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Blind rhapsodists: the image of the modern Greek popular musician

This thesis sets out to explore, define and analyse the image of the Modern Greek Popular Musician between approximately 1945 and 1990 as expressed in a variety of written texts. The main argument is that there is a mythic approach in the presentation of the aforesaid image within the context 'of prevailing ideological and political concerns in modern Greek culture since the end of the War, and the ongoing influences of Western philhellenic ideals and Greek nationalism. Secondly, it is argued that the recurrence of common images points to an overall image for the popular musician which is composed of a number of general, diachronic images. The general images have been abstracted from a Typology constructed in a succinct and comprehensive way to show the wide variety of images of the popular musician over the last forty-five years. Despite this variety, however, it is argued that there a certain number of general images which are pivotal to any understanding of the overall image of the popular musician and which can be applied to all the case studies (six in total) which have also been included in the discussion and, indeed, to virtually all Modern Greek popular musicians. / Finally, it is argued that the presence of recurring general images of the popular musician (which are neither random nor arbitrary) point to the strong cultural significance of that image. It is suggested that the popular musician is perceived to be a prominent figure in modern Greek culture precisely because there is a need for Culture Heroes in modern Greece; the musician seems to fulfil the relevant criteria by making an important contribution to his/her nation's culture and acting as a role-model for his/her people. Furthermore, it is contended that certain cultural values, beliefs and national preoccupations are expressed and reaffirmed in the image of the popular musician which makes its study all the more important.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/245715
Date January 1998
CreatorsMichael, Despina
Source SetsAustraliasian Digital Theses Program
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
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