[MGSA-L] Princeton Hellenic Studies Lecture and Performance: March 3, 2014

[Dimitri H. Gondicas]

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY



Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies



Lecture and Performance


Post-Byzantine Musical Manuscripts:
A Source for Oriental Secular Music


Kyriakos Kalaitzidis

Artistic Director, En Chordais


Post-Byzantine musical manuscripts constitute a very important written source for the secular music of the Middle East. This source material covers a time span from the turn of the fifteenth century to the year 1830, when there appeared the first printed collection of secular music. The amount of the material is impressive and the main bulk consists of official musical compositions for the Ottoman court, together with Phanariot songs, Greek traditional songs, and Persian Art Music. From the formal point of view, in addition to musicological information, this material offers new insights into the broader social context and the cultural environment; the Phanariots and their songs; influences on the musical practice and teaching; the general relation of the post-Byzantine musical world vis-à-vis Eastern art music; the contribution of Manuel II Palaeologus in the oldest transcription and the effect and reflection of the broader political and social developments of the time in the noted secular music trend.

Kyriakos Kalaitzidis, composer and performer, is the artistic director and cofounder of the highly acclaimed "En Chordais," an award-winning ensemble dedicated to the study and performance of multicultural, learned and popular musical traditions of the Mediterranean, exploring both their creative continuity and their encounters with contemporary musical trends. Kalaitzidis studied Byzantine music, earning a Ph.D. in Byzantine Musicology, University of Athens. In 1986 he began a study of the oud; today he is one of the most distinguished performers and teachers of the instrument. As "En Chordais" member, or as soloist, he has performed in over 2,000 concerts in 40 countries at major festivals and venues. His book Post-Byzantine Music Manuscripts as a Source for Oriental Secular Music (15th to early 19th century) was published in 2012.

Web site:  http://www.enchordais.gr


Monday, March 3, 2014

4:30 p.m.

Scheide Caldwell House, Room 103




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