Greek Cypriot Wedding Music and Customs: Revival and Identity
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Greek Cypriot Wedding Music and Customs: Revival and Identity Submitted by: EFI IOANNIDOU Supervisors: DR. ANDREW KILLICK, DR. SIMON KEEGAN-PHIPPS THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD PhD in Music 21st March 2017 2 ABSTRACT In many cultures, weddings are the most important event in people’s lives. Greek Cypriots use weddings as a means of expressing their identity and linking themselves to their roots, with the conscious aim of preservation of their musical tradition and customs. As a result, weddings are especially important in their musical culture because of the threats to their identity posed by the island’s long history of foreign rule and colonisation. However, an upheaval has occurred in the folk music and customs of Greek Cypriot wedding ceremonies over the last ten years, creating an urgent need for a study of these customs in relation to social, historical and cultural developments in Cyprus. This study has revealed a movement towards music revival that links contemporary practice with the ‘living memory’ of the mid-twentieth century. The thesis is structured in two parts, progressing from the directly observable wedding practices of contemporary Greek Cypriots to the remembered and reconstructed forms of the Greek Cypriot wedding that is now regarded as ‘traditional’. Part One analyses contemporary wedding ceremonies and the choices that newlyweds make in the customs and music of their weddings. Part Two attempts to reconstruct in detail the music and customs of Greek Cypriot wedding ceremonies of the mid-twentieth century from the testimonies of veteran folk musicians and from documentary sources. Besides documenting a tradition that is little known and fast transforming, the study contributes to current discussions in ethnomusicology on themes such as ‘music revivals’ and ‘tradition and identity’. 3 Contents List of Figures ......................................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgments................................................................................................11 List of Music Examples ....................................................................................... 12 DVD Contents ....................................................................................................... 15 Chapter One: Introduction ................................................................................. 21 1.1 The geographical, historical, and sociological context of the period ............................................... 24 1.2. The aims of the thesis ...................................................................................................................... 29 1.3 Theoretical issues: transforming tradition, musical revivals and identity. Literature review .......... 32 1.4 Methodology of the study ................................................................................................................ 38 1.5 Note on textual and musical transcriptions ...................................................................................... 41 1.6 Overview of the Thesis ...................................................................................................................... 43 PART ONE: Presentation and analysis of the customs and music of five contemporary wedding ceremonies .................................................................... 45 Chapter Two: Current wedding practices, customs and music ...................... 52 2.1 The First Phase: Allaman [adornment] and the procession to the church ...................................... 52 2.1.1 The shaving of the groom ......................................................................................................... 53 2.1.2 The Dowry dance ...................................................................................................................... 57 2.1.3 The dressing of the groom ......................................................................................................... 58 2.1.4 The smoking of the groom ......................................................................................................... 60 2.1.5 The adornment of the groom ................................................................................................... 61 2.1.6 The adornment of the bride..................................................................................................... 622 2.1.7 The Dowry dance of the bride ................................................................................................... 65 2.1.8 Dressing the bride and the custom of writing on the bridal shoes.......................................... 666 2.1.9 The smoking of the bride ........................................................................................................... 70 2.1.10 The 'surrounding' with a kerchief of the bride ........................................................................ 71 2.1.11 The procession to the church for the main event of the wedding .......................................... 71 2.1.12 Observations about the first phase of the wedding ................................................................ 73 2.2 The Second Phase: The wedding service, the gamos ....................................................................... 74 2.2.1 The custom to determine who is the ‘stronger’ of the couple ................................................ 755 4 2.2.2 Customs during the ‘Isaiah Dance’ ............................................................................................. 76 2.2.3 Customs as the couple leave the church ................................................................................... 76 2.3 The Third Phase: the cocktail reception and the wedding banquet ................................................. 78 2.3.1 Music chosen for the cocktail reception .................................................................................... 78 2.3.2 Music chosen for the wedding banquet .................................................................................. 800 2.3.3 Reasons why the newlyweds prefer disc jockeys ...................................................................... 81 2.3.4 The choice of music when the new couple enters the room .................................................. 833 2.3.5 The new couple’s dance ........................................................................................................... 855 2.3.6 Music chosen to make the guests have fun ............................................................................. 866 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................... 899 Chapter Three: A contemporary wedding ceremony reviving mid- twentieth-century practices............................................................93 3.1 The 'imagined' wedding of the mid-twentieth century. ................................................................... 93 3.1.1 The invitation ........................................................................................................................... 933 3.1.2 Customs before the wedding service....................................................................................... 977 3.1.2.1 The adornment...............................................................................................................98 3.1.2.2 The procession to the church.......................................................................................102 3.1.3 The wedding service .............................................................................................................. 1044 3.1.4 After the wedding service ..................................................................................................... 1044 3.1.4.1 The offer of the special wedding bread......................................................................104 3.1.4.2 The procession of the newlyweds...............................................................................105 3.1.5 The wedding Banquet .............................................................................................................106 3.1.5.1 The sewing of the bed..................................................................................................106 3.1.5.2 The music during the banquet.................................................................................... 108 3.1.6 The antigamos [another wedding party one week after the wedding] ................................. 1088 3.1.6.1 The custom of collecting chickens for the banquet..............................................................109 3.2 A discussion with the couple....................................................................................................... 11010 Discussion ........................................................................................................................................ 1111 PART TWO: A reconstruction of the wedding ceremony of the mid- twentieth century and its music .................................................................... 12020 Chapter Four: General background to wedding ceremonies of the mid-twentieth century and their music ..........................................................1244 4.1 Weddings during the post war period, 1974 - 2010 ..................................................................... 1244 5 4.2. Effects of outside influences on the evolution of the wedding ceremony