Musical Nationalism, Despotism and Scholarly Interventions in Greek Popular Music

Rezensionen / Stimmen

Ordoulidis .. is well equipped to embark on this analysis through his combined expertise in musicology, Greek ecclesiastical chanting, and popular music performance. ... Overall, the book is a product of evident passion and knowledge, impressive in its depth and detail. * 2022 Yearbook for Traditional Music * Scholars of popular music have long been in search of its historical longue duree, the path along which multiple repertories, styles and social practices have converged over time, from diverse origins in the past to the sonorous cosmopolitanism of the present. Nikos Ordoulidis takes readers on a journey across this historical landscape in Greece, navigating a complex of distinctively Greek popular musics, those that fill the ecclesiastical worlds of the Orthodox Church and the national politics immanent in secular laiko music. Ordoulidis deftly weaves together analytical details from the songs themselves with his own captivating scholarly engagement. * Philip V. Bohlman, Ludwig Rosenberger Distinguished Service Professor in Jewish History and Music, the University of Chicago, USA * Ordoulidis, a scholar-performer, rejects both the neoclassical and the medievalist versions of musical ethno-nationalism. He shows here how attempts to forge a Byzantine genealogy for a famous popular Greek song distort the realities of musical creativity. This book is an original and critical contribution to cultural historiography. * Michael Herzfeld, Ernest E. Monrad Research Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University, USA * This book is truly out of the ordinary. The edition is in English, and ... the topic is unmistakably Greek. Yet it should be read by many, if they have an interest in music, culture, history (not only of Greece), and if they want to be surprised and captivated by a fascinating story full of suggestive details. * Franco Fabbri, musician, musicologist, and broadcaster, Radiotelevisione Svizzera * In the work of Ordoulidis ... a theoretical perspective is called for that approaches the two genres [Greek urban popular music and Byzantine music] from a historical-concrete and musicological perspective, since despite the fact that they are different genres, they manifest similar cultural and musical traits. For this reason, Ordoulidis' book seems to me to be a particularly important reference point for Spanish musicology and flamenco scholars in particular. * Gerhard Steingress, Sinfonia Virtual *