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MUSICby A. Deffner

Assistant Professor, University of Thessaly

Theglobal reputation ofModernGreekmusic rests largelyon theworkof Manos Hadjidakis and Mikis Theodorakis. Albums containingByzantinemusic have also been released. However, the field inwhichGreece has made the most important international contribution isclassical music.Music is possibly the most popular cultural activity of the Greeks.It is connected to the historical importance of the song and to thepopularity of musical expression through dancing. Althoughconcerts are largely concentrated in the three largest cities (primarilyAthens, secondarily Thessaloniki and Patras), in recent years therehave been attempts at decentralisation, mainly through the policyof theNational CulturalNetworkof Cities andof theDomain of Culture.Music has also continuously played a central role in rural Greek life,since in every region dance and song are community activities.

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REGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE

The 13 regions of Greece have theirown musical institutions (notablychoirs and town bands) most ofwhichhavea long traditionandstillcontribute to the activemusical lifeat the local level. There are 81 townbands and their most intense con-centration (i.e. the expression oftheconnectionof theabsolutenum-berwith thepopulation) isobservedin the Ionian Islands.Somepossibleexplanations lie in themusical his-toryof thearea (townbandshaveof-tenproducedcreatorsandperform-ers; and the“Ionianschool”hasex-erted its influenceonGreekmusic),isolation fromthemainland,and thegeneralculturalclimate(largelyattrib-uted to foreign occupation). For ex-ample, between 1807 and 1814Corfu was occupied by the Frenchand between 1814 and 1864 by theBritish.Greece’s158choirsaremosthighly concentrated in theNorthernAegean (data from 1987).

EDUCATION

Music is taught in the213 recognizedmusicconservatories, ofwhichonlyone ispublic.Therearealso146mu-sic schools.Of theseconservatoriesandschools, 44.8percentare locat-ed inprovincial towns.A recentphe-nomenon is thegrowthof the teach-ing of traditionalmusic.

SALES

Data concerning the number of al-bums sold between 1991 and 1994show a decline in sales (7,9 com-pared to 6,3 million) and a greaterpercentageofGreekrepertoire (48.8percent compared to 59.1 percent).The distribution of premium CDsand cassettes by newspapers andperiodicals issignificant (4,7million).

The largest percentage is for CDs(92.4 percent) and for the Greekrepertoire (56.3percent). Accordingtosalesdata for1995,Greecehasthehighest proportion of indigenousmusic in Europe (56percent). In thelast fiveyearsthemainfactor thathasaffected the decrease of sales is acombination of the growth of CD-Recorders (mainly incorporated inpersonalcomputers)with thepossi-bilityofdownloadingsongs fromtheinternet.

TRADITIONALMUSIC

The country is remarkable for boththeabundanceand thevarietyof itstraditional music. Greekmusic hasdevelopedovermanycenturiesandhas been subject to numerous andvariedhistoricalandgeographical in-fluences. Ancient Greek music,Byzantineandchurchmusic, for ex-ample,provideawholeseriesofdis-tinctivemusical traditions.

There isalsoa long traditionof ruraltraditional music connected alsowith theGreekWarof Independenceagainst the Turks (1821-1829). Thetype of folksongs is definedmainlyaccording to the place of origin: Is-lands (Crete, Ionian Islands), Epirus(a region in the north-west), Maniand Kalamata (in southern Pelo-ponnese),MacedoniaandThrace (inthe north and north-east). Thedoyenneof folkmusic isDoraStratou(who is also the director of a dancecompany),and in1997shereleased,with her musical ensemble Pane-gyris, the album “Greek folkfavourites”on the“Tradition” label.

A formofurbantraditionalmusicwithstrong links to the refugees fromthedisaster of Asia Minor is the “rem-betiko”songwith the“bouzouki”as

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its characteristic instrument. Theaudience for “rembetika” graduallybroadened after the Second WorldWarandthesesongswereespeciallypopular in the 1970s.

Since theSecondWorldWarmanyoftheyoungercomposershavesoughtinspiration in both rural and urbantraditional music. One of the mostprominent figures is DionysisSavvopouloswhohasmadeanorig-inal synthesis using elements from“rembetiko”, ruralmusic, andWest-ern rock/ popmusic.

Folkdancegroupsaredeeply rootedin regional culture. There exist 580suchgroups, the largest concentra-tionbeing inEpirus,with its longcul-tural tradition.

POPULARTYPESOFMUSIC

At present, the four most popularGreek types of music are: dancemusic with elements mainly fromeastern music, “art” music, popmusic with elements mainly fromwesternmusic, and rockmusic. Therock scene is particularly strong inThessaloniki andageneral traditioncontinues going back to the 1960sand includinggroupsknownabroad(e.g. “Socrates”).Various rockclubshaveplayedan important role in thespread of rock in Greece. These aremainly located in Athens, althoughThessaloniki hasMylos, anexcitingvenue in a convertedmill.

The jazz tradition is also important.Thegroup“Sphinx” releasedthe firstGreek jazz album in 1979. Certainmusicians have released albumson foreign labels, the most promi-nent examples being the pianistSakis Papadimitriou, the clarinet-tist/saxophonist FlorosFloridis (who

composedthesoundtrackfor JeanineMeerapfel’s film “Anna’s Summer”in 2002), and the guitarist NanaSimopoulos.ManyGreekmusicianshave also collaborated with musi-cians fromother countries, either inconcerts or in albums. Themost re-cent trendhasbeenethnic jazz, i.e.the incorporation of elements ofworldmusic in jazz.An importantrolein the spread of jazz in Greece hasbeen played, by the very active,albeit few, jazz clubs, especially inAthens.

A recentdevelopment is thegrowingpopularityofworldmusic,somethingthat istypicallyexpressedinthehold-ingof theprestigiousWOMAD(Worldof Music, Arts and Dance) interna-tional festival in Athens both in2001and2002.Thiswassituated inthecontextof theCulturalOlympiad2001-2004, an original idea that iscombinedwith themega-eventof theAthens 2004Olympics.

POPULARSINGERS

The internationally most famoussingers live andworkabroad: VickyLeandros,NanaMouschouri (who is

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a UNICEF ambassador and was amemberof theEuropeanparliamentbetween 1994 and 1999), DemisRoussos (a member of the famousGreek group “Aphrodite’s Child”).Themezzo-sopranoAgnesBaltsa re-leased in 1987 a popular music al-bumcontainingsongscomposedbyHadjidakis, Theodorakis, Tsitsanisand Xarhakos (conducted by thelatter,who isalso thedirector of theState Orchestra of GreekMusic).

In recent years two female singerswhohave successfully sold recordsandperformedconcertsabroadareEleni Arvanitaki and Savina Yanna-tou.Acrossoverartistwhohasan in-ternational career, and has beencompared toAndreaBocelli, isMarioFrangoulis; his CD “Sometimes IDream”was issuedbySony Interna-tional in 2002 in Europe, America,AsiaandAfrica,and isconsideredasanartisticandcommercial success.

ManyGreeksingershavecollaborat-edwithmusicians fromother coun-tries,either inconcertsor inalbums.The leading figure isMariaFarandouriwhocollaboratedwith theworld fa-mous guitarist JohnWilliams (1971)aswellas theTurkishmusicianZulfuLivaneli (1982).Two peculiar figures are the USbluesmenNickGravenitesand John-ny Otis, who are of Greek origin, asare also the Anglo-Cypriot compos-er/singerGeorgeMichaelandtheUScomposer/guitar player NickySkopelitis.

CLASSICALMUSICAUDIENCE

Western classical music did notgain a foothold in Greece untilafter the foundation of the inde-pendent Greek kingdom (1832).The 19th century composers of the

“Ionian school”, such as NikolaosMantzaros, Spyridon Xyndas andPavlosCarrerwere influencedmain-ly by Italian music. The establish-ment of the AthensConservatory in1871wasa significant step towardsthe formation of a national schoolof music.

Classical music in Greece appealsto a growingminority servedmainlyby the Concert Halls in Athens(which opened in 1991) and Thes-saloniki (which opened in 2002).There also exist various orchestras(StateOrchestraofAthens,NationalSymphonyOrchestraofGreekRadioand Television), as well as the Na-tional Lyrical Scene, which wasfounded in 1939 but has operatedin the “Olympia” theatre since 1957.In theseason2002-2003 itoperateswith three stages andwith a reper-toire combiningestablishedand rel-atively unknown works.

The role of the Athens Concert Hallexpandsbeyond the field ofmusic,since in its first five years of opera-tion it has showcased 602 culturalworks, organised957artisticevents,197educationalprogrammes,24ex-hibitions/ lectures, and 118 con-gresses. It has commissioned 59Greek works and published 338books. It also has its ownorchestra(“Orchestra of the FriendsofMusic”or “Camerata”), with musiciansfrom many countries and withAlexandre Myrat as its conductor.

In addition to the three largestcities (Athens, Thessaloniki andPatras) there are other citieswhichhave either a long tradition ofmu-sical life (Ermoupolis in the islandof Syros) or an active musical life(Larissa and Volos in Thessaly,Corfu, Kalamata).

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The growth of the listening audi-ence provides better conditions forthe growth of the buying audience,such as the small increase of spe-cialised shops in Athens and of therepresentation of classical musicin music shops in general.

CONDUCTORS

AND SOLOISTS

There has been a long tradition ofinternationally renowned Greeksoloists and conductors: GinaBachauer, Vasso Devetzi and RenaKyriakou (pianists), Irma Kolassi,Yannula Pappas, Elena Souliotisand Nicola Zaccaria (singers). Thetwo figures that constitute land-marks in the international classicalmusic scene are Maria Callas (so-prano) and Dimitri Mitropoulos(conductor, pianist and composer).This tradition has continued inrecent years bymany artists: Theyinclude Nicholas Economou, ArisGaroufalis, Christodoulos Geor-giades, Elena Mouzalas, Dimitri

Sgouros and Yannis Vakarellis (pi-ano), Tatsis Apostolides andLeonidas Kavakos (violin), YannisVatikiotis (viola), Evangelos Asi-makopoulos, Kostas Kotsiolis,Eleftheria Kotzia and Liza Zoi (gui-tar), Agnes Baltsa, Aris Christofel-lis, Jenny Drivala, Daphne Evange-latos, Dimitri Kavrakos, JohnModi-nos, Vasso Papantoniou, KostasPaschalis, Jeannette Pilou, SpirosSakkas, Teresa Stratas, and SoniaTheodoridou (singing), DimitriAgrafiotis, Nikos Athinaios, Milti-ades Caridis, Dimitri Chorafas, By-ron Fidetzis, John Georgiades andAlexandreMyrat (conducting). Cer-tain performances ofmost of theseartists have been released on LPsand/or CDs.

COMPOSERS

IN THE 20TH CENTURY

There are certain internationallyrenowned composerswhosemainworkbelongs to the20th century: ei-ther to its first half (Manolis

Interior view of Athens Concert Hall

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Kalomiris, Petros Petridis, SpirosSamaras and Nikos Skalkottas) orto its second half (Theodor Anto-niou, George Aperghis, Jani Chris-tou, Dimitri Dragatakis, Yannis Kon-stantinidis, Arghyris Kounadis, Yior-gos Kouroupos, Anestis Logothetis,Nikos Mamangakis, Yannis Pa-paioannou, JeanProdromides, Yior-gos Sicilianos, Dimitri Terzakis,Iannis Xenakis). The majority ofthese composers (themost promi-nent beingSkalkottas andXenakiswhowas also an architect and col-laborator of Le Corbusier) form thetrend of the avant-garde, and cer-tain of their works have been re-leased on LPs and/or CDs.

Some of the avant-garde com-posers have shown an eclecticmind and have written either pop-ular songs – Konstantinidis,Kounadis, Kouroupos,Mamangakis– or music for films – three exam-ples at the international level areAntoniou for the British/ Germanfilm “The Girl from Mani” (1986),Mamangakis for “Heimat” (1985, a15-hour German film shownalso asa television series), Prodromidesfor the French/ Polish film “Danton”

(1982). On the other hand, somecomposerswhohave been interna-tionally famousmainly because oftheir film or televisionmusic, havealso written either classical musicor popular songs. Themost promi-nent areManosHadjidakis (“SweetMovie”, Yugoslavian/French/Ger-man film, 1974) who, till his deathin 1994,managed and directed hisown orchestra (“Orchestra ofColours” which was created in1989 and still operates today),andMikis Theodorakis (“Zorba theGreek”, 1964, a film which madethe “bouzouki” instrument worldfamous) who has also been in-volved in politics. Other importantcomposers, including those inter-nationally known mainly for theirfilm music, are Stavros Xarhakos(“Rembetiko”, 1983), YannisMarkopoulos (“Who Pays the Fer-ryman”, BBC series, 1978), andYiorgos Hadjinassios (“ShirleyValentine”, British film, 1989). Thecomposer who has been interna-tionally successful lately is Eleni

Manos Hadjidakis

Mikis Theothorakis

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Karaindrou: her music for TheoAngelopoulos’ most recent filmshas been released on the Germanlabel ECM.

In 1995 the British record company“Silva Screen” released an albumtitled “Classic Greek Film Music”which includes some of the mostimportant themes composed byGreek composers for the cinema.A very successful composer, work-ing in Hollywood, is Basil Pole-douris. He has been active since1971 and is of Greek origin.

Two internationallywell establishedfigures composing mainly “elec-tronic”music are Yanni (one of hisrecent best-selling albums is “Liveat the Acropolis”, 1995, which isalso available on DVD, and he hasalso composed music for films),and, more importantly, Vangelis.The latter, another member of thegroup “Aphrodite’s Child”, hascollaborated with Jon Anderson(the singer of the important rockgroup “Yes”). He has also com-posed classical music works (“In-visible Connections”, 1985), has

written music for many films win-ning a Best Music Oscar for theBritish film “Chariots of Fire” in1981. Hiswork “Mythodea”, whichwas performed live at the Templeof Zeus in Athens in 2001, is alsoavailable on DVD. Other awardswon byGreek composers are: BestSong Oscar (Hadjidakis for “Ta Pe-dia touPirea” in “Never onSunday”in 1960), British AcademyAward forbest music (Theodorakis for theFrench/Algerian film “Z” in 1969).

[The composer Thanos Mikrout-sikos, whowas also theMinister ofCulture from 1994 till 1996, re-leased an album in 1995 in whichthe famous Italian singer Milvasang some of his best songs (inItalian and in Greek). The newage composers Chris Spheerisand Paul Voudouris are of Greekorigin and have released manyalbums which sold overseas. Thesinger/composer Demetrio Stratoswas, till his death, the leader of theItalian avant-garde group Area.]

Thanos Mikroutsikos

Vangelis

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FOREIGN COMPOSERS

INSPIRED BY GREECE

There are also three special casesof notable composers inspired bythe music of the Greek OrthodoxChurch. The first is JohnTavener, anEnglish classical composer whohas converted to Orthodoxy – oneof his latest works released on CDin 1994 is the piece “Melina”, com-posed in memory of Melina Mer-couri. The second is the Germannewagecomposer andmulti-instru-mentalist Stephan Micus who re-leased in 1994 an album titled“Athos”. The third is Sister MarieKeyrouz who has released variousalbums in which she performssongs belonging to the Orthodoxtradition of the Middle East.

GREEK SONGS IN FOREIGN

FILMS

Greeksongs have been heard late-ly in various films: in “Pulp Fiction”(1994) the director Quentin Taran-tino used “Misirlou” (composed byN. Roubanis in 1941 in the USA). In“Mighty Aphrodite” (1995, a filminspired by ancient Greek tragedy)the director Woody Allen used asong by Stavros Xarhakos and asong by Vassilis Tsitsanis. Hadji-dakis’s song “ “Piraeus’ Children”was used in Jonathan Nossiter’sfilm “Sunday” (1997).

BYZANTINE MUSIC

Byzantine music comprises twosides of the same coin with regardto modern Hellenic music. Byzan-tinemusic is themusic of theGreekOrthodoxChurchandalso thebasisof the traditional popular music ofthe Greekpeople. Churchmusic is

performed in almost all churches.Besides this, many internationallyrenowned choirs, including theGreek Byzantine Choir (dir. firstchanter Lykourgos Angelopoulos),OiMaistores tes psaltikes Technes(dir. Prof. Axilleas Chaldaiakis), thechoir of theAthensChanters’ Union,St. Ioannis oDamaskenos&St. Ro-manos oMelodos (dir. first chanterChristosHatzinikolaou), the choir ofthe Thessaloniki Chanters’ Union,St. Ioannis oDamaskenos (dir. firstchanter Anastasios Parastratides),and the Pavlos FortomasChoir (dir.first chanter Pavlos Fortomas), per-form Byzantine church hymns atconcerts in Greece and abroad. Itmust be mentioned that allchanters’ unions and numerousparishes in all regions of GreecehaveByzantine choirswhichplayanimportant role in cultural life. Byzan-tine music is taught at the estab-lished conservatories and musicschools of episcopates andchanters’ unions. Courses onByzantine musicological studiesare also available at the Universityof Athens and the MacedonianUniversity of Thessaloniki. On theother hand, traditional music isperformedby choirs such as that ofthe Simon Karas Association inAthensandother unionsall over thecountry, the Athens Conservatory,the En Chordais conservatory inThessaloniki, and the Museum ofTraditional Instruments in theAthenian neighbourhood of Plaka.Many young people are interestedin both church and traditionalmu-sic. They take lessons, participatein choirs and join musical groups.With their activities they effectivelyrepresent the large mosaic that isGreekmusic today.