Manolis Manousakis: Homeriads

Whoever Homer was, whether a legend or an actual individual, the poems attributed to him ultimately derive from an ancient and long-standing oral tradition. (Parry and Lord)

Inspired by Homer’s myths and the oral tradition that derives from his storytelling, I will compose a rhapsody making use of audio material from the lives of the Greek Diaspora in New York. In addition, I will turn these oral artifacts into an immersive sound installation, creating new forms of storytelling.

Contemporary Greeks have a rich background of oral traditions transferred from generation to generation, like the “demotic” songs, the urban folk songs called “rebétiko”, and the associated folktales (“paramýthi”), a performance tradition that survived until recently. Drawing inspiration from this vast oral culture, I will reveal how these traditions exist in the orality of the Greek diaspora, helping create a new cultural identity.

How oral traditions form new ways of storytelling within the Greek American community

I will argue that the Greek oral tradition has transformed through the Greek American community, creating new oral conventions. What’s unique in the Greek diaspora is how these unwritten myths, songs, and fairytales have passed from generation to generation in an anecdotal way. Coming from a family that immigrated to the States in the 1940s, I am personally connected to the theme. Having started this research back in 1999 in Chicago, I recorded and created a small archive of interviews and storytellings by second and third generation Greek Americans. The interviews were conducted during the Greek Orthodox Easter, the interviewees sung Greek songs, recited poems, and told anecdotal stories of their ancestors in their mother tongue (English).

How is sound preserved and described in the memories of the Greek diaspora?

The installation will make use of contemporary media, audio recordings, interviews, and analogue audio memorabilia like vinyl records, cassette tapes, found footage etc., and will employ immersive sound techniques along with contemporary recordings of poetry and storytelling. These media will become the source material of the composition.

I will investigate how immersive media can become a new storytelling device and initiate a new narrative tradition. Technology has supplanted more traditional forms of communication. Since the pandemic, digital devices have played the role of a virtual meeting point where direct sensorial communication elements have been replaced by a screen. Our listening culture has also been affected by the media we use to listen (headphones, computer speakers). This social distancing has influenced the orality of our culture, an orality which continues to be very important for the Greeks and the Greek diaspora’s identity and progress.

Far more than “just talking”, the Greek oral tradition refers to a dynamic and highly diverse oral-aural medium for preserving, transmitting, and modifying knowledge, art, and ideas. Recorded stories and memories will form the essential elements of this immersive sound installation, such as wedding videos, bouzouki nights, Easter and other religious events, social gatherings, and pre-recorded music. Additionally, I will create an archive of these materials, which will serve as a research tool for future scholars to engage with the oral traditions of the Greek diaspora.