ABSTRACT
Tsiattistá or Tsiattísmata are improvised, vocal one-strophe songs. They are the shortest form of complete songs in the Cypriot musical tradition, and can be either recited as short poems or sung. Whilst the content of these songs is simple, they express messages in the shortest possible way. While in two-line tsiattistó the first line needs to rhyme with the second one, in four-line tsiattistóthe first might rhyme with the third and the second with the fourth. Tsiáttisma musical practice has been alive for centuries as a dynamic and vibrant vocal expression of traditional Cypriot daily life. The Cypriot musical tradition values the ability to perform Tsiattistá because doing so is always innovative, though this is generally seen as the preserve of male performers. Tsiattistá, like all Cypriot traditional musical practices, occupies an ambiguous position in the construction of contemporary Cypriot identity.
