A report on the fourth international conference
"Researching Rebetika: Present Projects and Future
Prospects"
held on the Island of Hydra, 13-17 October 2004
By tradition I offer an account of
each year’s Hydra Rebetiko Conference, partly for our sponsors and supporters,
and partly for those of our members who could not be with us. My account
follows below.
DATES FOR DIARIES
But first, here are some dates for
your diaries.
The Fifth (yes, fifth!) Hydra
Rebetiko Conference will be held on the island of Hydra from Thursday 13
October to Sunday 16 October 2005. There will be a special event entitled “Homage
to Vamvakaris” for the centenary of Markos’s birth. The more general theme
of this year’s conference is “Politics and Rebetiko, and the Politics of
Rebetiko”. Details and registration forms at www.oocities.org/HydraGathering.
Papers are also invited, covering both aspects of the conference.
On the preceding weekend, also on
Hydra (6th to 9th October 2005) we are organising an international conference
on “The Role of the Donkey and Mule in the Culture of the Mediterranean”.
This conference will bring together speakers from all around the Mediterranean,
as well as focussing on the mule and donkey culture of Hydra itself. The
conference is open to the general public.
On 23-25 June 2005 the Rebetiko
Summer School will again take place at the School of Oriental and African
Studies [SOAS], London. Programme details will include papers devoted to Markos
Vamvakaris, and a presentation by Stelios Vamvakaris.
On Saturday 1 October 2005 there
will be a “Musical Event in Istanbul”. This will bring together Turkish
and Greek musicians for free open-air evening concert in the park next to the
Galata Bridge in Istanbul, plus musical seminars involving our musical
colleagues from Istanbul. All are welcome – do come and join us. Write for details.
And in March 2005 it is possible
that together with Italian musical colleagues we shall be organising a “Rebetiko
Roadshow in Venice” (our usual characteristic mix of seminars, musical
performance and good eating and drinking).
All these events are open to the
general public. If you want further details, please write in the first instance
to rebetology@yahoo.com.
GENERAL OVERVIEW
The general principles of the Hydra
Conference are laid out in earlier conference reports on our website.
This year there has been a
sea-change. Our intention all along has been to generate high-quality original
musicological research, and this is now beginning to make itself felt at our
conferences. Anyone who was present this year will vouch for the remarkable
quality and seriousness of all our papers and presentations.
The second success has been our
ability to reach out to the Greek diaspora who do not necessarily read or write
Greek. I regularly receive letters from people appreciating the way that we
make research into Greek music available in the English language.
The third success has been our
relationship with the island of Hydra. This year for the first time the Municipality
of Hydra voted to commit moneys to payment for the musicians at our
Saturday Night Concert, and they are also supporting the activities of the Free
University of Hydra [see below].
And the fourth success has been our
project to blend the Hydra Conference activities with our London-based “Rebetiko
@ SOAS” seminars – a series of monthly seminars with invited speakers and
musicians, taking place on the last Friday of every month at the School of
Oriental and African Studies in London. Work done in the one venue is also
reflected in the other.
As regards the further dissemination
of English-language research materials, I continue working with Yannis
Zaimakis of the University of Crete on a book of “Rebetiko Research
Papers”. It is slowly taking shape, and a lot of the materials have now
been gathered. There is also a small project for broadcasting our SOAS seminars
live on the Internet. This is planned to start in March 2005.
Our
other initiative, the Free University of Hydra, is a
conference-based organisation 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. It operates with support from the
Mayor and Municipality of the island of Hydra. A programme of pan-Mediterranean
conferences is being prepared.
SPEAKERS
The title of this year’s
conference was “Roads and Modes, Taximia and Maqam”. If you weren’t with us, then I wish you had
been. Cultural treasures chests were opened for us and the wealth of their
contents expounded most splendidly. Anyway, rhetoric aside, we had wonderful
presentations on maqam in the Phanariot music of Constantinople (John
Plemmenos of the Ionian University, Corfu); on maqam in Ottoman and Turkish
music (Cahit Baylav, violinist and musicologist, of London); and on
maqam in Greek, Turkish and Persian music (two fine sessions by Christos
Tsiamoulis of the Odeion Athinon) [Summary].
Gail Holst-Warhaft of
Cornell University – the “godmother”, if she’ll forgive me, of Rebetiko studies
in the English language – opened our proceedings in the Melina Mercouri Hall
with "Mode, microtonality, and affect: Aristotle and the
rebetika".
Wide-ranging and splendidly titled.
Recalling other papers,
in no particular order: Ali Fuat Aydin of Izmir [Summary] gave an account
of his own activities collecting zeibekiko music in Turkey – and
presented the conference with an amazing volume plus CDs representing his
studies over a period of 20 years.
For technical considerations arising in the creation of a
genre, we had a paper from Pavlos
Erevnidis of
Athens [Paper to be posted] analysing comparative techniques between the
musicians of Istanbul and Athens. Marc Dubin (London) [Summary] gave an account of the creation of his
wonderful “Rough Guide to
Rebetiko”
CD. And Gerhard Steingress of the University of
Seville [Summary] gave a comparative
sociological analysis of the worlds of Flamenco and Rebetiko (not to mention
Tango). Hands-on historical research was provided by Grigoris Bayiokas of Thessaloniki [Summary], with a paper
analysing lawcourt records as a way of understanding the social world of the
rebetes in the period 1936-40.
As well as
playing some solid baglama at our Saturday Concert, Hugo Strötbaum of
the University of Nijmegen [Summary] presented a
paper on Dr J.K. Sutherland, ud-player
and makam-specialist from Flint, Michigan. On a general historical
front, Ed Emery [Summary] presented a
paper on the collecting activities of French musicologist Louis-Albert
Bourgault-Ducoudray in Asia Minor. And attesting to the Rebetiko interest among
Greeks in Australia, George Kyriakidis of Melbourne did a
teleconferencing presentation of his beloved Turconi laterna.
Stavros Stavrou Karayanni of Nicosia [Summary] presented a remarkable
paper on the grammar
and politics of dance, the case of the tsifteteli. Remarkable not least because
Stavros gave his own memorable performance of the dance. Madelyn Taylor of
California [Summary] continued her sterling work on the dances of Greece, this year featuring
sessions on hasapikos and hasapaservikos. And Nikos
Politis of Athens [Summary] developed a
strand of work that we have being pursuing in the London seminars – on amanedhes
– with a paper on the tradition of the amane in Asia Minor.
In a
last minute addition to the programme Vassilis Petrocheilos of Athens
gave a fulsome account of the musical activities of his grandfather Stavros
Pantelidhis, a prolific composer who has been somehow lost to history. And
instrument-maker Karolos Tsakirian shared with us an account of the life
and times of himself and his family in the instrument-making business.
FILM AND
THEATRE
We were particularly delighted that
Athens-based film director Yorgos Zervas was able to bring his new film
“They Told Me Not to Love You: The Songs of Smyrna and Constantinople”
to our Hydra Conference. And we thank him for his patience with our makeshift
equipment.
Due to the lamentable failure of
Fedex mail distribution the brand new rebetiko documentary by director US-based
Turkish director Nefin Dinc did not reach us in time for the conference.
So we hope to show the film – provisionally titled "Rebetiko: The Song
of Two Cities" – in 2005.
Lakis Christidis of the Hydra Cinema Club
had kindly offered us the use of the island’s open-air cinema for our shows.
Just as well we didn’t use it. We had a massive thunderstorm and a powercut
when Jason, Alexandros and Anna Melissinos presented their
Karaghiozis play “O Karaghiozis Sfoungaras” in honour of the one-time
sponge-diving industry of Hydra and the building where we were hosted – the Bratsera
Hotel, once a sponge factory. The powercut meant that we had to continue
the shadow theatre show by torchlight – a surreal and thoroughly memorable
experience!
MUSIC AND MUSICIANS
This year the Stelios Vamvakaris
Band came to play for us at our Saturday Night rebetiko supper at the
Douskos Restaurant. The line-up was Stelios Vamvakaris – bouzouki and
vocals; Evelina Angelou – vocals; Michalis Dimas – baglamas; and Simos
Kokavesis – acoustic guitar and electric guitar. This was a great honour
for us, and they gave us a memorable night of music.
In another musical
manifestation, Kyriakos Gouventas [violin] and Christos Tsiamoulis
[outi and vocals] gave a fine concert recital of the Collected Songs of
Bourgault-Ducoudray: “30 Melodies of Greece and the Orient”,
accompanied by Kyriakos’s observations about the role of the violin in the
music of Anatolia. The concert was filmed and recorded for our Archive.
And there was the usual round of
all-night singing and playing at various restaurants on the island. Especially
the late night jam session in the harbour on Saturday night. The stuff that
dreams are made of…!
RECORDING AND FILMING
This year, as every year, we brought
our film-maker Francisco della Chiesa from Italy to film the Conference
and its associated activities. Our first film, of the Hydra Gathering
2001-2002 conferences, will shortly be available for those who want a copy.
Francisco is planning to spend early 2005 in Hydra editing the film of Hydra
2002-2004. Watch this space.
For those who are interested we also
have available a CD-ROM facsimile edition of the “Trente Melodies de
l’Orient” by L.A. Bourgault-Ducoudray. [Please note that this is
reproduction of the book, not a music CD; however a music CD is also
available.]
Kree Arvanitas, as well as providing
the photo of Christos of To Steki which featured on our 2004
poster, also provided photos of speakers, some of which can now be found on our
website at www.oocities.org/HydraGathering.
And Chris Blackmore laboured
mightily for the duration of the conference, and has produced two CD-Roms
containing recordings of the speakers’ presentations at the conference. Write
for details.
[Incidentally, speakers’ papers,
where available, will eventually be posted on our website at the above
address.]
ABSENT FRIENDS
Ivi Dermanci sent regrets to say that
she would not be able to join us this year. However I was able to meet her in
Istanbul, and the planned October 2005 Istanbul musical event grew out of that
encounter. Paul Astin was also not able to attend – but he says that he
will come for next year’s Vamvakaris commemoration even if he has to swim from
the US. And Hadass Pal-Yarden couldn’t make it to Hydra. However I met
her in Istanbul too, and she gave me a copy of her new CD on Sefardi and Ladino
song. Can be ordered through Kalan.com. Wonderful.
Two of our musician friends were
regrettably unable to attend this year on account of doing military service
in the army – one in the Greek army and one in the Turkish army. Hank
Bradley and Cathie Whitesides weren’t able to make it either – maybe
next year! And, sad to relate, our dear
friend Zaharoula set off from Turkey to join us, but got no further than
Istanbul, where she was rather seriously injured by a flying laptop computer.
Strange but true.
If I have
forgotten anyone in the above account (as I did last year), I apologise in
advance and may the Lord have mercy on my soul…
THANKS
Many people
help 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. Especially we thank Anna Rousi and her colleagues in the Hydra
Development Office. Without Anna’s help this conference would never have
happened.
Particular
thanks are due to the management and staff of the Bratsera Hotel, where
once again we were able to use the conference room for our performance
sessions. And we thank the owners of
various of Hydra’s pensions who made rooms available for some of our
speakers and musicians.
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, who
saves me from going insane when bureaucracies appear intractable. And in Athens
thanks again to Sophia Arsenidou and the staff of the Museum of Folk
Instruments for allowing me to use their verandah as an office once in a while.
A discreet thank-you is due to our sole individual financial sponsor. And last
but not least, thanks again to the Modern Greek Section of the University of Cambridge
and David Holton for providing the original seed sponsorship.
My candle is burning low. I see from
the hourglass that midnight has passed and we are already well into the last
day of the year. So, with the last few scratchings of my quill, allow me to
send you rebetological greetings for a very musical 2005,
Danai, our star performer, on spoons. Photo: Kree
Arvanitas
Ed Emery
London – 31.xii.04