Review of Panos Vlagopoulos, “As you can see, my friend, I do not forget [folk]songs”: From Haxthausen to Vinée or Hundred Years of Western-European Gaze on Greek Folk Song (Athens: Edition Orpheus/Athens Conservatory, 2022) The book «Βλέπεις, ξένε φίλε μου ότι δεν λησμονώ τα τραγούδια»: Από τον Haxthaussen στον Vinée ή εκατό χρόνια δυτικοευρωπαϊκού βλέμματος στο ελληνικό δημοτικό τραγούδι by Panos Vlagopoulos comes at a time when research interest in the relationship between Greece and Europe is locally revived due to the recent bicentennial of the Greek Revolution. This revived interest resonates further with current issues and debates in the fields of humanities and social sciences in general. At the centre of this revival lies a demand for an epistemological shift towards a decentralized view of the long 19th century and of the political social and cultural processes that took place on a global level: the need for a perspective freed from the Eurocentric burdens of the past. Along this line of thinking is also the need for a critical stance towards the hegemonic approach of Europe to the “East” and to other parts of the colonized world. This approach has foregrounded local narratives and viewpoints on the core notions at stake in the 19th century such as modernization, development, racial origins and supremacy, nation, etc. Among the fruits of this approach is the profound understanding of the history of European ideas, culture, and music. | Issue |
