Kemos the Balkan BORAT, 100% genuine Arvanite!

Posted on May 4, 2008 by omadeon
Arvanites

Image via Wikipedia

Since I had a heated conversation (in Greek) about the nature and the genetic origins of modern Greek Arvanites‘ identity, I am copying here some important paragraphs about Arvanites from Wikipedia, followed by some cool video-clips of a very talented Arvanite guy, Mr. T. Kemos, who seems to be free of all nationalist prejudices, celebrating his Balkan, Greek and Arvanite identity.

T.Kemos, this guy, is sometimes AS good as Borat!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvanites

Arvanites (Greek: Αρβανίτες, see also below about names) are a population group in Greece of Albanian origin who traditionally speak Arvanitika, a form of Tosk Albanian.

They settled in Greece during the late Middle Ages and were the dominant population element of some regions in the south of Greece until the 19th century.[1] Despite their origins, Arvanites have traditionally self-identified as Greeks, and in modern times have largely assimilated into mainstream Greek culture.[2]

  • Arvanites in Greece originated from Albanian settlers who moved south at different times between the 11th and 16th centuries from areas in what is today southern Albania.[3][4]

Many of them became bilingual and culturally assimilated to the Greeks.[7] Arvanites also held positions in many Greek Orthodox churches. In 1697, Michael Bouas and Alexander Moscholeon not only chronicled their positions in the Greek Orthodox Church of Naples, but they also professed their Greek identity.[8]

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Albanian-speakers of Epirus constituted a prominent element in the establishment of the effectively independent state of the Souliotes in the mountains of Epirus,[10] which resisted Ottoman domination.

In 1899, leading representatives of the Arvanites in Greece, among them descendants of the independence heroes Botsaris and Tzavelas, published a manifesto calling their fellow Albanians outside Greece to join in the creation of a common Albanian-Greek state.[11]

During the 20th century, after the creation of the Albanian nation-state, Arvanites in Greece have come to dissociate themselves much more strongly from the Albanians, stressing instead their national self-identification as Greeks. They are reported to resent being called Albanians.[13]

At some times, particularly under the nationalist