Sala Sala, sung here by Giannis Parios, is Greek song belonging to the genre of folk songs. The song can be translated as “In the living room” since this is the translation of the word Sala, but this interpretation is actually too simplistic.
The song was created in Aivali, Ayvalık in Turkish, by the Greeks who used to live there for centuries before they were forced to leave the area by the raging Turks. The language they used, was a local dialect, Greek language with local elements; therefore, Sala is a word used in Asia Minor to refer to “move” or “shake”, that is why the Greeks use the word “salevo” to refer to stir or budge. We choose to keep sala as it is in the translation – in any case, the song was created in Turkish too and kept the wording (Salasana is Turkish).
Sala Sala was considered by many as song from the islands, the nisiotika, but it’s a song from minor Asia. “Mikrasiatika” as Greeks call them, have a particular rhythm, which is actually quite distinctive – Mikrasiatika songs gave birth to a particular type of dance, called Aptalikos. Aptalikos is a dance that resembles to slow zeibekiko with some elements from slow belly dance (tsifteteli), but is unique and hard to dance really well. This song is a typical Aptaliko, although people who do not know the steps of Aptaliko, dance it like an island song, using steps of ballos dance.
The rhythm is catchy and nice and quite addictive, especially if you hear the song live – you won’t be able to stop your legs from “dancing”!
Lyrics, Music: Unknown – Traditional Folk Song
Performed by: Giannis Parios