Greek, like most of the world population, live a big economic crisis. Since the end of 2009 the Greek president George Papandreu, immediately after his election, has talked about the probable risk of National bankruptcy. In 2010 due to the strong growth of public debt investors doubted that Greece could respect its obligations. This caused a crisis of confidence and a great increase of the spread. In April 2010 the downgrading of the public debt created alarm in the financial market. After this the EU approved a loan of 110 billion € to save Greece but Greece had to follow the implementation of austerity measures, to restore the fiscal balance.

Music is found in every known culture, past and present, varying wildly between times and places. Since all people in the world, including the most isolated tribal groups, have a form of music, it may be concluded that music is likely to have been present in the ancestral population prior to the dispersal of humans around the world. Consequently music may have been in existence for at least 50,000 years and the first music may have been invented in Africa and then evolved to become a fundamental constituent of human life. A culture's music is influenced by all other aspects of that culture, including social and economic organization and experience, climate, and access to technology. The emotions and ideas that music expresses, the situations in which music is played and listened to, and the attitudes toward music players and composers all vary between regions and periods. "Music history" is the distinct subfield ofmusicology and history which studies music (particularly Western art music) from a chronological perspective.

In ancient Greece the music occupied a very prominent role in the social and religious life. For the Greek, the music was an art that included, in addition to the music itself, also poetry, dance, medicine and magical practices. The importance of music in the Greek world is testified by many myths . One is Orpheus’, the inventor of the music, who was able to convince the gods of Hades to return to life his dead wife Eurydice. During the Archaic period the music was only practiced by professionals: the bards and rhapsodies. These recited accompanied with a musical instrument and the music was handed down orally. In the classical period developed the tragedy. The subjects of the tragedy were taken from literary myths and consisted of dialogues between two or three characters interspersed with choral singing. The actors were all men, they wore masks and performed accompanied by music. The architecture of the theatre was made up of tiers in a semicircle to the public who was in front of the stage where the actors performed and on the steps between the orchestra and the stage there was the choir. The Greek used different instruments. The most common were the lyre or harp, and the aulos. The lyre was a stringed instrument that was plucked by a plectrum and was sacred to the god Apollo. The aulos was a wind instrument reed, sacred to the god Dionysus. Percussion instruments were also used including the drums and cymbals, better known as plates. At the base of the system was the Greek musical tetrachord The two extreme sounds were fixed while the two intermediate ones were mobile . The Tetrachords distinguished themselves in diatonic , chromatic and enharmonic . The union of two tetrachords formed a way that could be Dorian , Phrygian and Lydian , depending on the type of union modes could in turn be joint or disjoint. The rhythm of the music was based on the poetic . In Greek poetry the metric stemmed from the length of syllables: long or short , the same was true in music. The short and long is equivalent to today's crotchet quaver . The rhythm was the union of two or more notes or syllables , arranged in rhythmic patterns called feet. In poetry the combination of several feet formed the line and the combination of several lines formed the verse.

In the Hellenistic period we are witnessing a serious crisis in the foundations of Greek Musikè , accompanied by the crisis of tragic genre . You will come across real performance of actors who stage pieces of repertoire. The first is marked by a modest presence in Rome of the music of Etruscan origin or Italic , also coupled resulting as indigenous atellana and fescennino . The diffusion of metal military use dates back to the first phase: the bugle of circular shape , the lituus , to bore straight through the roof folded back , the tuba brass -barreled straight. The next was characterized by the fact that the Romans conquered Greece and brought in large number of musicians, intellectuals, artists and Greek philosophers to Rome. The whole system will be affected by Greek culture, also from the musical point of view , with essential differences . From the dramatic point of view there will be tragedies and comedies modelled on the Greek , but called differently:e.g. coturnae for the Greek , because the Greek were actors in cothurni ( shoes ) , monodic and choral ritual character were considered essential in the public solemnities such as districts , religious festivals , games , palliate ; in Rome they were called the pallium because the Romans wore a dress . Compared to the simple elegance of Greek music , performed with few instruments to accompany the singing , the music of the Romans was undoubtedly the most vibrant and colourful , mixed with elements of Italian origin , and performed with large bands in which was very important the massive presence of wind instruments : the tibia , the bugle , the lituus , the tuba .The organ was another main instrument and numerous ( and noisy ) percussion instruments. It can therefore be inferred that the music was very popular in Rome and that it always accompanied many shows including pantomime and shows of gladiators. As for the Greek , music was an essential part of education, the Romans had an opinion much lower , associating it with festivities and entertainment rather than to the formation of men .

Traditions in Greece are either of a religious character or coming from paganism, in most Greek traditions and festivals still celebrated today they are religious. Many Greeks are very superstitious people and believe in religion, as well as in supernatural or paranormal phenomena. Traditions and superstitions vary from island to island from village to village and region to region. Here are some of the many Greek traditions still maintained nowadays.

Most Greeks have names from the Saints. The great Greek tradition followed by the whole of Greece , is that anyone with a name from a saint celebrated by the Church, celebrates his own name. On that day, his friends and family call on him without invitation and offer their wishes (a long lasting life , etc. ) and small gifts . The head of the house offers pastries, sweets ,appetizers and drinks to the guests. In Greece, name days are more important than birthdays .

An habit in Greece for people who get engaged : The man asks to marry the woman he loves to her father. When they agree on the marriage, a priest is invited to bless the engagement rings and place them on the left hand of man and woman . The guests wish " kala stefana " ( good crowns = the marriage ) and " I ora I kali" (that the good hour = the marriage ) . This custom is mostly followed outside Athens ( islands and the rest of Greece , in the villages), but it tends to disappear .

In some parts of Greece, the bride 's dowry is made by her mother, grandmothers and aunts and consists of sheets , towels and hand embroidery . The father of the bride offers a furnished home to his daughter and son in-law as a wedding gift. Today in Athens and other big cities, the bride does not have a dowry anymore . On the wedding day the bride is helped by friends and women of the family to wear her wedding dress and the groom is kept out of the way because it is a bad omen for the groom to see the bride before the ceremony.During the marriage ceremony , the godfather and godmother ( cumbaro and koumbara ) give the wedding rings to the priest and cross the crowns ( stefana ) over each other three times and put them on the heads of the couple. During the dance of Isaia ( after the priest has married them ) , the guests throw rice , confetti ( ta koufeta ) to the new couple. After the ceremony the couple stays in the church in a row and all the guests greet them and kiss them wishing them "na zisete " (Long life to you) . Then everyone goes to the party (usually at a restaurant ) where they dance , eat and drink all night . After the wedding party the couple leaves for their honeymoon.

The superstitions come from religion or paganism. BREAD:They vary from region to region . In the villages , the bread is considered as a gift from the Lord ; older women bless the bread and make the sign of the cross with a knife before cutting it.THE EVIL EYE .Some Greeks, especially in villages , believe that anyone can take the evil eye , or " matiasma " from a compliment or someone’s jealousy. A person who takes the evil eye usually feels bad, psychologically and physically. To avoid the evil eye those who believe in it wear a good luck charm , a small glass eye painted blue or a bracelet. It is believed that blue is the color that keeps away the evil eye , but it is also believed that people with blue eyes bring the evil eye. Garlic is another way to ward off the evil eye , so sometimes it is hanged in the corners of the house. Many Greeks believe that garlic and onion have therapeutic powers. If someone feels ill , he/she’s suggested to eat garlic .KNIVES: The Greeks never give knives to anyone who asks for because they believe that if they do, there will be a quarrel with that person sooner or later. They would rather leave the knives on the table to allow the other person to take them.PRIESTS: The Greek Orthodox priests are highly respected and custom dictates to kiss the hand of the priest when you meet one , today this custom is followed only in the villages. It is also believed that seeing a black cat and a priest on the same day is bad luck .SPITTING: Some Greeks believe that spitting keeps the devil and bad luck away , that's why when one speaks of bad news (death, accidents, etc ... ) the other spits three times saying " ftou , ftu , ftou.

Greek cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine. In the Greek cuisine the main ingredients are: olive oil, vegetables and bread, wine, fish, and different types of meat. Olives, cheese and yogurt are very important in the Greek diet. Greek desserts are characterized by the dominant use of nuts and honey.

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