A Greek Songbook

Item

Title

A Greek Songbook

Date

19–21 November 2021

Date Issued

2021

Abstract

"The Alternative Stage of the Greek National Opera presents the new ambitious production “A Greek Songbook”, a Greek collection of songs for the bicentennial of the 1821 Greek Revolution, curated by Kornilios Selamsis. Over 30 creators from the fields of art music and popular music and the performing arts create bold compositions, songs and images. Assembled in three concert programmes, the building blocks of the Songbook (themselves divided into three categories: songs, instrumental compositions and video art works) leverage a wide spectrum of creators from the fields of “art” and “popular” music, whose only common feature is the incompatibility (under normal circumstances) of their aesthetic and technical approaches. Without otherwise attempting to disguise its innate contradictions, the resultant material is being streamlined at the level of its sonic materialisation by the use of three instrumental quartets (“folk”, “classical” and “pop”), each with its own unique connotations, resulting in a confrontational configuration that endeavours to formally render the slew of heterogeneous streams commingled in the cultural and political crucible of 1821. The project is founded on the common use by all participants of a body of curated historical material (texts, tunes or narrations) directly or indirectly related to persons and events of the Greek War of Independence - a fragmentary landscape of singing ruins, around which the descendants may build their contemporary superstructure."
(Edited description from organiser’s website: https://2021.nationalopera.gr/art-never-ending-revolution)