Music from Greece :: 23
Last night I listened to a radio show on an (former very good) alternative music radio channel. For the very first time someone requested a greek song, that of course was interesting to me. But how pathetic ! The request was for an old-fashioned mainstream song of old traditional greek music, and they played it ! Better play nothing if you have no idea. The greek language is totally under-represented on radio here, nobody seems to have any idea about it or even worse - wrong ideas.
Me too I didn’t know much about greek music in my first years in Greece (i was no music journalist after all). But i always liked the sound that came from the radio in those old busses while driving through the wildest landscapes, or in supermarkets where you could get milk and a bottle of water late at night. But it happened that I spent some time on a small island together with another guest in the house there, in off-season (we were the only non-locals on the whole islands i think), who turned out to be the lead singer* of a famous greek rockband ( probably the most famous of that time ). In those nights sitting at the terrace listening to the sound of the waves he’d explain his way of songwriting (very special, interesting !) to me, while i was writing short stories and travel diaries. Funny coincidence ! Back home I did a little research and found out that this band was kind of the „noir desire“ of greece, or the greek „heroes del silencio“. Or even better. Later on a greek friend gave me some good traditional folk music, and other stuff. Good people, good music. So yes, maybe there is mainstream traveling and mainstream music. Both is easy, and it’ll tell you there is no other thing. And maybe it’s true that from the music one listens to one can tell about the person.
# the analog youth # music # travel #
greek music (c) 2023
*the band split up that time, and he continued as a very good solo musician, producing very good music until today ::