A
report on the third international conference
"Researching Rebetika: Present Projects and Future Prospects"
held
on the Island of Hydra, 16-19 October 2003
By tradition I offer a report
on the activities of the 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.
PLEASE
NOTE: Our next conference will be held in Hydra on 13-17 October 2004. Its
theme will be "MODES AND ROADS, TAXIMIA AND MAQAMS".
Since this will be of interest to people outside the field of Greek music, I would
ask you to circulate this mailing to others who may be interested.
If
you wish to present a paper at the 2004 conference, please send your proposal
to rebetology@yahoo.com
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The
Hydra Rebetiko Gathering is now a consolidated annual event – a major event in
the social calendar of Hydra, and a focal point for people with an interest in
Greek music. This year we had 65 registered participants, and over 450 for the
Saturday night performance at the Douskos Restaurant. We have not yet reached
the point where we have to limit the number of participants in order to keep
the Gathering intimate, but that time will soon come.
The
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. This year we had
people from 22 different countries. 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 "Women and Rebetiko –
and the Rebetiko Women".
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 important, because it means that
non-Greeks – and also the many Greeks in the diaspora who do not read or speak
Greek – can have access to these materials. Where possible, Greek papers are
translated into English.
(c) To publish materials from
our Conference in printed book form. Together with Yannis Zaimakis I have begun
editing a book of rebetiko research materials, and we have set about seeking a
publisher.
(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 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 at topica.com, and can be accessed
through our website.
(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 agreed to provide facilities to house the archives of
the Institute of Rebetology. This year’s paper by Krini Kafiris on creating a
filmography of rebetiko should also produce interesting results in the future.
(h) To locate Rebetiko within
the broader musics of the Mediterranean as a whole. To this end every year we
bring musicians and singers from both Greece and Turkey as a way of
highlighting the Asia Minor roots of rebetiko music. This year we had an
interesting representation from Spain, which will be developed next year, and a
major contribution from the Italian musical group Calicanto (see below).
(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" – where we bring 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 Free University of Hydra
The Rebetiko conference is
part of a wider initiative known as “The Free University of Hydra”, which will
develop cultural and intellectual activities during the coming years. See
details at the end of this Report
The success of this year's
conference:
Let me say at the start
something which might sound stupid but is true. The strongest aspect of this
conference is love. Not only love of the music and its songs, but also love and
respect between the participants. In not many other conferences will you find
both the speaker and the chairman and various members of the audience crying
with the beauty and emotional content of what is happening… We have created a
fine and beautiful thing here. Respect to our rebetis Nikos from South
London and the archi-rebetissa Zaharoula from California. Heartfelt
stuff!
To continue: After the death
in Paris in September 2003 of the man widely viewed as the father of Rebetiko
studies, Elias Petropoulos, an “anti-homage” was presented by Ed
Emery. Not so much fine words, more a project to continue rebetiko research
in keeping with the spirit that characterised that fine man.
By common consent, this
year’s Saturday Night Rebetiko Supper at the Douskos Restaurant was the
best yet. This year we had the finest violinist in Greece, Kyriakos
Gouventas, as our director of music. He brought together what was for us a
new style of orchestra, which began with a thrilling set of songs from Smyrna.
The other musicians were Yannis Alexandris (outi, baglama, singer); Lazaros
Koulaksizis (accordeon and singer); Elena Filippa (santouri); Antigone
Bouna (guitar, baglama, singer); and Grigoris Vasilas (bouzouki).
Also present
were our guests from Turkey: Ivi Dermanci (singer); Ali Fuat Aydin and
Cenk Guray (baglamadhes); Mustafa Cengiz Onural (politiki lyra)
and guests from Hydra: Irene
Daskalaki, Sophia Kabadaï and Paschalia Latra.
As promised
last year, Ivi conducted a women-only singing workshop on “The Women’s
Voice in Rebetiko”, which culminated in a public performance accompanied by Cathie
Whitesides from Seattle (violin). Madelyn Taylor from Los Angeles
conducted two dance workshops, and also presented a paper, on the theme of the
zeibekiko.
Again we
chose the “To Steki” Restaurant as our venue for the Thursday and Friday
evenings, where we had two amazing musical sessions, which were particularly
special because of the participation of the poly-instrumentalist Maria
Kotsiri from Athens (politiko laouto) and the lads from Drama – Vangelis
Tsikouridis, Lefteris Tsikouridis, Kyriakos Sfoungouris and Panayiotis
Christodoulou. Watch these boys – they’re dangerous!
On
Thursday Ruth Margraff and Nikos Brisco from New York gave an
exciting opening talk about the Greek music inspiration in their working-class
operas Judges 19: Black Lung Exhaling and Café Andartes.
From Padova,
Italy, we had Roberto Tombesi and Francesco Ganassin, of the
group Calicanto, who presented an illustrated lecture on the musical
relations between Greece and Venice, and in a Friday evening concert Markos
Dragoumis of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies in Athens played his piano
arrangements of rebetiko songs. Both these events took place in the fine
surroundings of the Bratsera Hotel, by permission of the management, to whom
we would like to extend our thanks. Hank Bradley of Seattle gave a talk
on “The Violin in Rebetiko”, which then led into a joint violin workshop with Kyriakos
Gouventas. What to say…? I faint with delight even at the thought of it…
This was filmed, and will be available for study.
This year we had
husband-and-wife team Anna Melissinos and Jason Melissinos
performing Karaghiozis for us. They performed shows at both the Bratsera and the
Douskos Restaurant, and Jason gave us an accompanying talk about the women in
the shadow theatre tradition. Their performance was accompanied by various of
our assembled musicians, from both Greece and Turkey. Jason also did a
shadow-theatre workshop for local children in the town's museum, organised with
the help of Hydra resident Lily Marcopoulos.
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. Once again
Pavlos and Nadia from Moosootoo led the way, with a through-till-morning
session on the stone steps of the Merchant Marine School. By now this has
become something of a tradition, and it is one of the most beautiful moments of
music-making that you will find anywhere in the world.
The concert was recorded on
8-track digital sound by the indefatigable Nikos Dionysopoulos (by the
way, a noted ethnomusicologist in his own right, who may present a paper next
year), and was filmed by our director of photography Emilio della Chiesa.
We are slowly moving ahead with our plan to produce a CD of the musics of the
Hydra Gathering.
As one result of this
recording activity, we have now produced a 50-minute film of “The Hydra
Rebetiko Gathering – 2001-2002”, which will shortly be available for sale.
The film was shown in a working version at the Amalour Bar, and on the
Thursday we were able to show Luc Bongrand’s film “On a Moonless
Night” in its newly-dubbed English-language version, which is now available
for sale.
Our speakers for the October 2003 Conference were:
[in alphabetical order]
ALI
FUAT AYDIN with CENK GURAY of
Ankara: a paper on "The Role of the Female Voice in the Smyrneika”
IVI
DERMANCI of Istanbul: a singing workshop on “The
Women’s Voice in Rebetiko”
MARK DRAGOUMIS of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies, Athens: "The
Politissa of Markos Vamvakaris"
ED
EMERY of the Institute of Rebetology, London: "In
Memoriam Elias Petropoulos: Les Juifs de Salonique”
KRINI
KAFIRIS of Athens: “Towards a Filmography of Rebetiko”
DIMITRA LASPIA of
Edinburgh: a paper on "Dancing the
'Zeibekiko': Men in Performances of Vulnerability and Hegemony".
RUTH
MARGRAFF and NIKOS BRISCO from
New York: a performance and talk about the Greek music inspiration in their
working-class operas Judges 19: Black Lung Exhaling and Café
Andartes.
PAVLOS
MELAS of moosootoo.com: "Rebetiko in Today's World –
Mapping a Musical Movement"
JASON
MELISSINOS of Athens: A Karaghiozis shadow puppet
performance.
NADIA MINTILOGLITI of London:
"Rembetisses and non-rembetisses: the image of the rembetissa now and
then"
MADELYN
TAYLOR of California: a dance workshop on “Zeibekika: Up
Close and Personal ”
YANNIS
ZAIMAKIS of the University of Thrace: "The world
of the tekke in pre-war Heracleion: Symbolisms and rituals".
CRITICISMS
Once again
we had difficulties in finding funding for the conference. Again this year we
had no money from the Ministry of Culture or from the local provincial
government (Nomarchia). On the other hand a number of individuals have
given generously from their own pockets, and that has been a great help. They
know who they are, and on behalf of the Gathering I extend heartfelt thanks to
them.
It has once
again been clear that many Greek academics in the "rebetology"
community will not attend such a conference unless their expenses are paid. In
my opinion this is pitiful behaviour, and contrasts with the generous attitude
of our non-Greek participants, who generally pay all their own expenses (air
fares, ferries and hotels) and also pay registration fees.
THANKS
Many people
helped to make the Hydra Rebetiko Gathering a success. We would like to thank
the Mayor of Hydra Constantinos Anastopoulos and the Municipality for
their support. [Waiting outside his office for seven hours on Tuesday was not
exacly an enjoyable experience, but in the end it appears that he is keen to
support our activities.] And once again we thank Anna Rousi of the Hydra
Development Office and her colleagues. Without Anna’s help this conference
would never have happened.
For travel
arrangements once again we thank Olympic Airways, and in particular Kostas
Konstantinidis (London) and Vassilis Gougoulidis (Istanbul) who were
wonderfully helpful. On Hydra I should mention Lakis Christidis for
allowing me to unburden problems during our evening swims from the rocks at
Spilia. And in Athens thanks are due to Sophia Arsenidou of the Museum
of Folk Instruments for willingly assisting where necessary.
This year
the organiser of our musicians, Andreas Tsekouras, was not able to
attend, but in the run-up to the conference he assisted greatly with his usual
imagination and creativity. Thanks are again due to our cinematographer Emilio
della Chiesa, who has laboured long and hard in shooting and editing the
film of the Gathering. And last but not least, thanks again to the Modern Greek
Section of the University of Cambridge and David Holton who provided the
original seed sponsorship.
¶
Our next conference will be held in Hydra on 13-17 October 2004. Its theme will
be "MODES AND ROADS, TAXIMIA AND MAQAMS".
We shall be looking at the theories and techniques of Arabic, Ottoman and
Anatolian music, and the ways in which they are represented in Greek music and
in Rebetiko in particular. This promises to be a most stimulating and
challenging project. We welcome contributions from all persons wishing to
contribute to the conference. If you wish to attend the 2004 Gathering, please send
your contact details to the conference organiser, and a Registration Form will
be sent by return.
Full
details of the Hydra Gathering are on our website at
http://www.geocities.com/HydraGathering.
To
register for the conference, please send your details
by
e-mail to rebetology@yahoo.com
by
mail to:
Ed
Emery
[Hydra
Rebetiko Gathering]
Peterhouse,
Cambridge
CB2 1RD
UK
or
by fax to: 0044 [0] 870 133 0145
You
can also contact us by phone and SMS at 0044 [0] 795 755 6352
FURTHER
INITIATIVES
The
Hydra Rebetiko Gathering is part of a wider initiative entitled THE FREE
UNIVERSITY OF HYDRA. This organisation is dedicated to the study and
research of all matters concerning the culture, economics, history and social
life of all the countries which border the Mediterranean.
For
October 2005 we are planning a conference, to be held on Hydra, on “THE ROLE
OF THE DONKEY IN THE CULTURE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN”. Contact details as
above.
For
October 2006, we are planning a major event, also to be held on Hydra – a “PAN-MEDITERRANEAN
FIDDLERS’ CONVENTION”. The programme is currently in preparation, and
details will be circulated to you.
You
may also be interested in the second of the REBETIKO SUMMER SCHOOLS, to
be held at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, on the
first weekend of August 2004.
Francesco
Martinelli’s report on the Hydra
Gathering is at http://www.rootsworld.com/rw/
STOP PRESS:
A late item of news. The Mayor’s Office has notified me that in 2004 the
Municipality will support the Hydra Rebetiko Conference financially. A suitably
uplifting note on which to end this Newsletter…
With
rebetological greetings,
Ed
Emery
