In Homer's Odyssey, Phemius (Ancient Greek: Φήμιος), son of Terpes, is the Ithacan bard who sings narrative songs in Odysseus' hall for Penelope's suitors — unwillingly, as the poem stresses. Spared at Telemachus' plea after the slaughter, he later plays loud wedding music to mask the suitors' deaths. A household minstrel, not to be confused with other singers such as Demodocus of Scheria.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Phemius" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Song for the suitors
In Odyssey Book 1, Phemius performs at the suitors' request a song of the Achaean returns from Troy. Penelope, distressed by the reminder of her own husband's absence, asks him to change the theme; Telemachus overrules her, asserting the singer's freedom and his own authority as master of the house.
II.Spared after the slaughter
When Odysseus and Telemachus kill the suitors, Phemius clings to the altar and begs for life, arguing that he sang under compulsion. Telemachus confirms it; Odysseus spares him (and the herald Medon). In Book 23 the king orders Phemius to play wedding songs as loudly as his lyre allows, delaying news of the bloodshed until father and son can withdraw to the farm.