Conference Agenda

The Koventarios Municipal Library of Kozani has a rich and long history. Its origins date back to the mid-17th century, and a distinctive and defining feature is that its history is virtually identical to and follows the history of the city, alongside its social and economic development. Kozani is located in a region that had special ties with the Balkan Peninsula and Central Europe since the time of the Ottoman Empire, due to the growth of trade and favorable commercial conditions from the 17th century onward. The Greek communities that emerged, in addition to serving as commercial hubs, evolved into intellectual centers of the era. Thus, the merchant families who settled in Central Europe contributed to the culture, art, and musical life of the regions where they settled. For example, the Doumba family, the Karajian family, and others. As one of the oldest organized libraries in Greece, the Koventarios Library also chronicles the history of libraries in our country. Its development has gone hand in hand with the establishment of education in Kozani and was based for centuries on donations, mainly from bishops, scholars, and merchants of Kozani, a fact that underscores the importance the population placed on the dissemination of education. As a result, today it houses a wealth of old printed works, manuscripts, and archives. Music has always held special significance in Kozani, a fact reflected in the library’s collections and archives. The collections of Byzantine music are particularly significant, while in recent years the collections of Western music have also been expanding. The presentation will cover the library’s history and its music collections, which shed light on aspects of the musical scene and life in the region, as well as on families who emigrated and were active in Central Europe, including in the field of music.

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This paper presents the process of an ethnomusicology research project, which began as fieldwork in a specific community and continued in many different locations. It evolved into a multi-sited field study that expanded to nearly ten neighboring cultural regions in Western Greece, while simultaneously establishing links for cross-border field research in Albania and the current State of North Macedonia, as well as in Serbia, with the aim of verifying the results of the research conducted in Greece. The research was conducted in a large number of Greek-speaking communities and subsequently in Vlach and Slavic-speaking communities in the outskirts of these Greek-speaking regions, in an effort to understand the relationships between neighboring cultures. With regard to ritual forms of song and dance, she explored the core repertoire that the researcher refers to as “the communities’ ritual historical repertoire,” thereby highlighting its significance as an expression of their ethnic identity. The research covered more than 200 communities in Western Greece and other specific locations. The field research created an archive of 8,000 songs—field recordings and 250 videos totaling more than 2.5 TB—containing dances that accompany the songs and footage of traditional rituals in the communities where the research was conducted. The material was digitized, organized, and documented by the researcher herself, and information is provided regarding the informants, the music and dance, as well as their social environment. To integrate the material into the collections of the Library of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the creator of the archive worked closely with the University’s music librarians. Today, it forms part of the main collections of the Central Library of Aristotle University, which is open to researchers.

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The Thessaloniki State Conservatory was founded in 1914 and is the only state conservatory in Greece. The conservatory’s music library began operations at the same time as the conservatory itself. This is evident from the catalogs that have been discovered. It is the oldest music library in the country. Since 1987, it has been staffed by librarians, marking the beginning of its operation and organization in accordance with international library standards. Its collection today numbers more than 20,000 sheet music scores and books for all instruments, 600 orchestral works, manuscripts by Greek composers (Riadis, Della, Nikitas, Vakalopoulos, etc.), personal archives of composers and its professors, individual administrative files of former professors, analog and digital audiovisual material, and a large archive of the conservatory’s events featuring programs, posters, video recordings, and audio recordings of events, while also maintaining a small archive of events in our city. The library is constantly enriched through new acquisitions as well as frequent donations. A significant part of the library’s collection consists of the conservatory’s administrative records dating back to its founding (handwritten board meeting minutes, protocols, student registers, registers, etc.), which serve as a field of research into the socioeconomic and cultural situation in Thessaloniki. Digitization programs have made it possible to preserve and showcase the work of composers, as well as portions of periodicals, event records, press clippings, personal archives, and administrative records.

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