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118The similarity between the polyphonic traditions of Epirus with the polyphonictraditions of other regions of the Balkans is quite obvious.Another polyphonic tradition from Greece (the island Rhodes from theDodecanese group of islands) also shows the same common features of Balkanpolyphony, with the drone, dissonances between the parts, the small range of the mainmelody, and the pentatonic scale. According to the available information, the tradition ofthree-part singing with the third part, the yodeling klostis, is not known on Rhodes Island.The later European style of polyphony became popular on the island of Corfu,where the basis for such influences was created by long-standing political and culturalrelationships with Venice (these islands became part of Greece in 1864). According toCowan, “Romantic serenades (kantadhes), still popular, are the only Greek folk musicthat uses western harmony: men singing triadic three- and four-part harmonies,accompanying themselves on mandolins and guitars” (Cowan, 2000:1014).Vocal Polyphony in North EuropeNorth Europe represents a very interesting and somehow problematic picture ofthe distribution of the tradition of vocal polyphony. Traditional polyphony exists only intwo opposite regions of contemporary North Europe – the east (the Baltic region) and thewest (Iceland). At the same time, there are very important and clear historical sources ofinformation about the distribution of vocal forms of polyphony in many regions of NorthEurope. We will review first the live traditions of polyphonic singing (the Baltic statesand Iceland) and will then discuss historical sources from a few other regions.Baltic RegionLocated geographically between the eastern and northern parts of Europe, theBaltic region could be a part of both northern and eastern Europe. The Baltic regioncomprises three countries: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Out of them Lithuania andLatvia are closely related cultures with related Baltic languages. Estonians are a part of alarger Finno-Ugric family of languages. Most importantly for our subject, all three