Already night. The last drops of light were now long gone, and certainly, the midnight had already given its place to more dark, haunting hours. The deafening silence was now beginning to become something more than worrying, a feeling with no name, as those that sharpen eyesight, accrue hearing, and set all senses on high alert; even when the absolute nothing rules the around. The hypertension was resulting in a high body temperature, even-though tonight’s cold, mid-December night, found him hiding in the freezing Canyon of Vanrk.
The first whistle ripped the silence, as a thunder rips the night sky. He perked up, and almost lost his step, next to the cliff, swallowed by the thick darkness. The goosebumps started from the top of his head, went down his spine, and ended at the bottom of his feet, as if cosmic electricity had been praying, and finally attacked, his very existence. It was not but a few seconds, until the chill gave its place to the biggest smile he had allowed his heart to draw on his face, since it all started. The Whistler had arrived.
References
a) For Students: To Read More if You Want
- How many whistled languages have been recorded worldwide? https://www.greeknewsagenda.gr/topics/culture-society/7242-sfyria
- Check out how a whistler from Antia found a novel way to preserve Sfyria for the future: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20170731-greeces-disappearing-whistled-language
b) Visual Sources
- These Greek Villagers Whistle to Chat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTHzOag8msM
- This ancient whistling language is in grave danger of dying out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5ZMGBz8qgI
- Antia - Karystos - Evoia - 2011 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6KdTScVGG4
- The Village that Whistles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNyiyPshKC8&t=22s
c) Other Sources
- Intangible Cultural Heritage of Greece: The Whistle Language of Antia village in Karystos, Evoia (2019) [in Greek]: https://ayla.culture.gr/sfirixti-glwssa-antia-evoias/
- Greece’s disappearing whistled language: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20170731-greeces-disappearing-whistled-language
- Antia’s Whistle Language [in Greek]: https://hellanicus.lib.aegean.gr/bitstream/handle/11610/21233/%CE%97%20%CE%A
- Exploiting the didactic aspect of whistled speech in Gomero Spanish and Mazatec: interactions between phonetic research and education :https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Julien-Meyer 5/publication/32222325
*all the videos mentioned above (sources of visual material)