination of both.
Greek people have been living in Southern Italy for millennia, initially arriving in Southern Italy in numerous waves of migrations, from the ancient Greek colonisation of Southern Italy and Sicily in the 8th century BC through to the Byzantine Greek migrations of the 15th century caused by the Ottoman conquest.
In the Middle Ages, Greek regional communities were reduced to isolated enclaves. Although most Greek inhabitants of Southern Italy were Italianized and absorbed by the local Romance-speaking population over the centuries, the Griko community has been able to preserve their original Greek identity, heritage, language and distinct culture, although exposure to mass media has progressively eroded their culture and language.
A recent study on the genetics of Calabrian Greeks from Aspromonte found them to be isolated and distinct from other populations of southern Italy. Furthermore, both the Griko and other southern Italian populations were found to have ancestry from the ancient Greek settlement of Magna Graecia.
