THE HIDDEN, JAZZY ROOT OF GREEK MUSIC

On Tuesday night I attended the concert 'Theosorakis100' at the Athens Concert Hall performed by the Greek National Broadcasting Symphonic Orchestra and singer, Yannis Kotsiras. The evening was memorable for a number of reasons. The orchestra was perfect, Kotsiras' warm, harmonious tenor and stage presence filled the room as expected. It was my first visit to the venue, which for modern standards is quite beautiful, aesthetically and architectonically, although the actual music hall itself is rather spartan. But it was also memorable for the musical discovery I made. The question has fascinated me for a long time why orchestras, other than Greek, are incapable of replicating Greek compositions.

Oct. 21, 2025 ERT National Symphonic Orchestra, Yannis Kotsiras: Ποιος τη ζωη μου - Pios to zoe mou - Who has it in for me. (Partial) (translation). 

It does not matter who the composer is, who the performing artists, they don't seem to be able to reproduce the music as it is supposed to sound. Last night it hit me why that is.

I do not hold any pay grade in musicology, apart of being the daughter of a musician and having grown up around various instruments and live music, both philharmonic and jazz. So the experts must correct me where my intuition goes awry, but somehow I feel I am not wrong in this analysis.

I was helped on my way by the intrepid musicologist, Aristoxenus who has posted two specific podcasts on the YouTube account of Farya Faraji (link) explaining some hermetic concepts rooted in Greek music since time immemorial, like the diatonic mode, microtonality, enharmonics and various other modalities (page).

The ancient Greek styles and modes spread over the Eurasian continent with the conquests of Alexander the Great over the Middle East and far beyond. This is the reason why Greek music sounds so oriental to the untrained ear; actually as Aristoxenus explained, it is the other way around: oriental music sounds Greek.

Aristoxenus also explains that Greek music is awfully close to jazz, which I have noticed, is correct. Many songs in laiki as well as in entechno can effortlessly be adapted to jazz (link) and Latin American samba and rumba rhythms (link). 

Western musicians, having grown up with the idea that Greece is the cradle of Western civilization, come to believe implicitly that Greek music must be interpreted along the tradition of the 18th ad 19th century German Hochkultur, holding that oriental influences are an Ottoman corruption.

Laboring under that false premise they fail to appreciate the leading role of rhythm as they destroy the tempi and staccatos with their long drawn out harmonies. The result is a frustrating, thick, endless slurry of harmonics with percussion reduced to a trickle. Apart from myself, the abomination does not seem to bother anyone particularly. But it drives me up the wall! (link)

In last night's concert the director, Ilias Voudouris mentioned that Theodorakis once remarked that his music is written for, or is best performed, by a symphonic orchestra. He did not seem to have taken exception to German interpretations putting their distinct Teutonic slant on his exquisite 'Axion Esti' (in Munich in 1982: link, how it is supposed to sound: link). 

Now what links this all together? I vaguely remember having once seen a documentary on the history of jazz, prominently listing the New York composers of Jewish origin at the genesis of the then new genre of the musical early in the first half of the last century.

Composers like Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and the Gershwin brothers have become the undying heroes of that epoch. George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' (1924) (link) and 'An American in Paris (1928) (link) come to mind as early jazz pieces based on classical Western convention in which the Jewish tone palette quite clearly comes through. 

Greek music is extraordinarily popular in Israel, an Enlightenment oriented country that seems to have forgotten its own ancient musical traditions in favor of more contemporary Western ones. But once awoken, some of the remnants of the old tone palettes and rhythms still seem to be running in the nation's veins. 

Which might explain the link between Greek music and jazz and why orchestras of the European heritage, be they British, Australian, German, Dutch or Russian are unable to reproduce it as it should be. Closest to the original came an otherwise superb Dutch orchestra, which specializes in the 'lighter' genres, but also failed to recognize the Greek root in almost-but-not-quite syncopation* (link).

It is well possible that an American orchestra like the famous Boston Philharmonic would produce a hell of a 'Suite From the Zorbas Ballet', but I wouldn't entrust it at this point to anyone this side of the Ionian Sea board. 

I will of course try and consult the experts on the issue and add eventual findings in an update. 

Songs and translations on last night's program tagged at "Theodorakis100", 

- More on music videos, Mikis Theodorakis, Yannis Kotsiras, Farya Faraji, Dimitris Dallas -