Introduction

It should be noted from the outset that the semantic field of paradosiaká is rather wider than the definition offered above. After the dictatorship2 (1967-1974), it was mainly used by Athenians as a synonym for dimotikó (δημοτικό = of the people > folk), an umbrella term for a variety of distinct regional styles,3 and in particular in reference to the various dimotikó styles that were performed in Athens in clubs catering chiefly for regional communities. It was also associated with the seminal musical practice of singer Dómna Samíou (see Chapter 1), who in the early 1970s had left her post at the state radio and had started giving concerts of folk music

which incorporated sections with music from different cultural regions. In contrast, interest in the eastern instruments, developed in the context of their (re)discovery from the late 1970s and early 1980s onwards, was indexed especially by terms such as ‘oriental’ (anatolítika), ‘Byzantine’ (Vyzantiná), or ‘Smyrnaic’ (Smyrnaíika).