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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Publisher
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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Keywords
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.