New project will form first ever archive of Greek-American music (video)

The new “Greek Music in America Archives Project,” funded by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2019-2020, will be the first-ever comprehensive and publicly-accessible collection of Greek music recorded in America or recorded in Greece by American companies, from 1896 to 1985, according to greekreporter.com. Comprised of analog discs, audiotapes, piano rolls, cylinders, and associated ephemera such as record catalogs, sheet music, images, and other media, this would be the first such time such a resource has ever been compiled. The endeavor is a cooperation between Florida Cultural Resources, Inc. and the Archives of Traditional Music (ATM) and Indiana University. The director of the ambitious project is Tina Bucuvalas, who organized it in consultation with archivists and music specialists. The millions of members of the Greek diaspora naturally brought the music of their homeland with them to their new nations. Music was a big part of most social occasions, bringing people together in song and dance. It was such a priceless component of Greek communities that it formed a kind of cultural glue. Greek music record production became a natural outgrowth of this need for Greek-Americans to keep the memories of their homeland alive. Along with its preservation through live performance and record production, there continued to be permutations of Greek music, as the new land offered new and diverse influences to it. Even though nostalgia for the homeland was predominant – and therefore most music recorded in America was traditional – sometimes new styles also came into the mix. From 1896 to 1942, more than 1,000 records featuring Greek music came onto the market in the U.S. and thousands more have been released since that time, as new recording techniques made it possible to record sound with greater acoustic fidelity. The new project is comprised of three parts: 1) surveying current holdings in the Archives of Traditional Music or materials relevant to the GMAAP; (2) acquiring about 1000 recordings not already in the ATM; 3) cataloging newly acquired materials using the Folklore Collections Database of the National Folklore Archives Initiative.  Along with Bucuvalas, the team is made up of archivist/folklorist Andy Kolovos, who has expertise in archiving folklife and audio materials, as well as knowledge of collections nationwide and recorded Greek music connoisseurs Meletios Pouliopoulos and Steve Frangos, who will acquire the collection. Consultants and advisors for the project will include Dick Spottswood, an expert in ethnic music recordings; ethnomusicologist Michael G. Kaloyanides, knowledgeable in Greek urban and rural genres; as well as ethnomusicologist Panayotis League, who is an expert in traditional Greek island music.  RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations, Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC-BY-SA Copyright: Rennett Stowe  Source: Florida Division of Cultural Resources Let's block ads! (Why?)