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Music-making in the social world of a Cretan town (Heraklion 1900–1960): a contribution to the study of non-commercial rebetiko

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2011

Yiannis Zaimakis
Yiannis Zaimakis
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Crete, Greece. E-mail: zaimakisj@social.soc.uoc.gr
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Abstract

Drawing on a range of biographical, historical, ethnographical and musicological sources, this article presents the social and historical factors contributing to the evolution in the early 20th century of a local variant of rebetiko around the Lakkos brothel district in Heraklion, the largest city in Crete. It explores the influence of a wider multicultural context on local music-making and reveals the relationship between the social life and economy of the Lakkos area and its musical and stylistic sensibilities. Emphasis is also placed on the musical culture of local subcultural space, particularly with respect to the functions of musical practices in everyday life and the poetics of improvised songs. Investigation of the social world in Lakkos suggests that the forerunners of rebetiko can be explored as a hybrid music scene associated with cross-cultural interaction between different social and ethnic groups and musical traditions. The societal and aesthetic codes of this scene, with its low life themes, coarse melodies and allegedly alien influences were seen by local elites as compromising the moral values of respectable society and subverting efforts to cultivate a national identity.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 1 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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