Melbourne: Theodorakis and the Greek Art-Folk Song

In an effort to assess the spectrum of lament in Greece, this seminar considers musicological, cultural and social issues in Greek popular music, paying due attention to Theodorakis’ work and his contribution into the shaping of the Greek art-folk song. Some well-known examples, varying from rebetiko songs to poetry set to music are presented through their stylistic and formal features, the differences in their morphological structures and their social and cultural influences.
Coinciding with Theodorakis year, as declared by the Greek Ministry of Culture, this seminar also addresses questions of aesthetics and traces the dissemination of the Greek dirge beyond the country through its texts’ translations, recordings’ circulation, concerts, arrangements and new instrumentations, which seem to acquire a metacultural presence that brings these culturally specific expressions of grief before a broader listenership and transforms them into a universal human experience of sorrow and empathy.
About Dr. Maria Athanasiou
Dr. Maria Athanasiou is a Lecturer at Newcastle University and a Researcher at Durham University. Her award-winning work focuses on pedagogical methodologies and assessment across the educational board, popular music performance and interpretation as well as activism, social entrepreneurship and digital business in the creative industries and beyond. She holds a Ph.D. by research in Musicology and has been recently among the Newcastle University Alumni Achievement Awards (2021), the Music and Drama Education Awards (finalist, 2023) and the SheInspires Awards (finalist, 2023 and 2024). She is a member of the British Academy Early Career Researcher Network and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
How to Participate
When: Thursday, 27 March 2025, 7:00pm (8:00pm Great Britain, 10:00pm Athens)
Speaker : Dr Maria Athanasiou
Seminar Title: Theodorakis and the Greek Art-Folk Song
Where : Online – via Facebook/Youtube
Language: English
This is an online-only event, so please join us on YouTube or Facebook.
You don’t need an account with either of these services to just watch the event, but you do need one if you want to participate in the Live Q&A.
At the end of the lecturer’s presentation, we ask our viewers to submit their written questions through the comment or chat function of Facebook or YouTube (you’ll need to have an account with that service to be allowed to comment).
About Greek History and Culture Seminars 2025
This event is part of the series Greek History and Culture Seminars 2025.
Greek History and Culture Seminars 2025 will run between: Thursday, 06 March 2025 and Thursday, 25 September 2025