GREEK NATIONAL HERO:THE GREEK SPIRIT

Music School of Agrinio

Comenius Project

“Of Folk Music and Men”

2012 - 2014

THE STUDENTS OF THE MUSIC SCHOOL OF

AGRINIOUNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

STAVROULA ALEXAKIENGLISH TEACHER

To be read as an introduction

to our video presentation

“The Greek Spirit”,

our “National Hero” Project Product

RATIONALE

Inspired by our work on Greek Folk Music and having explored the origins and transformations of Greek Folk Songs throughout the centuries, we have decided that the figure we would like to explore as our “Hero” is the Greek Spirit.

The lives of ordinary people, both men and women, as well as the lives of outstanding Greek people, again both men and women, as sung and praised in our rich musical tradition have been the subject matter of both obscure and renowned artists who have woven the tapestry of what it means to be Greek.

Starting with the origins of Greek Folk Songs, which go back to ancient times, we have explored a wide variety of Greek Folk Songs, namely :

The Akritic Folk Songs (or the songs of the frontier guards defending the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire)

The Songs of Ksenitia (or of the Longing for one’s Homeland)

The Songs of the Klefts (or of Greek Revolutionaries)

LullabiesThe Rebetika Songs

Through this overview, a pattern began to emerge: The Greek spirit with its capacity for endurance, ingenuity, tenderness and persistence has helped shape a unique combination of qualities which have been the “trademark” of Greek people throughout the centuries.

On their journey through time, the Greek people have roamed first the Mediterranean Basin and later on the world, at times explorers, travelers, traders, colonizers, invaders, suppliants, exiles or immigrants. They have come in contact with various peoples both of the East and the West, they have influenced multiple cultures while being influenced themselves.

JOURNEY,PAINTING, OIL ON CANVASBY APOSTOLOS KOUSTAS

This is the fusion we decided to celebrate, both in this Comenius Project entitled “Of Folk Music and Men” and in the “National Hero” Project Product. Through our contact with our partners, we have come to realise that there are ever-present connections in the different aspects of our lives, so we thought it fit to create our “Greek Spirit” video presentation in order to record all the prominent Greek moments in our vast history that have brought us closer to the people around us.

In the video, we re-trace our people’s steps to ancient times and we commemorate their times of suffering and pain, their times of glory and bliss, their times of passion and creativity, their times of solidarity and endurance.

We feel that all of you will relate to them, as our journey through time does not necessarily embody only what is Greek; it rather has a universal quality of what is actually the journey of humanity on this Earth, as the lives of all people converge or in a way move in concentric circles, sometimes overlapping, sometimes colliding.

PERPETUAL SAILING PORTABLE FRESCO

BY APOSTOLOS KOUSTAS

We hope that you will enjoy our journey, that you will relate to us, that you will recognize aspects of your own people in it, that you will understand why Greek Music, Literature and Philosophy are still relevant today:

Humanistic values, the example of ordinary men and women who acquire extra-ordinary dimensions in order to make it through life’s countless difficulties and in order to face its challenges, all this is clearly what the world needs today in order to move forward towards a peaceful, hopeful future.