1 Sentiment, Memory, and Identity in Greek Laiko Music (1945–1967) Leonidas Economou The history of Greek popular music after 1945 is virtually unknown territory for scholarly research, and has often been heavily distorted by researchers of rebetiko. The myth of rebetiko functioned as a mechanism of social distinction and exclusion, which devalued most of the musical forms and practices that coexisted with it, or appeared following its alleged disappearance at the beginning of the 1950s (Economou 2005). I will try to correct this picture and to map this unexplored territory for the period 1945 to 1967. I will begin with a discussion of the emergence of laiko traghoudi (popular song), the new genre of bouzouki music which succeeded rebetiko. 1 Most researchers posit the beginning of laiko in the mid-1950s following the periodization of rebetologists. This perspective contradicts the contemporary discourse of musicians and critics as well as other historical evidence showing that the transformation of rebetiko into laiko took place during the 1940s (Michael 1996). I will begin my narrative at the end of the war in 1945 and I will examine the different styles of laiko that developed up until 1967, when the establishment of the dictatorship marked the beginning of a new historical period. The laiko genre is a broad and complex category that should not be conceived of in terms of certain essentialist characteristics, but rather as a kind of scene, which is defned, differentiated and transformed in terms of changing social practices, spaces, and representations. The deciphering of musical tendencies and styles cannot be solely based on aesthetic considerations, but needs to take into account the contextualization, reception, and use of the songs in different social milieus. Musicians and listeners participate in the social and cultural dynamic of their time, and they negotiate in subtle but discernible ways their position in respect to the major social issues and conficts of their time (Stokes 1997, 2010; Lohman 2010). I will try to describe and understand the major subdivisions of the laiko scene by taking into account all the different aspects of musical performances, and especially the major aesthetic, political, and cultural issues that were involved in the experience of music. In this way, I hope to shed some light not only on the persons, the works, and the events of laiko music, but also on their complex associations with particular social sentiments and identities. A Short Introduction to the Postwar Years (1945–1967) Greek society emerged deeply scarred from the war period. The harsh occupation (1941–1944), the strong resistance movement, the brutal reprisals of the conquerors, and the atrocious civil war that followed (1947–1949) had caused immense catastrophe and pain. Human losses reached 7 to 8 percent of the population, the economy was ruined, and thousands of people had 1EEE 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 EEE3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20 1 2 3 4 5EEE 6 7 8 9 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40 1 2 3 4 5 6EEE 17 7484 MADE IN GREECE Acg.qxp_246x174mm 27/03/2018 17:47 Page 17 FIRST PROOFS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION