We tend to perceive music as a form of entertainment - as a luxury, ultimately as something unnecessary. And indeed, the music we usually listen to serves this purpose: to entertain. But what was the primary function of music? Why did people start singing and dancing in the first place?
Christopher King, an award-winning music producer and avid collector of gramophone records, argues that music in its original form is a remedy for the wounds of the soul - something as essential as air and food.
Gradually, music ceased to have this function. The fragile cultural ecosystems within which music performed its healing work were destroyed.
With the exception of a remote corner of Greece, at the edge of Europe - Epirus. Here, as if by miracle, an ancient way of life was kept alive, allowing music to maintain its therapeutic role. King takes us on a tour of this harsh yet magical place, where music becomes one with poetry, dance, and celebration.
King writes about the history of Epirus and the grandeur of its landscape, about festivals, tsipouro, and Gypsy musicians, about collective experiences and shared memories. He speaks to us about music as lament, as lullaby, and as consolation. He talks about people who know how to mourn and know how to celebrate.
Combining philosophical reflection with historical description, musicological analysis with an anthropological perspective, this passionate and playful narrative ultimately takes the form of a love letter to the music and people of Epirus.
Manufacturer
- Author
- Christopher C. King
- Publisher
- Doma
- Language
- Greek
- Subtitle
- A journey to the oldest living popular music of Europe
- Cover
- Soft
- Number of Pages
- 427
- Release Date
- -
- Publication Date
- 2018
- Award
- -
- Art Albums
- Yes
- Subjects
- Cinema, Music, Theory & History of Art
- ISBN-13
- 9786185598051
Important information
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