The Dying and Deathless Musician in Modern Greek Culture: Nikos Xylouris and Manos Loizos

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Date
2011
Authors
Michael, Despina
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Flinders University Department of Languages - Modern Greek
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Abstract
The aim of this paper is to explore the way that the image of popular musicians in Greece is informed, modified and transformed by death. The image of the dying musician has become established in Greek tradition and is a common motif in both oral and literary sources where the death of the musician is invariably presented as both a personal and national loss. Indeed, it can be argued, that it is at the point of death that the musician truly “belongs” to “the people”. In the case of Nikos Xylouris and Manos Loizos, both musicians were loved and esteemed by friends, colleagues and the general populace alike. Their respective deaths were documented in great detail. Despite the abundance of information, however, the posthumous images which evolved drew on generic, mythic images of the dying and deathless musician already in existence in the culture. My focus is on exploring this process.
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Greek Research, Greece, Australia, Despina Michael
Citation
Michael, Despina 2009. The Dying and Deathless Musician in Modern Greek Culture: Nikos Xylouris and Manos Loizos. In M. Rossetto, M. Tsianikas, G. Couvalis and M. Palaktsoglou (Eds.) "Greek Research in Australia: Proceedings of the Eighth Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies, Flinders University June 2009". Flinders University Department of Languages - Modern Greek: Adelaide, 369-385.