America’s musical ambassadors in Europe and Africa, the U.S. Army Europe and Africa Band & Chorus, perform The Dance of Zalongo to commemorate Greek Independence Day.
The Dance of Zalongo refers to the mass suicide of women from Souli and their children during an invasion of Ottoman troops on December 16, 1803. The event is commemorated in Greece in the context of the Greek War of Independence. Some 60 women were trapped near the village of Zalongo in Epirus, modern Greece, then Ottoman Empire, and decided to turn towards the cliff’s edge and die with their infants and children rather than submit to the Ottoman troops chasing them. According to tradition, they did this one after the other while dancing and singing.