A Report on the Conference
"Researching Rebetika: Present Projects
and Future Prospects"
held on the Island of Hydra, 17-20 October 2002
By tradition
I offer a report on the activities of last year's Hydra Rebetiko Gathering.
Partly for those who were unable to be with us this year. Partly for our
sponsors. And partly for people who might like to join us next year. Our
next conference will be held in Hydra on 16-19 October 2003. Its sub-theme will
be "Rebetiko and Women, and the Women of Rebetiko".
AIMS
AND OBJECTIVES
The
important thing is that the Hydra Rebetiko Gathering has now become an annual
event, and is attracting larger numbers of people. At some point we shall have
to decide whether to encourage that growth, or whether to limit numbers.
Our
conference is held in the third week of October, on the Island of Hydra, with
the support of the Mayor and Municipality of the island. It is attended by
people from all over the world – Greeks and non-Greeks alike. We combine
academic research, performance and workshop sessions related to Greek music and
Rebetiko in particular. Each year we choose a sub-theme, and this year it was
"Karaghiozis and Rebetiko", including live performance of Karaghiozis
theatre..
The
Conference has several aims:
(a) To
create and develop international academic collaboration in researching Rebetiko
music. To this end we invite leading academics in the field to come and
contribute papers.
(b) To
make that research available in the English language. This is really important,
as we have discovered, and not only for non-Greeks. There are many Greeks in the Diaspora who do not read or speak Greek,
and this means that they are excluded from access to their own history and
culture. Therefore wherever possible Greek papers are translated into English.
(c) To
publish the papers from our Conference in printed book form. The papers from
our current conferences are in the process of being edited, and we are seeking
funds to help with publication.
(d) To
place our Rebetiko-related research materials on a dedicated Internet website
so that they can be accessed from around the world. Our website, located at http://www.geocities.com/HydraGathering,
has proved to be a useful mobilising tool.
(e) To
create a RebetikoForum discussion list, where conference members can exchange
opinions and generally keep in touch. This list has now been established: http://www.topica.com/lists/RebetikoForum
(f) To use
the "new technologies" (Internet, e-mail, MP3, digital video etc) to
build a horizontal network of communication between rebetiko researchers,
musicians, singers, film-makers and music-lovers. The participants at the
conference have again exchanged e-mail addresses, and once again new creative
projects are arising out of the fruitful encounter that we had.
(g) To
create a publicly-accessible archive of articles, journals, sound-recordings,
film etc, which can be used by researchers. In a very exciting development, the
British Library at St Pancras has just agreed to provide facilities to house the
archives of the Institute of Rebetology.
(h) To
locate Rebetiko within the broader musics of the Mediterranean as a whole. To
this end we have brought musicians and singers from both Greece and Turkey as a
way of highlighting the Asia Minor roots of rebetiko music.
(i) To
invite the islanders of Hydra to share the experience of our Conference. For
this purpose we organise open-access film shows and concerts, and we organise
one big free concert – our "Saturday Night Rebetiko Supper" – with
some of Greece's best musicians. We also involve the children of the island of
Hydra in our activities, through music and theatre workshops.
The
success of this year's conference:
From
Athens we had two Karghiozis players – Alexander
Melissinos, performing with his father Jason Melissinos. In the
lovely surroundings of the Bratsera Hotel they prepared for us an hour-long
show entitled "Stavrakas sto tekke" – an extraordinary parade
of figures from the shadow theatre tradition, accompanied by rebetiko songs
played by Asterios Pouftis, Pavlos Melas and Nikos Zarkos
of the London-based band Moosootoo. Jason also did a shadow-theatre
workshop for local children in the town's museum, organised with the help of
Hydra resident Lily Marcopoulos.
Once
again, the Saturday Night Rebetiko Supper at the Douskos Restaurant was
magnificent. Our director of music Andreas Tsekouras put together a fine
group of musicians. We were thrilled to have with us Maryo from Thessaloniki
– who is becoming very well known on the "world music" scene –
and bouzouki player Thymios Stouraitis, along with singer Sophia
Papazoglou and musicians Kyriakos Gouventas (violin), Manolis
Pappos (bouzouki) and Yannis Papayiannopoulos (guitar).
Once again we had singers and musicians from Turkey. Ivi Dermanci
from Istanbul sang with the band on the Saturday night, and was followed by our
two musicologist friends from Ankara and Izmir, Cenk Guray and Ali
Fuat Aydin, who played an intensely thoughtful set which revealed the
elements which bridge Greek and Turkish music. Cenk was playing a remarkable
and much-photographed two-necked baglamas [one neck fretted, the other neck not
fretted, to give the possibility of fractional note variations]. On the
Saturday afternoon Cenk and Ali Fuat also gave an illustrated
introduction to musical modes – the "maqams" or "roads" –
in Turkish music. And in a new venture, Ivi conducted a memorable
singing workshop for conference members – an event which we shall certainly
repeat next year.
For many
musicians, the most important part of Hydra is the informal "jam
sessions" that take place in hidden corners around the island during the
conference. As ever Moosootoo, played some splendid sets – of which the
most memorable was the through-till-morning session on the stone steps of the
Merchant Marine School, together with musicians from the Rebetiko Forum,
and Maryo and Ivi Dermanci.The islanders have still not forgotten
the sight of the musicians accompanying Maryo to her ferry early in the
morning, singing and playing all the while.
The
concert was recorded on 8-track digital sound by Nikos Dionysopoulos,
and was filmed by our director of photography Emilio della Chiesa.
Eventually our intention is to produce a CD of the musics of the Hydra
Gathering. And also a film of each year's event.
The first
film – a 40-minute documentary – has already been produced, and was premiered
on 17 January at a Rebetiko Party organised by the Institute of Rebetology
and Moosootoo in London. Copies will be available for anyone interested.
Our speakers for the October 2002 Conference were:
[in alphabetical order]
ALI FUAT AYDIN of Izmir with CENK GURAY of Ankara.
"The Characteristics of the Music of Asia Minor
Greeks and the Effects of 'Population Exchange' in Greek Music: A Comparative
Approach"
MARK DRAGOUMIS of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies,
Athens: "A paper on Kyria Koula and the 'Votsis March'."
ED EMERY of London: "The figure of
Stavrakas in the Karaghiozis shadow theatre"
JOHN HARRISON of Yorkshire. A workshop on instrument-making.
DIMITRIS HYPHANTIS of Athens: " Typology
of Hashish Users in Rebetiko"
MARIOS KOPTSAS-ANASTASSIOU of the
University of Vienna. "Some points where scientific research about
rebetiko is lacking"
ALEXANDER and JASON MELISSINOS of Athens: A shadow puppet performance
of "Stavrakas sto Tekke".
MOOSOOTOO. A 60-minute
themed session on "Rebetiko and the World of Work: Songs from the
1930s"
ARIS RADIOPOULOS of Germany: "Rebetiko i laiko? Ena anuparkto dilimma"
A ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION "Rebetiko in Today's World – Mapping a
Musical Movement"
HUGO STRÖTBAUM of Holland: "Rebetiko:
what's in a name?"
ANDREAS TSEKOURAS of
Athens. "The Epicurean Ideal in Rebetiko "**
PETER VEJLESKOV of Denmark: "A thematic-stylistic analysis of
Vasilis Tsitsanis's censored pre-war lyrics"
NIKOS ZARKOS of Moosootoo. "The Guitar Style of Katsaros"
Antoine Carolus with his outi
as decorated by Kree Arvanitas
Ed Emery
