Ancient and Modern Greek Literature in the poetry of Artemes/Efthimes: Constructing a Greek identity with the techniques of rap. Aimilianos Sideris

Transcription

1 Ancient and Modern Greek Literature in the poetry of Artemes/Efthimes: Constructing a Greek identity with the techniques of rap Aimilianos Sideris Imagining a national identity Nations are imagined communities, in the sense that it is impossible for any given member to know all the other members. To fill the gap of uncertainty over what makes a group of people a nation, as well as who and what this group is, an imagined national identity arises. This endows people of the nation with certain attributes, shaped by the country s past and present. Also, it instils in them ideals and codes of behaviour, aiming at securing a prosperous future for the community and the country. That nations, like other large communities, are imagined is, as Anderson notes, a fairly common notion. What makes it novel is its link with representation. That which is imagined can, and has to be, represented, if it is not to remain in the purely private realm of the individual s mental processes. 1 This representation is carried out by the creators of cultural products. My speech is about this representation in a somewhat exotic (for Modern Greece s ethnography) genre: rap music. Rap Rap is music about where I m from 2. It is a form of oral poetry that originated in the U.S. by African-Americans who drew cultural references from their homelands and reapplied them to the description of their everyday life 3. Soon, however, rap was appropriated by other countries around the globe, where artists brought in their local identities and their languages Also, rap served as a medium for artists to present themselves and represent their area. Language in hip-hop is the medium in which artist performances and member identities are contextualized and negotiated 4. Thus, rap is essentially a form of narrative and can be seen as a discourse in which the rapper (lyricist and singer) presents himself as a representative of his/her area. Self-presentation and area-representation are inextricably linked in rap. Through their own self-presentation, the artists represent their area; and by representing their area, they find sources to present themselves. The most frequently-employed tactic among rappers for presentation and representation is referencing. Data and Methodology This case study s data comes from the rap duet s Αρτέµης/Ευθύµης (hence A/E) latest (2007) album Ο Ακριβογιός της Άρνησης κι ο ιαλεχτός της Πίστης. This paper takes a narrative analysis perspective on the issue of intertextuality and 1 Smith, 1998:136 2 Potter 1995:146 3 See Androutsopoulos 2009: 8 Cultural referencing is attested since the earliest rap productions and presumably goes back to the sounds and dozens of African-American youth, from which rapping originally evolved 4 Androutsopoulos 2009:1 1

2 narrative construction of identity. What I m looking at is the imagining of modern Greece A/E portray in their lyrics; how they present themselves within the context they create; and how they construct this imagining through references to earlier literature of the nation. Methodologically, I work this order backwards: I begin by presenting how these techniques are manifested in the album through referencing. Subsequently, I divide the items into different categories of analysis, based on the time where they come from and their use in the rappers texts. Then I discuss how the duet relates to the referenced figures. Finally, I discuss what cultural connotations these create, and how they construct a context in which the lyrics can be interpreted. I focus initially on the lyrics as self-presentational, then examining how the personal becomes political in the given album. My methods combine Modern Greek studies [more specifically literary analysis and history] with narrative analysis; the latter provides the research tools, while the former the theoretical backdrop for the use of these tools. The aim of this paper Most often, what is represented in rap is a fragment of the nation; the town where one is from, his/her neighborhood/ghetto, or the country s hip-hop scene. This is a case study on a specific rap album. On the given album, the rappers represent not their towns/neighborhoods, but the Greek identity. As they have stated in a 2006 interview, they view their lyrics as an effort for selfknowledge and in extent nation-knowledge-, for the rediscovery of Hellenism s lost values 5. In an earlier (2001) interview, they stress that everything is political If something is to be accomplished, it can be so only through politics 6. Hence, the present analysis considers it justified that their lyrics act on the political dimension of discourse, with the purpose of representing and presenting the Modern Greek ideals. The poems (or music lyrics some may say) I m looking at are not big stories 7. They do not start from somewhere (abstract/orientation), go through a complicating action, and then reach a point of resolution. In other words, the events in the lyrics are scarcely to be found. Their sentences are in present tense and parallel to, instead of linear with, each other, thus working more as durative/descriptive information 8. Despite shaping their lyrics in that manner, A/E do not explicitly present traits associated with the identity of modern-day Greeks, such as leventia, filotimo, Christianity etc. Rather, they present in an almost non-narrative manner cultural indexes which they associate through the narrative method of evaluation with themselves. More specifically, these indexes focus on Greece s earlier literature, which makes the lyrics of each song resemble an act of telling a small story, as Bamberg and Georgakopoulou (2008) define it 9. Every piece of the texts found in the rappers lyrics is a part in the continuous chain of reproduction and re-interpretation of the pattern of values, symbols, memories, 5 Found in HipHop.gr, uploaded on 13/09/2006) 6 Found in HipHop.gr, uploaded on 13/09/ With the exception of the song Περσεφόνη. 8 Polanyi, 1981: Small Stories as allusions to (previous) tellings in Bamberg & Georgakopoulou, 2008: 5. In the case of these lyrics, indexes are not to stories shared between the participants, but among participants and the culture s Grand Narratives. 2

3 myths and traditions that compose the distinctive heritage of nations 10. Since intertextuality is a matter of recontextualization 11, I aim to describe how cultural referencing is used, as a specifically constructed [nouveau] context by the band, to display their own imagining of a national identity. References and Narrative Analysis: The absence of reference to figures of Greek literature post-1960s Greece is striking in the lyrics. The referenced names come from the tradition of Ancient Greece, Byzantium, and Modern Greece. Some of them are historical figures and some of them fictional characters, and can be found in the following table: Referenced Figures Actual Fictional Ancient Orpheus Ajax Achilles Hercules Persephone Proteus Medusa Eurystheus Cerberus Tekmessa Byzantine Pissides Modern Alexandros Papadiamantis Alexandros Moraitides Fotes Contoglou Nikos Gatsos Pericles Giannopoulos Georgios Verites Ion Dragoumis Markos Renieres Georgios Mistriotes Constantinos Economou It appears that Ancient Greek literature is represented by figures in stories exclusively, as opposed to, say, Aristophanes or Sophocles. Byzantine and Modern Greek literature, on the contrary, are represented by references to writers. It can be said that each sentence referencing a part of Greece s literary past is the narration of an autonomous fact about the rappers. The sum of these facts constitutes the act of self-presentation. This reflects on A/E being invariably the narrators of, and the leading figures 12 in their lyrics. Consequently, each sentence that contains intertextuality can be adequately paraphrased 13 as: 10 Smith, 2001:18 11 Fairclough, 2001: Again, with the exception of the song Περσεφόνη 13 Polanyi, 1981: 101 3

4 < We (A/E) are affiliated with X > or < We (A/E) are alienated from Y> A full list of A/E s lines including intertextuality can be found in the index. Here follow some examples that illustrate this technique. The lines: «Του Γεωργίου Βερίτη Αν δεν πούµε την Ικεσία Ό,τι κι αν έχουµε πει εν έχει καµία σηµασία» Example 1 Can be paraphrased as: <We are affiliated with Verites (and more specifically his Ikesia, where he pleas for the preservation of Christian ideals)> This is achieved by diminishing anything else rappers can sing about in favour of the referenced text. In the same vein, see the lines: «ιατηρώ ακόµα Την ελληνική γραµµή Και το ελληνικό το χρώµα Όπως πριν έναν αιώνα Ο Περικλής Γιαννόπουλος» Example 2 These can be paraphrased as: <I am affiliated to Giannopoulos ideals and practices> Likewise, «Tο [µικρόφωνο] κρατώ για τον Κωνσταντίνο Οικονόµου» Example 3 Reads: <I support what Constantinos Economou has (had) to say> Here, the microphone (note: a fetish hip-hop item) is used as a symbol for the articulation of ideas and ideals, and the rappers are sided next to Constantinos Economou with respect to these ideas and ideals. Finally, describing other rappers (MCs) in a process commonly referred to as dissing in the hip-hop circles, «MCs χάνουν τον έλεγχο Κρύβονται όπως ο Ευρυσθεύς Όταν είδε τον Κέρβερο» Example 4 4

5 Reads: <We are alienated from other [ weak ] MCs> And, at the same time: <We are like Cerberus and they are like Eurystheus>, thus alluding to the famous encounter the final labour of Hercules resulted to. How do A/E relate to the figures, the places, and the other texts their lyrics make reference to? We saw which explicit (nominal) references to certain figures and texts of the Ancient, Byzantine, and Modern Greek past A/E make. How do they evaluate these references, though? A reference indexes a list of signified concepts. The indexes remain vague, however, until embedded in a narrative. And in narratives, references rarely occur without some form of evaluation, as Labov (1972) described it. This may be brought on externally, where the storyteller suspends the narration to evaluate what is said; or internally, where the evaluation is interwoven in the narration. I start by examining the way the rap duet relates to the figures from Modern Greece in their lyrics, followed by a presentation of the referenced writers imagining of the national identity. This will highlight framing as an act of ordering of voices in relation to each other 14, starting from how A/E order their own voices in relation to those of the thinkers/writers mentioned, and then onto how the referenced writers relate to one another. This level of analysis is limited to Modern Greek literature references, precisely because of the references nature: the referenced names are writers, and thus their thinking is something that can be evaluated. References to ancient Greek literature are references to cultural artifacts. Consequently, I discuss the references to Ancient Greek literature, as well as other linguistic means of the duet s self-presentation, in the light of the context informed by the writers ideas, as a strategic construction of style and ideas. The Modern and Byzantine writers referenced in A/E s poetry are invariably followed by a positive evaluation. Some receive an external evaluation (e.g. Papadiamantis and Moraitides, who are explicitly recommended in the lyrics); others an internal evaluation (e.g. like the phrase Born with the vigor of the Byzantine Pissides signifies, whereby his characteristic vigor is appropriated by the rappers). Either way, their names and works are systematically encountered in sentences where the rappers compare their actions, writing and ideals to those of the persons named. Away from mere reference and into quoting a passage, the duet has named their album after a line in Palamas poem Ο Γκρεµιστής. This passage comprises two different identities: Denial s chosen one and Faith s only son. In Palamas poem these two identities are treated as qualities, explicitly attributed to one and only person (O Γκρεµιστής). A/E s use, however, is distinctly ambiguous: being a duet whose names are the very name of the band, the two identities are potential creators of the 14 Fairclough, 2001: 53 5

6 implication that each quality is attributed to one or the other half of the duet. Even if this isn t the case, and the identities are to be understood as Palamas intended them to represent the album s content, the fact remains: A/E chose a passage from the specific poet as the title for their album. This makes him an item positively evaluated by the duet. From Self-Presentation to Nation-Representation So the duet relates to the references to Modern Greek literature in their lyrics as a means of self-presentation. How is this taken to a level of nation-representation however? Modern Greek literature Nationalism demands the rediscovery and restoration of the nation s unique cultural identity 15. Through their choice of writers/thinkers to represent their version of Hellenism, A/E delve into the arena of nationalism as a consciousness of belonging to the nation 16. In order to flesh out the imagined national identity they identify with, we have to sum up what the literary figures they employ have in common. This will lead to a cluster of qualities through which their version of a national character 17 is revealed. The writers imagining of the Greek identity falls into two currents. In the first current we have the writers [Papadiamantis, Moraitides, Gatsos, Contoglou, Verites, Dragoumis, Palamas, Renieres, Economou, Pissides]: They all present a common element in their works: the key position religion holds in defining the Greek nation. This is one side of nationalism as religion and culture, as Anthony Smith (2001) put it 18. The Modern Greek State, however, has been confronted with a great dilemma since its conception in This dilemma is fixed on which past should be projected as the official heritage of the state and the nation; Orthodoxy is very significant for the identification of the Greek (as opposed to the Hellene), as the first definition of the citizen for the new states denotes 19. It wasn t until the middle of the 19 th century however that the Byzantine past was accepted as a significant part of the national identity 20. Until then it was ancient Greece, Hellas, that single-handedly defined the culture (minus the religion) the Modern Greeks had come to inherit and still, to this day, Ancient Greece is a land cherished as ours by Modern Greeks. The Hellenic side of the Greek identity is also present in the representation A/E offer. In apparent contrast to the writers of Orthodoxy is the choice of the author Pericles Giannopoulos, as well as Georgios Mistriotes; two figures for whom the preservation of the Hellenic ideal was a main concern. These feelings and actions fall 15 Smith, 2001:33 16 Smith, 1991: see Beaton 1988: passim 18 p passim 19 Koliopoulos& Veremis, 2002: Koliopoulos& Veremis, 2002:

7 largely in the theories of continuity and recurrence of the ethnies, as Smith described them 21. The combination of these two currents in A/E s lyrics creates a mix of cultural symbolisms, which has history (ancient- Byzantine modern) as a running thread, and religion (i.e. Orthodox Christianity) as a defining element. Very much like the identity the Modern Greek state has been claiming for itself since its birth. The ordering of the voices in relation to each other is very linear and nonproblematic in the discussed album. The referenced names are found in succession, often following one another in subsequent lines, and they are never made different to each other through a disjunctive conjunction. Hence, it appears that the referenced names summarize (in Fairclough s terms 22 ) their respective author s imagining of the Modern Greeks national identity. The referenced figures comprise two, rather than one, cluster-groups of summarized, imagined national identities. The members of each share distinctive traits with one-another, but the two nevertheless co-exist in perfect harmony. Bringing them together can be seen as a strategy for the formation of a coherent front of representations for the national identity of modern Greeks, providing them with a religion, a culture, a history, and a geographic area. One (the γραικό) focuses on the Greeks as embodiments of the religion and culture that distinguished the nation throughout the Ottoman domination. The other (the ελληνικό) provides a historic line that links them to the ancient inhabitants of the land, the Hellenes, and their culture. Ancient Greek Literature Modern Greek writers are thus indexes of a certain national character; the same holds true for the Byzantine Pissides. Ancient Greek figures (Eurystheus, Cerberus, Hercules, Ajax, Tekmessa, Persephone, Orpheus) found in the lyrics, however, are not writers. In other words, they are not culture producers, but cultural products. Whereas references to Modern Greek literature are subjected to evaluation, references to Ancient Greek mythology serve as evaluative devices. Ajax and Achilles, playing with πεσσούς, are made relative to Artemis and Efthimis playing with rhymes. Thus, the rappers are likened to the glorious fighters, and in that way the latter index positive- evaluative implications for the former. Likewise, other rappers (who are the objects of dissing ) are seen as Medusa s victims when compared to A/E. Thus, Medusa becomes an evaluative device of the effect A/E s rapping has on their rival rappers, creating negative implications for the rival rappers. Similarly, the very name Persephone evaluates the lead figure of the respective song (a woman who had illusions of ever-lasting health and beauty amidst a lifestyle of promiscuous love affairs and drug-use) as a living-dead. As I said in the beginning of my paper, rap artists reach out to what is close to them in order to depict their reality. Mythic figures are from ancient Greece, excluding both Byzantine and Modern Greece (e.g. Digenes), as well as other countries. The decision to include, and limit the source to, Ancient Greek mythology, boards on the techniques of nationalism. This very specific source of similes points to a past that is implicitly understood as ours. 21 Smith;2001: Fairclough, 2001: 39 7

8 Thus, limiting the references to this opted source serves as attestation to the historic land, the homeland 23 that belongs to the Modern Greeks: Hellas. A/E signify both that this past culture is ours (i.e. it belongs to Modern Greeks) and that it is ours alone (i.e. it belongs to Modern Greeks, and Modern Greeks alone). One of the ancient Greek figures referenced paves the way for the intertextual act of quotation and a further, ambiguous hint towards the ours to Greeks that is Hellas. The ancient Greek in Οι στίχοι µας ποτέ δεν σταµατάνε is comprised of 4 lines; the former two lines are parts of ελφικά Παραγγέλµατα whereas the latter two are quotes from Ανθολόγιο Στοβαίου. These quotations are preceded by the words: Κι αφού η γραµµή πηγαίνει πίσω µέχρι τον Ορφέα, Τιµής ένεκεν, γυρίζω από τα νέα στα αρχαία Example 5 The ambiguity here is established by the use of the word line. Are Artemis/Efthimis referring to the line of rappers? Are they referring to the line of Hellenic blood? Code-switching resembles what Polanyi describes as the point of the story 24 here, if these two lines are to be understood as an autonomous piece of selfpresentation. Yet depending on the context, its application signifies two very different levels of relation to language and self-presentation. In the former case, the switch in code signifies the duty to do so: Greek-speakers oral poetry has its roots in Ancient Greek storytelling, thus A/E s ancient singing is out of respect to their preceding oral poets. [note: Respect is a key element in hip-hop discourse]. In the latter case, however, the code switch signifies the ability to do so: As descendants of the Hellenes, A/E can speak the language of their ancestors. Above this, the act of code switching in either of its two applications acts in a very political way: A/E mark their past. If seen in the former application it fortifies the status of rappers, hence a marker of self-presentation; the latter application, however, reinforces the identity of modern-day Greece as the direct descendants of the Hellenes. Ancient and Modern Greek Literature Consequently, it appears that in the case of this album s lyrics, references become items of manifest intertextuality, meaning that the lyrical content cannot be understood unless seen in the light of the figures as indexes of a (historic of cultural) past. Referencing to Modern Greek writers constitutes a recontextualization of these writers imagining. Their imaginings are summarized through the very context in which the references occur, reveal a coherent front of more-similar-than-different ways of thinking, and project this as A/E s cherished path of imagining the national identity. Ancient Greek literary figures provide the idea of the Modern Greek bloodline stretching back to antiquity with imagery from the land and its history, and are meant to be understood as evaluative devices from people who share a common knowledge and understanding of Greek mythology. 23 Smith, 1991: 9.A historic land is one where terrain and people have exerted mutual, and beneficial, influence over several generations A repository of historic memories and associations, the place where our sages, saints and heroes lived, worked, prayed and fought 24 Polanyi,1981: 101 8

9 What other elements does A/E verbal self-presentation entail? -Language: As with the issue of historicity and religion, the language A/E uses has also been moulded to express the national character of Greece. A/E are proud to still be using polytoniko ( like -the newspaper- Estia, as they mention). A/E also uses a form of language that incorporates many lexical items from Ancient Greek, thus verging towards the katharevousa. In that way, language is of key importance in shaping constituent intertextuality (form) in accordance with the ideology implicitly embedded in the lyrics. This issue is key in respect to the national character A/E portray, since katharevousa carried significant connotations for Greece. Greece in 1821, having just come out of the Turkish yoke, had to face the fact that the spoken language of the people had changed, at least as purists of the time said, and did not resemble the ancient Greek language. Much of the debate about the form of language appropriate for public life and literature begins from the assumption that the glories of the classical past are more or less literally to be revived 25. This, coupled with other political debates of the time, lead to the description of supporters of the demotic Greek as enemies of the nation, and demotic Greek as a barbaric language resulting from centuries of Turkish domination 26. During the language issue in Greece, one s choice of katharevousa or demotic Greek was sufficient to link him/her to one of the two camps: the traditional camp or the progressive camp (later linked to socialist ideas during the cold war) respectively 27. -The places mentioned: Ithaca and Patmos are indexes of Greek literary past, instead of mere geographic references. Ithaca refers to the Ionian Sea, but more importantly it is the birthplace of Ulysses. Patmos may refer to the Aegean Sea, but more importantly it is the place where John recorded his Revelation. These indexes map onto two cornerstone texts for Hellenism Odyssey and the New Testament. The former is a founding text of the Greek oral tradition. The latter text forms the foundation of the religion that persists, to this day, as a core characteristic of the modern Greeks. Beyond their artistic importance, then, these texts go hand-in-hand in shaping and projecting the ideals of Modern Greece. The references map onto the sea surroundings of Greece, as to complete (even perhaps accidentally) the process of defining the nation; this time as a geographic entity. - A/E ΓΙΑ ΤΟ ΑΣΠΡΟ ΚΑΙ ΤΟ ΜΠΛΕ. Rappers have the tendency to tag themselves and their songs. They do so in various ways: Shouting their names inbetween lyrics, thus marking the piece as theirs the moment one hears it; mentioning bad (or, less frequently, good) habits of theirs which identify them in their surroundings; and labelling themselves-as-descendants of an area (or era) are just some examples of the techniques involved. The duet here closes the first song of the 25 Beaton 1990:9 26 Mackridge, 1990:41 27 For the political dimension of the language issue see Fragkoudaki (2001) pp and passim. 9

10 album with the expression A/E for blue and white. In that way, they link their names to the colours of the Greek flag, thus stressing their allegiance to their motherland and to the appropriate culture that accompanies it. Finally, how do they name the nation they represent? The nation and its citizens are named in the album, as Romaiko and Graikoi. This is in fine tune with the writers they refer to; with their language and writing which corresponds to the pre-1980s Greek; and the line proposed by Paparigopoulos. Discussion Greeks before 1821 had never been part of a nation, and the growth of a modern literature after 1821 is part of the broader attempt of Greek-speakers, emerging from the historical experience of Ottoman domination, to create an identity and establish a tradition of their own 28. The lyrics in the album I just examined are examples of the attempt that Beaton describes. Displaying the imagining of national identity in this album is a matter of constructing a web of indexes. This web is constructed in the rappers lyrics by references to and quotations from Modern Greek writers, and figures of Hellas mythology. A/E, working towards a mode of self-presentation, turn to the rap habit of referencing. The history of Greek literature since independence is inseparable from the history of the emergent cultural life of the new nation-state 29. References to Modern Greek writers summarize what the named thinkers imagine as the national Greek identity. Thus, the writers referenced become the very items of reproduction that attest to an act of imagining a national identity. By bringing these names in their text, the writers/thinkers and their works become the framed voices in A/E s dialogue with past cultural production. The rappers-as-principals method of imagining the national identity is one which turns to earlier cultural production as a point of reference for its accomplishment; one that does not reproduce or re-interpret the values etc of the nation, but uses the reproduction and re-interpretation of these offered by earlier writers in a strategic way, instead. By bringing the specific intertextual items in their own texts and positively evaluating them, A/E create the (value) assumption that the indexed imagining is a good and desirable 30 one. The archetype is made relative to previous desirable thinkers, thus valuing their summarized form of national-identity-imagining. Ancient Greece, as represented through the country s mythology, provides a semiotic domain where the duet draws sources for similes. The choice of the specific source for similes enables the rap duet to establish a mode of cultural appropriation whereby ours extends all the way back to antiquity. Hence, their references to mythical and historical figures and places are a form of sign-posting A/E s and, in extent, Modern Greeks area, projecting it as both a geographic and a historic entity. 28 Beaton 1990:2 29 Beaton 1990:2 30 Fairclough, 2001: 55 10

11 Moreover, it presupposes that, in order to understand the meaning behind these similes, the reader/listener will need to know ancient Greek literature. In that way, the rap tactic of self-presentation gives way to country (or, better, culture)-representation. Convergence of myth (ancient Greek literature) and reality (Modern Greek writers) constitutes Greece, geographically marked and historically indivisible, a spiritual entity. This entity is cherished by A/E who, being themselves creators of cultural products, continue its long literary tradition. Listening to a musical album can be described as the total communication process. Artist and listeners are the two parties locked in the communication. The former is the storyteller and the latter are the audience. The artist structures the album as a complete work and presents it to the audience with the hope that they will stay around long enough to hear it. Although it is a uni-directional instrument for the mediation of narratives, the experience of listening to the album is aimed to generate a response (even a silent one) from the listener. In this process, self-presentation and arerepresentation are communicated simultaneously to the listeners. Intertextuality with sources in Modern and Ancient Greek literature in the given album touches on the three functions of language, as outlined by Halliday 31.Referencing shapes the textual function: it connects the referenced texts with each other; the referenced texts with A/E s texts; and A/E s texts with today s Greece. It also serves the interpersonal function, in the sense that the duet recommends the referenced writers to the audience. The rappers recontextualization works on the ideational function: that which is referenced serves to express the rappers experience of the external world, what is close to them. In that way, each small story narrated by A/E constructs their personal identity, as they wish it to be understood by the listeners. The collection of these small stories in the form of an album works towards a grand scheme of an imagined national identity 32. This, I argue, is nonetheless also an act of constructing a national identity, instead of mere representation through cultural appropriation. Intertextuality is inevitably selective with respect to what is included and what is excluded from the events and texts represented 33 In the process of bringing the appropriated parts of the Greek past in their lyrics as references, A/E also exclude references to a great part of the Greek past. Modern Greek history has unfolded into two different modes of cultural appropriation, at least until 1974: the national mode and the leftist mode. The former looked to the country s past for future guidelines. The latter looked to the socialist ideas for inspiration on the imagining of a new form of nation. By omitting any reference to figures (e.g. Velouchiotis), authors (e.g. Ritsos) or places (e.g. Makronisos, Gorgopotamos) of the left, A/E actively shape a version of the past that does not include the divergent left (that which seeks to destroy the nation, according to many Greek thinkers of the 20 th century). 31 Halliday, 1978: Bamberg and Georgakopoulou, 2008: 6 33 Fairclough, 2001: 55 11

12 Final Word: The study of such exotic phenomena like rap is vital for the investigation of the mechanisms for the construction of a national and, more importantly, a youth identity. The band themselves have stated that [to us] hip-hop is a vehicle, a means to an end. It s a musical medium to approach the youth who would be indifferent to our messages if we played traditional Greek music 34. Music is a pervasive medium, and its discourse shapes a youth identity. This is decisive for the trans-generational transmission and re-elaboration of national identity. Tomorrow s Greek citizens form essential parts of their future imagined national identity through such present experiences and discourses, and that makes the study of those valuable. INDEX: A/E s lyrics that include references to Ancient and Modern Greek literature: «Κι όπως ο Αίας παίζει πεσσούς µε τον Αχιλλέα Έτσι παίζω µε κάθε οµοιοκαταληξία» «MCs χάνουν τον έλεγχο Κρύβονται όπως ο Ευρυσθεύς Όταν είδε τον Κέρβερο» «Του Γεωργίου Βερίτη Αν δεν πούµε την Ικεσία Ό,τι κι αν έχουµε πει εν έχει καµία σηµασία» «Μωραϊτίδη µνηµονεύω και Παπαδιαµάντη» «Τα µυστικά άνθη δρέπω όπως ο Φώτης Κόντογλου» «Πορεύοµαι εκεί που προτρέπει ο Νίκος Γκάτσος Στο ποίηµά του Ο ράκος» «Όπως ο Παλαµάς ακούω Το Τραγούδι του Σταυρού» «MCs πετρώνουν λες κι αντικρίσανε τη Μέδουσα Βιώνουν άµεσα µια τραγωδία Όπως η Τέκµησσα κι ο Αίας» «στιχίζω µε το σθένος του βυζαντινού Πισσίδη Γεννήθηκα µ αυτό» «έχω πιο πολλές µορφές Κι απ αυτές που χε ο άλιος γέρων ο Πρωτεύς» «Πάµε όσοι ζωντανοί σαν τον Ίωνα ραγούµη» «ιατηρώ ακόµα Την ελληνική γραµµή Και το ελληνικό το χρώµα Όπως πριν έναν αιώνα Ο Περικλής Γιαννόπουλος» 34 Interview in Hip-Hop.gr, 13/09/

13 «Ροµαντικός [είµαι], όπως ο Μάρκος Ρενιέρης» «το [µικρόφωνο] κρατώ για τον Κωνσταντίνο Οικονόµου» «Το χιπ χοπ µε έχει στρατιώτη Όπως η αττική διάλεκτος είχε τον Μιστριώτη» Bibliography: Androutsopoulos, J. (2009) Language and the Three Spheres of Hip-hop in Global Linguistic Flows, HipHop Cultures, Youth Identities, and the Politics of Language (eds. H.Samy Alim, A. Ibrahim & A. Pennycook) Routledge, New York/Oxom Androutsopoulos, J. & Scholz, A. (2006) Recontextualization: Hip-hop culture and lyrics in Europe in Linke, Angelika& Jakob Tanner (eds.) Attraktion und Abwehr. Amerikanisierung der Alltagkultur in Europa, , Kuuln Bauhlau. Androutsopoulos, J. (2004) Ανδρουτσόπουλος Γιάννης, Ο Ραψωδός που Θέλεις να Φτάσεις: Γλωσσικές στρατηγικές ποτισµικής οικειοποίησης στο ελληνόφωνο ραπ in Proceedings of the 6 th International Conference of Greek Linguistics, Rethymno, Greece. University of Crete (CD-ROM Publication) Bamberg, M. & Georgakopoulou, A. (2008) Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. In Text & Talk. Special Issue. Narrative analysis in the shift from texts to practices. Ed by De Fina, A. & Georgakopoulou, A. Beaton, R. (1988) Romanticism in Greece in R. Porter and M. Teich (eds) Romanticism in National Context Cambridge University Press Beaton, R. (1990) Greek Literature since National Independence a conspectus in Background to Contemporary Greece Marion Sarafis and Martin Eve eds Beaton, R. (1994) An Introduction to Modern Greek Literature (2004 reprint), Oxford University Press Beaton, R. (1998) Our Glorious Byzantinism : Papatzonis, Seferis, and the Rehabilitation of Byzantium in Postwar Greek Poetry in Ricks, David and Paul Magdalino (eds.), Byzantium and the Modern Greek Identity. Publications of the Centre for Hellenic Studies, King s College London, no.4. Aldershot:Ashgate, pp Fairclough, N. (2001) Analysing Discourse textual analysis for social research, Routledge, London Frangoudaki, A. (2001) Φραγκουδάκη Άννα, Η Γλώσσα και το Έθνος : Εκατό χρόνια αγώνες για την αυθεντική Ελληνική γλώσσα Alexandreia Press, Athens Georgakopoulou, A. & Goutsos, D. (1997) Discourse Analysis: An Introduction Edinburgh University Press Halliday, M.A.K. (1978) Language as Social Semiotic the social interpretation of language and meaning Edward Arnold, Koliopoulos, J.S. and Veremis, T.M. (2002) Greece- The Modern Sequel: From 1821 to the Present Hurst & Company, London 13

14 Mackridge, P. (1990) Katharevousa (c ): An Obituary for an Official Language in Background to Contemporary Greece Marion Sarafis and Martin Eve eds Potter, R. (1995) Spectacular Vernaculars: Hip-hop and the politics of post-modernism, S U N Y Series in Postmodern Culture, New York Polanyi, L. (1981) What Stories Can Tell Us about the Storyteller s World in Poetics Today, Vol.2 No.2 Narratology III: Narration and Perspective in Fiction pp Reicher, S. & Hopkins, N. (2001) Self and Nation Sage, London Smith (1998) Nationalism and Modernism Routledge, London Smith (1991) National Identity Penguin Books, London Smith, A.D. (2001) Nationalism: Theory, Ideology, History Polity Press, Cambridge Βουτιερίδης, Ε. Π. (1931) Αλ. Παπαδαµάντης, Αλ. Μωραϊτίδης: Η ζωή τους και το έργο τους, Zekakis, Athens Vitti, M. (2003) Ιστορία της Νεοελληνικής Λογοτεχνίας, Εκδόσεις Οδυσσέας, Athens 14