Greek Rebetiko from a Psychocultural Perspective

This study examines the ways in which audiences in present-day Greece and Turkey perceive and use the Greek popular song genre rebetiko to cultivate cultural habits and identities. Rebetiko has been associated chiefly with the lower strata of Greek society, but Daniel Koglin explores aspects of rebetiko which intellectual elites on both sides of th

Greek Rebetiko from a Psychocultural Perspective: Same Songs Changing Minds examines the ways in which audiences in present-day Greece and Turkey perceive and use the Greek popular song genre rebetiko to cultivate specific cultural habits and identities. In the past, rebetiko has been associated chiefly with the lower strata of Greek society. But Daniel Koglin approaches the subject from a different perspective, exploring the mythological and ritual aspects of rebetiko, which intellectual elites on both sides of the Aegean Sea have adapted to their own world views in our age of globalized consumption. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods from ethnomusicology, ritual studies, conceptual history and music psychology, Koglin casts light on the role played by national perceptions in the processes of music production and consumption. His analysis reveals that rebetiko persistently oscillates between conceptual categories: it is a music both ours and theirs, marginal and mainstream, joyful and grievous, sacred and profane. The study culminates in the thesis that this semantic multistability is not only a key concept to understanding the ongoing popularity of rebetiko in Greece, and its recent renaissance in Turkey, but also a fundamental aspect of the human experience on the south-eastern borders of Europe.

Autorentext
Daniel Koglin teaches music theory and flute instruments at a music school for Byzantine and traditional Greek music in Athens. He has authored Gelebtes Spiel - gespieltes Leben (2002) and several journal and book articles on Greek music. He holds a PhD degree in musicology from Humboldt University of Berlin.

Klappentext

Greek Rebetiko from a Psychocultural Perspective: Same Songs Changing Minds examines the ways in which audiences in present-day Greece and Turkey perceive and use the Greek popular song genre rebetiko to cultivate specific cultural habits and identities. In the past, rebetiko has been associated chiefly with the lower strata of Greek society. But Daniel Koglin approaches the subject from a different perspective, exploring the mythological and ritual aspects of rebetiko, which intellectual elites on both sides of the Aegean Sea have adapted to their own world views in our age of globalized consumption. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods from ethnomusicology, ritual studies, conceptual history and music psychology, Koglin casts light on the role played by national perceptions in the processes of music production and consumption. His analysis reveals that rebetiko persistently oscillates between conceptual categories: it is a music both ours and theirs, marginal and mainstream, joyful and grievous, sacred and profane. The study culminates in the thesis that this semantic multistability is not only a key concept to understanding the ongoing popularity of rebetiko in Greece, and its recent renaissance in Turkey, but also a fundamental aspect of the human experience on the south-eastern borders of Europe.

Inhalt

Glossary Index
List of tables
List of musical transcriptions
Preface

Introduction The Discursive Construction of Rebetiko

Chapter 1 Discursive Mode I (Myth): Telling Tales of Rebetiko

Chapter 2 Discursive Mode II (Ritual): Performing Rites of Rebetiko

Chapter 3 Rebetiko in Istanbul: A View from the Bosporus

Chapter 4 The Semantic Space of Rebetiko

Chapter 5 Rebetiko as a Conceptual and Experiential System

Appendix*References
List of figures*