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Songs Inspired By Urban & Traditional Myths

by Mean Flow

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about

Current catalogue number is : MF090

Mean Flow is a solo project of Theofil Tsiolakakis from Thessaloniki, Greece.

All tracks of this album have written and recorded between 31st of October 2015 to 20th of February 2018. Total duration is 26:20 minutes.

First released May 16, 2022 by Fraction Studio (Melun, France)
Cover and visuals by M.Nomized.

01 - BLEEDING STONE
In 390 AD during the Roman Empire in the city of Thessaloniki (in Greece) the emperor Theodosius ordered the massacre of the people of the city, who had been called to the hippodrome. The Thessalonians later engraved the names of the 18.000 slaughtered on the marble column, the one that bled once a year, on the day of that massacre. The fanatical enemies of Thessaloniki did not like this and with the fall of the emperor they tore down the column. Centuries later, in the houses built on top of the remnants of the "bleeding stone", it is said that these inhabitants of the houses were plagued by diseases and misery due to the curse of this stone. At one point an apartment building was built and in a large earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale that occurred in 1978 it was the only apartment building that fell among thousands others in the city, with 37 of the 49 dead being residents of this apartment building. It is said that the curse of the "bleeding stone" had struck again.

02 - DROSOULITES (The Ghosts Of Frangokastello)
The term Drosoulites (Greek: Δροσουλίτες) refers to a long procession of visions, seen by residents around Frangokastello castle in Sfakia region of Crete (Greece). The phenomenon is rumored to be visible every year, on the anniversary of the Battle of Frangokastello or even in early June near a small village in southern Crete.
The visions, as described by witnesses, consist of a group of human-like shadows dressed in black, walking or riding, armed with weapons, moving from the monastery of Agios Charalambos and advancing towards the old fort, Frangokastello, a 14th-century Venetian fortification. Legend has it that this group of people are Greek fighters that died during the Battle of Frangokastello (17 May 1828) and since then they appear as supernatural beings in the area.

The ghost army is led by Hatzimichalis Dalianis, from Delvinaki in Epirus, the chief of the Greek men, 350 of whom were lost, in the battle. The army took refuge in the fort during the Greek War of Independence against the Turks, where they were killed after a seven-day siege.

The local people named them Drosoulites ("dew shadows") due to the time of day that the phenomenon takes place. The phenomenon is observed when the sea is calm and the atmosphere is moist and before the sun rises too high in the sky. It usually lasts about 10 minutes.

The shadows are visible from the valley at a distance of 1000 m. Many have tried to explain the phenomenon scientifically, and at one time it was explained as a mirage from the coast of North Africa, but still there is no accepted consensus. On the other hand, another, occult, interpretation implies the existence of a psychic phenomenon, clairvoyance, seen in some countries like Britain and Germany, also regarding ghost armies. The appearance of the Drosoulites is documented over the ages. In 1890 a transient Turkish army took the images for rebels and fled away. Even during the Second World War, a German patrol is said to have opened fire on the visions.

03 - LA LLORONA
In Mexican folklore, La Llorona ("The Weeping Woman" or "The Wailer") is a vengeful ghost who roams waterfront areas mourning her children whom she drowned.

Mythology

The legend has a wide variety of details and versions. In a typical version of the legend, a beautiful woman named María marries a rich ranchero / conquistador to whom she bears two children. One day, María sees her husband with another woman and in a fit of blind rage, she drowns their children in a river, which she immediately regrets. Unable to save them and consumed by guilt, she drowns herself as well but is unable to enter the afterlife, forced to be in purgatory and roam this earth until she finds her children. In another version of the story, her children are illegitimate, and she drowns them so that their father cannot take them away to be raised by his new wife. Recurring themes in variations on the La Llorona myth include a white, wet dress, nocturnal wailing, and an association with water.

The mother archetype of La Llorona has been tied to patriarchal expectations of women in Mexican culture by several authors, historians, and social critics. Social critics often consider Mexican (and Mexican-American) culture to force patriarchal standards onto women, such as being defined by their roles as mothers. La Llorona's falling into the trope of an "evil" or "failed" mother, having either committed infanticide or having failed to save them from drowning, can be considered a reflection of this.

04 - SAMHAIN INSPIRATION
Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or "darker-half" of the year. The early literature says Samhain was marked by great gatherings and feasts and was when the ancient burial mounds were open, which were seen as portals to the Otherworld. Some of the literature also associates Samhain with bonfires and sacrifices. According to Irish mythology, Samhain (like Bealtaine) was a time when the 'doorways' to the Otherworld opened, allowing supernatural beings and the souls of the dead to come into our world; while Bealtaine was a summer festival for the living, Samhain "was essentially a festival for the dead".

05 - THE DREAMCATCHER
In some Native American and First Nations cultures, a dreamcatcher is a handmade willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web. It may also be decorated with sacred items such as certain feathers or beads. Traditionally, dreamcatchers are hung over a cradle or bed as protection. Ethnographer Frances Densmore in 1929 recorded an Ojibwe legend according to which the "spiderwebs" protective charms originate with Spider Woman, known as Asibikaashi; who takes care of the children and the people on the land. As the Ojibwe Nation spread to the corners of North America it became difficult for Asibikaashi to reach all the children. So the mothers and grandmothers weave webs for the children, using willow hoops and sinew, or cordage made from plants. The purpose of these charms is apotropaic and not explicitly connected with dreams.

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released August 4, 2022

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Mean Flow Thessaloniki, Greece

Mean Flow created by Theofil Tsiolakakis as a solo project in January 2014. His influences are so many, almost every kind of music that excites almost all feelings and senses. Usually people describe my music as experimental, (dark) ambient, drone, noise, etc. ... more

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