Evaggelos Papageorgiou is no stranger to musicology; the study of historical forms and techniques of musical performance through the ages. He is both an instrumentalist and composer with his predominant interest being the historical roots and influence of Hellenic music and theatre performance beginning with the ancient Greeks through to the present day.
Through the Australian Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA), Vangelis collects, records and notates oral performances of traditional Greek songs and performances as recalled by relatively new (but now older) Greek immigrants to Australia.
It is a well accepted fact that the cultural, institutional and intellectual innovations of the ancient Greeks provided the impetus for the successive philosophical and scientific revolutions of the Western world.
If one considers the expanse of time from the Ancient Greeks to the present - some two and a half thousand years - and the vast amount of scholarly work on any single (ancient) Greek philosopher (Plato for example) available today, it is readily discovered that it requires a critical and flexible mind and method to dispose of a mass of detail to focus on singular facts that would shed new light on ancient forms and bring then to life in a contemporary context.
The actual practices of the ancients as opposed to the stereotypical inventions of the Baroque composers would be a case in point. The (baroque) style has nothing to with 'Greekness' per se. On the other hand the subject matter - say Handel’s' Xerxes or Alceste take their origins in Greek myth but the musical ornamentation, methods and instrumentation do not. Such were inventions and styles contemporary with the times - the middle of the 17th century.
By this time what was once a concatenation of successive musical intervals - referred to these days as 'modes', had merged into the singular more versatile and flexible 'diatonic' scale that dominates almost all forms of contemporary western music.
Vangelis points out that modern systems of notation work well for orchestras of the modern type and uses such himself in the notation of ancient songs but it is a different universe between an orchestral work with modern instruments and the sounds and 'modes' of a tune created in ancient times.
There is the further difficulty in that 99.99% of all music performance past and present is not under the eyes or ears of academics but heard and performed oblivious to the prying of yet to be born fans and critics. What the present day westerner would refer to as 'folk' music - or 'demotic' - to the occasional musicologist, consist of improvisations coloured and overlayed by ornamentations.
The performance is only available to those who were there at the time. Such are not amenable to unambiguous musical statements in written form as the complexities are dictated by the personalities and abilities of the performers alone at that time and that time only. This may be endless fun for the musician but a nightmare for the serious musicologist.
By way of a contemporary example, almost everybody has heard of ‘The Blues' and can recognize the form aurally. What they cannot recognize is the impetus that moves a simple tune forward that registers permanently in the listeners’ brain. It is not so much the 'tune' or the melody but the ornamentation that goes along with it. A 'bend' there, a 'twang' over there, notes too long, words too short etc. Likewise the study of almost all demotic or 'folk' practices whether Ancient Greek or traditional 'blues'. Between any two notes there is infinitude of notes that do not correspond with those of the scale. In other words it is the microtones between the notes that make the music 'musical' to the ear. It is the ornamentation that makes the music move.
This does not sit well with the arts of contemporary orchestral composition and practice. The musician in the habit of improvising does not like being told what, when or how to play (unless you're an idiot from the Conservatorium)
It is this problem that Vangelis and any other composer mixing traditional folk instruments with the modern have to countervail in some way.
Evaggelos expresses his present mission with a philosophical feel: "to blend the traditional with the modern and to marry emotion and inheritance is the most challenging path for me"
In partnership with Australian Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA), Evaggelos inspires leads and conducts a popular choir.
Its members perform traditional and modern compositions influenced by the Greek musical heritage. The choir gets to be busy with engagements around Christmas, performing in many community venues. They are very welcome guests in many aged care and nursing homes.
This community service is his way of keeping the traditional oral heritage through the choir as Evaggelos vehicle he presents and blends his heritage with the present modern expression
Vangelis also advises Pegasus Association members on their Greek musicological inheritance.
"With both community groups I am an unpaid artist, composer, conductor and musicologist in residence"
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