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“Crossing the River”: Italian Songs Meet Greek Musicians

Nikos Ordoulidis, University of Ioannina, Greece

email: n.ordoulidis@gmail.com

Prelude1

Countless pages are required to examine the relations between Greece and Italy. The period in which both regions have established their own nation-state is a small–and of course recent–part of these relations, which go back much further.

Before the musical discoveries, a representative part of which this text will bring to the forefront, the trigger for my personal interest around the culture associated with the Italian peninsula was sparked by one of the most excellent television series concerning the Roman Empire, which is titled with the simple and comprehensive “Rome”. It is a BBC and HBO production, aired from 2005 to 2007, which in its two cycles and with a total of 22 episodes, chronicles–both from the perspective of those “from above” and “from below”–the period of Julius Caesar and the Roman civil war, until the time of the second civil war, between Octavian and Mark Antony and Cleopatra, which essentially ended with the naval battle of Actium. Obviously, Greece is mentioned and/or involved in the series many times. In one of these scenes, in episode 6, one of the main–fictional–protagonists, Titus Pullo, says: “he got himself into some trouble with some nasty Greek boys across the river”. This phrase, and especially the word “river” used to describe the Adriatic Sea, inspired the title of this text, as it manages to describe in an extremely eloquent way the close relations between the peoples living to the east and west of it.

The historical framework

This text examines the actions of the musical protagonists, but also of the networks in which they participated and, very often, they themselves built. As can be easily seen, in the background is the Mediterranean Sea and the way it has been functioning as a platform upon which cultures communicate. Its large and historic ports hold a dominant position in this communication. The relationships between our leading figures cover a wide period, starting at least from the 19th century, until the era of early massive record production, that is, the first decades of the 20th. The focus is on the project implemented by the Kounadis Archive Virtual Museum, entitled “Cosmopolitanism in Greek Historical Discography”. For the needs of this project, hundreds of cases of musical tunes were documented, which were recorded in many different contexts, places, and times. Although the map, from which one can begin to study these cases, seemingly indicates binary relationships, one will soon understand that the networks are much more complex, since often the musical tune being studied has known two, three or even more ethnic or national lives, often parallel. In other words, we find the same song or instrumental piece recorded in 1910 in Constantinople by Greek speakers, in 1911 in Bucharest by Romanian speakers, in the same year in Saint Petersburg by Russian speakers, etc2. This research has revealed that, many times, it is either the record companies or the networks of the publishing houses that trigger the movements of these musical tunes. However, quite often, it seems that these “dealings” are also the product of more unmediated and gradual fermentations between the ethnic groups which, in the greater part of Europe during the period under consideration, live within multicultural empires or other political entities.

Two of these pairs of repertory relations concern the Italian-speaking repertoires, numbering so far 137 documents. Most of these, which are constantly increasing, concern historical 78-rpm records and cylinders, as well as historical printed commercial musical scores. The specific two cases/groups are titled: “interactions with Italian repertoire” and “interactions with Neapolitan repertoire”3, implying “of Greek repertoire”. Here, songs are included, which were originally recorded in their Italian condition, creations of mainly Italian-speaking composers and lyricists, and then recorded as Greek covers. Most of these cases were identified by Leonardos Kounadis and often, as one can read in the relevant texts, the adaptations were not a Greek exclusivity. It is worth mentioning that, in some cases, the reason for the Greek recording was not the Italian-language one4, but another one; or, to make it even more complex, an adaptation was not made because the Greek-speaking musicians came into direct contact with the original Italian work, but instead came to know the musical tune in question through another, third “national” repertoire, which had earlier adopted the musical tune in question.

This article tries to outline a context within which these adoptions took place, posing questions concerning the creation and the modes of operation of the network: what are these routes, through which Italian-language songs reach the cities where Greek-speaking musicians play a leading part? What is the role of record companies, publishing houses, but also intermediaries, in these mass movements of repertoires from place to place? What are the aesthetic differences between “national/ethnic” performances? Subsequently, two cases from this corpus of recordings are presented; two songs that lived a second life, in a new context, and shaped parallel–to their original–ways, within new national places5.

Arrived in Smyrna in 1841, shortly after a disastrous fire, the Italian Giuseppe Francesco Baruffi marveled at the passion for the theater and the Italian language he found in that city “busy building two new theaters to replace those destroyed by fire: one dedicated to Italian opera with a capacity of 500 seats, and the other to French comedies and vaudevilles,” he wrote. It was in Smyrna, the “Home of Homer,” that Baruffi heard “some blind Greeks singing in the streets about daily events in elegant popular poetry” and improvising verses on the recent fire accident. This is another characteristic that strongly tied people of diverse religions and backgrounds from the heart of the Adriatic to the eastern Mediterranean: the presence of singing storytellers (Fabris, 2018: 4).

The available sources highlight the close relations between Italian-speaking and Greek-speaking music. The conversations developed between specific places and their results6 are enough to highlight the strong ties between the two ethnic groups. Furthermore, relationships were forged in places where the two ethnicities lived together. As, for example, in the case of the cosmopolitan Smyrna in the Ottoman Empire7, up to the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 and the mass movement and exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey; or in that of New York, where Italians and Greeks moved as immigrants since the 19th century en masse8. Moreover, we should not forget that cities such as Trieste and Venice traditionally host strong Greek communities, whose cultural activity has been intense.

And while we already have a robust literature examining relationships at the level of scholarly musicians9, folk and popular musical products, and their own relationships to the original Italophones (which, it should be noted, are not necessarily folk or popular, but can come from scholarly music as well) still remain to be examined. Much more so with regard to the thorough research in historical discography, a field which, to a large extent, still remains at an embryonic level in both countries, particularly as regards the critical aspect of metadata.

Especially at the level of persons, the research is dominated by large gaps and unanswered questions: who are those who tighten the cultural relations and act as regenerative nodes in the networks, in which the two ethnic groups participate, and in the sub-networks concerning the direct mutual relationships? We know, for example, some names of Italian-speaking musicians, instrument teachers, and piano tuning experts who constantly conversed with Greek-speaking protagonists, from the case of Smyrna where the phenomenon has a long history, to cities of the Greek state about which we know little, in terms of their music reality, such as Trikala for example. For the latter, for instance, we have reports that the later main innovator of urban folk-popular music in Greece, born in Trikala in 1915, Vassilis Tsitsanis, had an Italian music teacher at school. Biographical information for all of them is extremely incomplete. What we have so far are scattered reports, from which emerges the strong cultural imprint of the Italophones, and their constant conversation with the Grecophones.

The recordings gathered for the needs of the research project for the Kounadis Archive Virtual Museum belong to a corpus of recorded songs, in which the Greek-speaking musicians borrowed music and/or lyrics from pre-existing Italian songs. The adoption of these songs is twofold: on the one hand, it concerns the lyrics, which are now Greek (often, in fact, they have nothing to do with the original ones), but, on the other hand, it also concerns the performance practices: different instrumental combinations, different ways of performing the same instruments, different singing styles, often variations in the melodic and rhythmic forms, but also in the harmonies, embellishments by the soloists and singers, accompanying instruments habits. In general, Greek-speaking musicians adapt what they hear–from some record or from some touring Italian-speaking orchestra, or read, from some commercial musical score–to their own condition, based on their own capabilities, composing an alla greca way of performance the Italian songs.

Understandably, in the modern capitalist world, music transcription, being the primary tool for the subjectification of music, brought under its purview repertoires that were not connected, disseminated, and functioned based on their transcription. This offered the centres of sales of musical products an additional tool to expand their network of action: non-scholarly musics acquired a convenient way for their circulation, enhancing their popularity, even in places far removed from those of their original creation. Also, light, folk-popular or folk-like songs were printed and released by publishing houses, who possibly believed that in this way they would be able to reach more social groups. At the end of the 19th century, however, the phenomenon of sound recording and reproduction came to rearrange relationships, and to disrupt the status quo of publishing houses, claiming a share of the market, offering a product that was extremely more complete and immediate. The publishing houses tried to react with legal measures, but it became impossible to stop the dynamics of the new phenomenon: the prevalence of commercial discography is now a fact, for the greater part of the 20th century.

In the early period of discography there is no previous management model. Each company creates its own networks, which will allow it to take a dynamic lead in the market. New specialties and professions are created, while new conditions emerge or the need to update older facts, with the most serious one being intellectual property. New small companies are constantly springing up, trying to claim a share in the market, which sooner or later takes on global dimensions. Often, they are bought by larger companies, along with their already recorded repertoires and their existing agreements with agents, producers, musicians. Eventually, most of the smaller labels are concentrated and under the control of a few growing companies. Over the years, and as the recording market becomes more complex, factories and/or branches are built on all continents. These offices are taken over by local actors, who gradually draw up their own policies: they know their markets better. The ever-evolving recording industry shows itself to be centripetal: Decisions made follow the policies dictated centrally by the managements of the companies and their subsidiaries10. This whole condition, this whole multi-layered landscape, becomes even more complex in the United States of America. There, the “national” repertoires live a new, parallel life11. This situation is not static and is largely constructed by the discography, which attends to and “tunes” the overlapping relationships that have already developed in the old world. Repertoires are communicating with each other again, a familiar and already dynamic condition between Europe, Asia Minor, and North Africa. The circulation of musics was already a reality at least since the 19th century, with the tours of theatrical and musical performances, the mechanical instruments, the professional musicians working in ships, but also with the networks of music publishing houses12. The discography is not only embedded in this context but plays a key-role in its transformation. This time the network is adjusted in a programmatic manner, under different conditions and via new paths13.

Two cases-samples of the material

The first song we will examine is one of the unrepeatable hits in the Greek-speaking world. It has been recorded many times by modern artists, and it is part of the active repertoire today, in performances and on the stages of entertainment venues that offer live music. It has been identified with Smyrna, and in the rebetiko revivals it held a strong position in the selected repertoire14. As an example, three modern releases will be mentioned, which either included the historical recording or the song was re-performed. Of particular interest is the way the song is presented in these versions:

In the album “Authentic songs recorded in Smyrna and Constantinople before 1922”, which was originally released in 1982 (Afoi Falirea ΑF 14 and on CD ΑF 652, 1995), in the text of the insert signed by Spyros Papaioannou, it is stated: “according to the profession of the Toundas family, it was probably written by the composer Panagiotis Toundas”15. On Marisa Koch’s disc, “Ta paralia – Tragoudia tis Mikras Asias” (The coastlands – Songs of Asia Minor, Diaulos, Z1/2640/87, 1987 and on CD: Verso 035), the song is simply referred to as “chasaposerviko”16, while in Koch’s text we read: “[the disc] contains favourite songs and music of Asia Minor performed, in the most authentic way, by the Asia Minor violin soloist, Stefanos Vartanis”. Finally, on the Estudiantina Neas Ionias album titled “Smyrne” (MINOS-EMI 724359804620, 2003), in the short musicological commentary signed by Christos Tsiamoulis on the insert, under the song it is mentioned: “Makam Nihavend with Chargiach, Minor scale that changes to Major”17.

The Greek song in question is titled “Apo ta polla” or “Den se thelo pia” (I don’t want you anymore) and it is an adaptation of the Neapolitan song “Mbraccia a me!..” (Hug me)18. The original music was written by Vincenzo Di Chiara and the lyrics by Antonio Barbieri. The song won at the contest “La tavola rotonda” of 1908, and its musical score was included in the issue of the same year (see Figure 1). “La tavola rotonda – Piedigrotta” was the title of a literary, illustrated, music newspaper that was published every Sunday. “Piedigrotta” refers to one of the most famous and oldest religious festivals that took place in Naples, at Madonna di Piedigrotta church. During the festival, a musical competition took place, which, in the 19th century, turned into a dynamic festival. This festival took the form of a commercial mechanism which played a key role in shaping and promoting Neapolitan song19.

Figure 1: The cover of Piedigrotta and the first page of the musical score of “Mbraccia a me”, published in 1908 (private archive).

Another musical score of the song was published in Naples by “Casa Editrice F. Bideri”, in 1932 (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: The cover and the first page of the musical score of “Mbraccia a me”, published in 1932 (Spilios Kounas archive20).

The song “Mbraccia a me” was recorded by Figli di Ciro21, Piero Orsatti (see Figure 3)22, Pasquale Sirabella, Diego Giannini, Vittorio Parisi, Raffaele Balsamo and more.

Figure 3: The label of the recording of “‘Mbraccia a me”, recorded in 1912 in New York (Discography of American Historical Recordings Archive).

So far, the following recordings have been identified in Greek historical discography:

  • “Den se thelo pia”, Elliniki Estudiantina (Greek Estudiantina)23, Gramophone 1552½y – 3-14586 and 040 and Victor 63523Β, Smyrna, June 1910 (see Figure 4)24:
  • “Den se thelo pia”, Elliniki Estudiantina, Gramophone 1641y – 3-14101 and 032 and Victor 63519, Constantinople, July 3, 191025:
  • “Apo ta polla”, Estudiantina Christodoulidis, Favorite 3950-t – 1-59031, Constantinople, July 5, 1910 (see Figure 5)26:
  • “Den se thelo pia”, Antonis Melitsianos, Grammavox 12097, Constantinople, 1910–1911
  • “Den se thelo pia”, Paul Armand, Columbia 19314 – E 833, New York, April 26, 1911
  • “Den se thelo pia”, Elliniki Estudiantina, Odeon 46357, Constantinople, between 1909–191227:
  • “Den se thelo pia”, Giorgos Chelmis, Columbia 84611 – E 4106, New York, ca. September 191828:
Figure 4: The label of the American re-issue of the recording “Den se thelo pia”, recorded in Smyrna in 1910 (Kounadis Archive Virtual Museum).
Figure 5: The label of the recording of “Ap ta polla”, recorded in Constantinople in 1910 (Kounadis Archive Virtual Museum).

In the musical score published by the “S. Christidis’ publishing house” in Constantinople (see Figure 6), the song is attributed (lyrics and music) to V. D. Sideris (Vasileios Dimitriou Sideris)29, and on the cover of the musical score, published by “Fexis’ publishing house”, it is
written “Music from the Italian” and “V. Di Chiara”30. The designation “asma laikon” (folk-popular song) presents its own interest. It is found under the title, on the first page of the musical score.

Figure 6: The cover and the first page of the musical score of “Den se thelo pia”, published by “Christidis publishing house” (Collection of Printed Greek Musical Scores, Lilian Voudouri Music Library of Greece of The Friends of Music Society).

Furthermore, according to the musical score published by “Georgios D. Fexis’ publishing house” entitled “Ta dendra” (The trees, see Figure 7), the Neapolitan song “Mbraccia a me”, adapted by Theofrastos Sakellaridis and with different lyrics, written by Babis Anninos and Giorgos Tsokopoulos, was included in the Greek revue “Panathinaia” in 1909.

Figure 7: The cover and the first page of the musical score of “Ta dendra”, published by “Fexis publishing house” (Collection of Printed Greek Musical Scores, Lilian Voudouri Music Library of Greece of The Friends of Music Society).

It is extremely interesting that, although the song entered the Greek-speaking repertoire–both as a recording and as a commercial score–without mentioning the original authors, there were also cases, such as the Greek-language scores above, where the authors were mentioned. Perhaps the publishers or companies that issued the Neapolitan version earlier took notice and have since demanded credit to the original creators and publishers. Thus, although there have been historical references to the original song, none of the modern productions in which it was included have named the creators. The song was baptized “Smyrnean” and was included, indeed as a dynamic symbol, in the national narrative of Greece regarding Smyrna31. In addition, of special interest is the popularity of the Greek song even today, which brings to the surface several issues concerning the context and the protagonists, from place to place. Of particular interest is the fact that songs like this one, which may have gone unnoticed in the place they were created, after being adopted and re-arranged, obtained a new form in a different place and had a second “life”, triggering a new cycle of re-creation. As George Kokkonis mentions (2023):

they constitute a “snapshot” of transformations which constantly produce new versions of old and “deterritorialized” works. These do not possess any “archetypal” essence, but are revealed to us through their new lives, each time within a different context, with real or imaginary references to some recognizable historical, geographical, or linguistic imprint. Some of these new lives have greater longevity and are more influential, and then lend themselves particularly to the rhetorics of national identity, which often declare as archetypes all those things that are, par excellence, transformations, ignoring their cosmopolitan nature, and, above all, their universal scope.

What are these ingredients that account for this wide acceptance of the song by the Greek-speaking world? What role does the trauma of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, and the place Smyrna took in the collective imaginary, play?32 From the Catastrophe onwards, the relevant literature discusses the musical reality of Smyrna, adopting a biased perspective and presenting only the city’s oriental-oriented musical side. These narratives depict the Greek-speaking musical presence in Smyrna as exclusively oriental-oriented, something that is often used as evidence for a broader claim: “Greek music is Eastern music.” At the same time, however, the very same narratives emphatically and emotively highlight the cosmopolitan character of the Greek-speaking community, which played a decisive role in shaping the city’s overall cosmopolitan identity.

The second example goes by the name “Smyrniopoula”, that is, “the Smyrnean girl”. This song did not follow the same path as the previous one, as it was never a hit on the Greek musical stages, nor was it recorded by modern artists. Until the composer Nikos Platyrachos retrieved it from oblivion, and–arranged for piano–turned it into a basic background for the extremely interesting documentary by Maria Iliou, with historical consultant Alexander Kitroeff, “Smyrni, the destruction of a cosmopolitan city”33.

According to the available sources, “Smyrniopoula” was recorded for the first time in 1908 in Constantinople, by the group Smyrnaiki Estudiantina (Smyrnaean Estudiantina, see Figure 8)34.

Figure 8: The label of the recording of “Smyrniopoula”, recorded in Constantinople in 1908 (Kounadis Archive Virtual Museum). 

Another recording of “Smyrniopoula” was made by the group Elliniki Estudiantina, in April 1909, in Smyrna (see Figure 9)35.

Figure 9: The label of the recording of “Smyrniopoula” recorded in 1909 in Smyrna (Kounadis Archive Virtual Museum).

The database of the Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music (AHRC, https://www.charm.kcl.ac.uk) and the one of Alan Kelly (https://www.gramophonecompanydiscography.com/) contain two more recordings which we have not yet been able to locate36. Furthermore, two recordings were made in New York for Columbia (see Figure 10)37.

The two available recordings from the first decade of the 20th century could be considered aesthetically close. More or less, the composition of the two orchestras and the performance practices constitute an alla greca condition. Possibly, the second could be characterized as leaning slightly more towards western practices, and this mainly because of the singers’ voices, their placement, the ornamentation, and the attempt to build something like a second vocal line. But the third available recording, which is none other than the second recording made in America38, makes it obvious that it comes from another aesthetic world. Instrumentally and performatively, the piece draws from the environment of the military march. Moreover, the voice clearly refers to bel canto. The comparison of the various “national” repertoires, both with each other and each with its European phase, brings to the surface issues that have only slightly concerned musicological research: what are those elements that make the parallel American life of a national repertoire to be so different from that which the repertoire lives in “its original place(s)”? How does the recording industry intervene and shape the conditions? What is it that leads the same musicians to record in America often even the same pieces, which they recorded earlier in their original place of origin or activity, and perform them with aesthetic variations, and even consciously and on purpose? Many times, the differences are very large, and they concern everything from the instrumentation and the orchestration to the form, the phrasing, the harmonizing habits and the rhythm. They appear so densely in the discography that they give the impression of a well-established aesthetic. Does the American treaty offer any special tools, even some aesthetic “freedoms” that musicians could not easily find in the original places? Finally, what is the place in America of the various features that were established as national musical symbols in Europe, such as for example specific instruments that were identified with specific places39?

Figure 10: The label of the recording of “Evmorfi mou Smyrniopoula”, recorded in New York in 1917 (Kounadis Archive Virtual Museum).

“Smyrniopoula” is none other than the Neapolitan “Nanninella”, a song that also won the competition “La tavola rotonda”. According to Franco Fabbri (2016: 33 and 2019: 79), the song is attributed to Vincenzo Di Chiara and Antonio Barbieri and was a great success at Elvira Donnarumma’s performances at the Eldorado Theatre in Naples in 1906. According to the same source, in 1909, it was recorded by the vocal ensemble Figli di Ciro40.

Recently, a recording for Pathé containing “Nanninella” has come to light, for the first time based on the evidence so far (see Figure 11). By this time, we have yet to hear a historical recording of the song in question. A special impression is made by the sticker of the “Bideri publishing house”, which, as we have already seen, printed a large part of the repertoire. Possibly, this sticker testifies to some kind of agreement between the publishing house and the record company, regarding the copyright from the sales of the record. Commercial discography had very recently entered the music market and had caused reshuffles, eventually winning the lion’s share, at the expense of the hitherto strong sheet music industry.

Figure 11: The label of the recording of “Nanninella”, recorded in Naples in the first decade of the 20th century (© Fondo Gioia archive).

The musical score was included in “La tavola rotonda, Piedigrotta 1906”, published by the “F. Bideri publishing house” in Naples on September 6, 1906.

Figure 12: The musical score of “Nanninella”, as published in Piedigrotta in 1906 (Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli).

Figure 13: The copiella (leaflet) of “Nanninella” (private archive).

In the Greek-language musical score, which was released by the “S. Christidis publishing house” in Constantinople, the song is mentioned as an adaptation by P. Tsabounaris (or Tsabounaras) with lyrics by G. Labrynidis (see Figure 14).

Figure 14: The cover and the first page of the musical score of “Smyrniopoula”, published in Constantinople (Collection of Printed Greek Musical Scores, Lilian Voudouri Music Library of Greece of The Friends of Music Society).

In addition, according to the musical score published by “Georgios D. Fexis’ publishing house”, entitled “Asma dikaiosynis” (Song for justice), the song, adapted by Theofrastos Sakellaridis and with different lyrics written by Babis Anninos and Giorgos Tsokopoulos, was included in the first show of the revue “Panathinaia” (see Figure 15). It premiered on July 6, 1907 at the Nea Skini Theatre by the Kostas Sayior troupe and had as its main theme the migration wave to the USA. Another score was published by “Veloudios publishing house”, and under the title one can read the explanation “the Italian ‘Nanninella’”. The name of Di Chiara is credited as the composer (see Figure 16).

Figure 15: The cover and the front page of the musical score “Asma dikaiosynis”, published in Athens (Collection of Printed Greek Musical Scores, Lilian Voudouri Music Library of Greece of The Friends of Music Society).

Figure 16: The first page of the musical score of “Asma dikaiosynis”, published in Athens (Collection of Printed Greek Musical Scores, Lilian Voudouri Music Library of Greece of The Friends of Music Society).

The fact that Kelly’s database contains two more Greek recordings is extremely interesting41. Also, in the book Spanies ichografiseis mikron etaireion 1905-1930 (2020: 94)Aristomenis Kalyviotis includes a recording of the song, under the title “I dikaiosyni ek ton Panathinaion”, which was made in Athens in 1908 by Alex. Kandreviotis (Apollon A 135). Another recording has been found so far, which was performed by M. Kofiniotis in Athens, probably in 1908 under the title “Ta panathinaia: I dikeosini” (Odeon Gx 146 – X 58525).

This evidence reveals the fast reflex actions of the discographical network, as regards cases of popular songs which are introduced in the Greek repertoire, they are printed as musical scores, they are included in shows and, ultimately, they are introduced in discography.

Epilogue

Regarding future research, where there are clearly many open questions, it would be of particular interest to clarify the routes (land, sea and/or generally processes) through which these songs reach the places with Greek-speaking populations. For example, although we find many cases of such adoptions also taking place in Constantinople by Greek-speaking (and not only) musicians, evidence shows that Smyrna plays the leading part in this field. So, what are the factors that catalyse the creation of this network? Although we have an image of the shops selling musical products in Smyrna, Thessaloniki, Athens, and Constantinople, such as instruments and records, of the music teachers, conductors, piano tuning experts who are of Italian origin, unfortunately we do not know if any of them act in consultation with a record company that wants its records to travel, with the aim of producing covers. Or, if a publishing house sends its scores to specific cities, and they are the ones through which Greek-speaking musicians come into contact with these songs42. And of course, what position do these songs hold (and what version of them) in the heterogeneous–in terms of the cultural background of the customers–and polystylistic–in terms of the repertoires served–musical stages of the venues, hotels, theatres, and ships where live music is performed. The study of historical discography has already shown us countless surprising combinations, such as for example the combination of an alla greca mane with a waltz43, whose musical tune comes from the Russian-speaking world, or a hora which responds to the Romanian repertoire of Lăutari musicians. Were songs like the ones we are examined performed in the first stage of the musical programme, in the middle of the evening, or in the so-called “long hours”, that is, later in the night, perhaps part of a “series” of songs44? Clearly, a systematic indexing of the historical press is required, as well as field research in the places involved. Gathering, cataloguing and thorough documentation of the recording material is also required from all parties involved (Italy, Greece, Turkey, American etc.). In any case, research projects of this type require collaborative work and have the most to offer in terms of examining cultural relations in a period of intense rearrangements. These cross-cultural conversations allow us to understand the communication networks and social trends of the places and people involved.

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—. 2017. “Alaturca alafranca kai kafe-aman.“ In Laikes mousikes paradoseis: Logies anagnoseis – Laikes pragmatoseis, 97-131. Athens: Fagottobooks.

—. 2022. ‘Hora, Sirba and Doina in Greek Discography’. In Studii de Slavistica. Serie Noua, Nr XVI, 425–39. Iasi.

—. 2023. “Introduction of ‘Cosmopolitanism in Greek Historical Discography’.” Kounadis Archive Virtual Museum (https://vmrebetiko.gr/en/cosmopolitanism-en/).

—. 2023. “Introduction of ‘Cosmopolitanism in Greek Historical Discography’.” Kounadis Archive Virtual Museum (https://vmrebetiko.gr/en/cosmopolitanism-en/).

—. n.d. “To chasapiko, ap’ tin Poli stin Athina.” Unpublished article.

Kokkonis, George, and Maria Zoubouli. 2013. I Smyrni Kai i Smyrnia (CD Booklet). Music Documentation Laboratory, University of Ioannina.

Kounadis, Panagiotis. 2010. Ta rebetika – Ena taxidi sto laiko astiko tragoudi ton Ellinon (n. 20). Athens: Ta Nea.

Kounas, Spilios. 2019. “To astiko laiko tragoudi tou elladikou chorou kata tin periodo ton proimon ichografiseon: yfologia, tropikotites, epitelesi.” PhD thesis. Department of Cultural Technology and Communication, University of the Aegean.

—. 2020. “Epanexetazontas ta grammika exeliktika schimata stis laikes mousikes paradoseis – i parametros tis armonias.” Edited by Ioannis Foulias, Petros Vouvaris, Kostas Kardamis and Giorgos Sakallieros. “Neoterismos kai paradosi” – Praktika 11ou Diatmimatikou mousikologikou synedriou. Hellenic Musicological Society. 277-283.

Liavas, Lambros. 2009. To Elliniko Tragoudi Apo to 1821 Eos Ti Dekaetia Tou 1950. Athens: Emporiki Trapeza tis Ellados.

March, Richard. 2013. The Tamburitza Tradition – From the Balkans to the American Midwest. The University of Wisconsin Press.

Martland, Peter. 2013. Recording History – The British Record Industry, 1888-1931. Plymouth: The Scarecrow Press.

Ordoulidis, Nikos. 2018. “Deconstructing dipoles: the term ‘Minor’ in Smyrna.” Paper presented at the Fifth International Conference on Analytical Approaches to World Music (AAWM 2018) & Eighth Folk Music Analysis Workshop (FMA 2018). Thessaloniki, Greece (June 26–29).

—. 2021a. “The Peregrinations of a Princess… Urban Popular Music of the 20th Century in the Network of Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the South-Eastern Mediterranean.” Association of Recorded Sound Collections Journal, 52 ed.: 249–282.

—. 2021b. “1911: Estudiantina Oriental on the Road.” “Musiques grecques en représentation (xixe et xxe siècles)”, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique moderne et contemporain. https://journals.openedition.org/bchmc/949.

—. 2021c. Musical Nationalism, Despotism and Scholarly Interventions in Greek Popular Music. Bloomsbury Academic.

—. 2021d. “Athens: Tatavliano / New York: Beykos.” Edited by Kostas Chardas, Giorgos Sakalieros and Ioannis Foulias. Proceedings of the 11th Conference of the Hellenic Musicological Society. Hellenic Musicological Society. 418–423.

—. 2024. “Oi Ellinikes Estoudiantines”. Mikrasiatika Chronika: ‘Smyrni, Oti Perimachitos Esti’ 25–26:287–302.

Pesce, Anita. 2005. La Sirena nel solco – Origini della riproduzione sonora. Napoli: Guida.

Plastino, Goffredo, and Joseph Sciorra, Eds. 2016. Neapolitan postcards, The canzone napoletana as transational subject. Rowman & Littlefield.

Prato, Paolo. 2022. “Exporting Naples: Geopolitics and Transculturality, from Io te voglio bene assaje to Caruso.” Edited by Fabrizio Della Seta and Massimiliano Locanto. Chigiana, Journal of Musicological Studies: Music and Power in the Long Nineteenth Century 4 (LII): 215-247.

Roy, Elodie, and Eva Moreda Rodriguez, Eds. 2022. Phonographic Encounters – Mapping Transnational Cultures of Sound, 1890-1945. Oxon: Routledge.

Rubin, Joel. 2020. New York Klezmer in the Early Twentieth Century – The Music of Naftule Brandwein and Dave Tarras. University of Rochester Press.

Spottswood, Richard. 1990. Ethnic Music on Records – A Discography of Ethnic Recordings Produced in the United States, 1893-1942 (7 volumes). Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Strötbaum, Hugo. 2010. “Report on Visit to Greece, April-May 1930, by Edmund Michael Innes.” https://www.recordingpioneers.com/docs/INNEStext_23juli2010.pdf.

Tsetsos, Markos. 2011. Ethnikismos kai laikismos stin neoelliniki mousiki – Politikes opseis mias politismikis apoklisis. Idryma Saki Karagiorga.

  1. A revised version of this article will appear in French in the upcoming publication “La Méditerranée traversée : Récits et figures sensibles de la mobilté”, edited by De Gourcy, C., Belguidum, S. Buslacchi, M.E. & Demetriou, E. (2025). Presses Universitaires de Provence. ↩︎
  2. For a case like this, the discographic route of which has been thorough examined, see Ordoulidis (2021a). ↩︎
  3. See https://vmrebetiko.gr/en/collection-en/?id=italian and https://vmrebetiko.gr/en/collection-en/?id=neapolitan. Parts of this text were published on these two web pages. ↩︎
  4. By the terms “italophone/Italian-speaking or -language” I mean the songs that fall under both categories. Similarly, the term “Greek” is not used to denote national identity, but as a substitute for the term “Greek-speaking/language”. The complexity of the use of such terms is related to the association of nation-states with ethnic groups. ↩︎
  5. Warm thanks to the following people and institutions for generously providing archival material and advice on issues related to this research: Panagiotis and Leonardos Kounadis and the Kounadis Archive Virtual Museum (https://vmrebetiko.gr/en/d-home-en/); Anita Pesce; Fondo Gioia, Simona Frasca; Franco Fabbri; Paolo Prato, Spilios Kounas, David Seubert and the Discography of American Historical Recordings database, at the UC Santa Barbara Library (https://adp.library.ucsb.edu); Valia Vraka and the Lilian Voudouri Music Library of Greece of The Friends of Music Society (https://mmb.org.gr/en); Lucia Marinelli and the Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli (https://dl.bnnonline.it). ↩︎
  6. See for example the cases of the Ionian Islands, Dodecanese Islands, and Patras. ↩︎
  7. For the Italian presence in Smyrna as regards musical matters, see Kalyviotis (2002). Generally, for the relations between Italian and Ottoman music see Kounas (2019: 137–138). ↩︎
  8. See for example Anagnostou, Kologeras and Patrona (2022). For the Neapolitan immigrants musicians in New York see Frasca (2014). Generally, for the role that Italian migration played in the music circulation see Prato (2022: 238). ↩︎
  9. See analytically the texts by Kostas Kardamis, and particularly Kardamis (2018). ↩︎
  10. For two illustrating examples, regarding the formulation and implementation of corporate policy, see the letter sent by Edmund Michael Innes to the head office of Gramophone. According to Hugo Strötbaum, he was a commercial traveler, patent and trademark expert, and legal assistant (Strötbaum, 2010). See also the case of the song “Ach Mari”, in its annotation text at the Kounadis Archive Virtual Museum (https://vmrebetiko.gr/en/item-en/?id=5462). ↩︎
  11. Richard Spottswood’s multi-volume work, which can now be described as monumental, is a good starting point for someone wishing to study lists of recordings of various ethnic groups in America (Spottswood, 1990). In recent years there has been an increase in publications concerning some of these repertoires, and their recording course in America (see for example: Green, 1992; March, 2013; Frasca, 2014; Bucuvalas, 2019; Rubin, 2020). ↩︎
  12. Regarding the “trips” of Neapolitan songs outside Italy, see Prato (2022). ↩︎
  13. For various issues regarding the context of historical discography see for example: Gronow, 1983 and 2014; Cook, Clarke, Wilkinson and Rink, 2009; Martland, 2013; Roy and Rodriguez, 2022. ↩︎
  14. The term ‘rebetiko’ refers to urban folk-popular creations and has been used in Greece in two ways. It is either divided into two categories or phases: the Smyrna style or school, and the Piraeus school, based in the city-port of Athens. Alternatively, the term is applied exclusively to the Piraeus style, particularly to its marginalised repertoire, a portion of which was recorded. In this case, the Smyrna school is regarded as the predecessor of rebetiko. The hallmark of the Smyrnean rebetiko is the so-called ‘santouroviolins’ (santouroviolia, derived from santur and violin), whereas for Piraean rebetiko the bouzouki assumes a dominant role. Greek-speaking folk-popular discography began on a large scale as early as 1904 in Constantinople. The discography reveals a different reality. Research shows that the term ‘rebetiko’ first began to appear on record labels around 1912, on Greek recordings made in Constantinople. Two remarkable points emerge: firstly, these recordings were made in the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s. Markos Vamvakaris, widely mentioned as ‘the Patriarch of rebetiko’, began recording in Athens in 1933, meaning his discographic career cannot easily or exclusively be identified with the term. Secondly, listening to these musical works is surprising. None of these recordings feature the bouzouki. Furthermore, part of the repertoire does not ‘look’ eastward and the santouroviolins are not the majority. For the stereotypes, biases, omissions, and dipole mentalities in the relevant literature surrounding the musical reality of Smyrna see Ordoulidis (2021b: 1-12). For more technical issues, see Kounas (2020). More generally on nationalism in Greece and the role of music within it, see Kokkonis (2008, 2011 and 2012); Tsetsos (2011); and Ordoulidis (2021c). ↩︎
  15. Toundas, born before the 20th century, played a pivotal role in the musical affairs of both Smyrna, where he seems to have been born, and Athens, where he went as a refugee. No historical evidence has been found linking him to the song in question (for Toundas, see Gekas, 2018). ↩︎
  16. Chasapiko is one of the most popular folk-popular dances-rhythms in the Greek-speaking repertoire. It should be regarded as part of the network in which the respective dances-rhythms from the repertoires of other ethnic cohabitants participate, in their previous or evolved forms: hora, sirba, bulgar, sirto, longa, serviko and chasaposerviko, kasap, polka, etc. The other half of the word, “serviko”, literally means “Serbian”, but it actually refers to “sirba” (see in detail Kokkonis, 2017b and n.d.). ↩︎
  17. For the attempt to theoretically analyze the Asia Minor repertoire exclusively with the modal theoretical system of the Ottoman makam, which developed at the Court by scholarly musicians, see Fabbri (2019: 80). ↩︎
  18. The contrast between the lyrics is of particular interest. ↩︎
  19. Regarding the Piedigrotta festival see Pesce (2005). In terms of the efforts by Italian immigrants, towards introducing a similar festival in the USA see Frasca (2014: 40). For the Neapolitan song and its popularity see Plastino and Sciorra (2016). ↩︎
  20. See the entire score: https://vmrebetiko.gr/en/item-en/?id=11247. ↩︎
  21. “‘Mbraccia a mme” (embrace me), Gramophone 13317b – V 92472, Naples, 19 May 1909: https://youtu.be/rOhnWIQgDy4. ↩︎
  22. “‘Mbraccia a me”, Columbia 38415 – E 1255 and E 2092 and C 2311, New York, 20 November 1912: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000021220/38415-Mbraccia_a_me. ↩︎
  23. The Greek estudiantinas were small-member orchestras, which left a strong imprint on the historical discography. Based on recent research, it seems that they appear in Constantinople at the end of the 19th century. This is the fruit of the seed that a Spanish estudiantina sowed a little earlier, literally all over the world, after its great success in Paris. For the Greek estudiantinas and their history, see Ordoulidis (2021b; 2021c, chapter 13; and 2024 and Christoforidis (2023). ↩︎
  24. See https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/1000016530/1552y-Den_se_thelo_peia_ and https://vmrebetiko.gr/en/item-en/?id=4372. ↩︎
  25. See https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/1000004597/1641y-Den_se_thelo_pia. ↩︎
  26. See https://vmrebetiko.gr/en/item-en/?id=4410. ↩︎
  27. See https://www.greekdiscography.gr/Images/Records/201442/ODEON%2046357%208%20%20B.jpg.ashx. ↩︎
  28. See https://rebetiko.sealabs.net/display.php?d=0&recid=13208 and https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000110126/84611-Then_se_thelo_pia. ↩︎
  29. For Sideris and his participation in the musical life of Smyrna and Constantinople, see Ordoulidis (2021b). ↩︎
  30. See https://digilib.gr:8080/LSelia/images_View/MS.6.050.jpg. ↩︎
  31. For the Italian paternity of the song we have a reference to the composer in Kokkonis (2013: 34), and a reference to the fact that the original song was Italian in Liavas (2009: 386). ↩︎
  32. The collective national trauma caused by the abandonment of the Great Idea played a catalytic role in shaping Smyrna’s position in public discourse. The central goal of the Great Idea (Μεγάλη Ιδέα, Megali Idea) was the integration of the unredeemed regions of Hellenism in Asia Minor, including Constantinople. The 1922 defeat of the Greek army in Anatolia by the forces of the emerging Turkish state, known as the Katastrofi (Καταστροφή, catastrophe), along with the subsequent Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, marked the end of the Great Idea. ↩︎
  33. See https://youtu.be/H5Tylnbm9nY. ↩︎
  34. “Smyrniopoula”, Odeon CX 1881 – No 58579, Constantinople, 1908: https://vmrebetiko.gr/en/item-en/?id=5153. ↩︎
  35. “Smyrniopoula, Gramophone Concert Record 12804b – 6-12688, Smyrna, April 1909: https://vmrebetiko.gr/en/item-en/?id=4359. ↩︎
  36. Elliniki Estudiantina, 12301b, Constantinople, February 28, 1909; Mlle Simonides, 12410b – 4-13521, Constantinople, March 8, 1909. For the first one, given the absence of a disc code, we can assume that it was not released on the market. ↩︎
  37. “Smyrniopoula”, Columbia 19315-1 – E 834, Paul Armand, New York, April 26, 1911: https://rebetiko.sealabs.net/display.php?recid=18046; “Evmorfi mou Smyrniopoula” (My beautiful Smyrnean girl), Columbia 58999 – E 3804, George Chelmis, New York, ca. November 1917: https://vmrebetiko.gr/en/item-en/?id=4596. ↩︎
  38. The available audio file for America’s other recording is of poor quality and barely audible. ↩︎
  39. For a case such as this from the Greek-speaking repertoire, see Ordoulidis (2021d). ↩︎
  40. Gramophone 13347½b – V 92475, Naples, May 22, 1909. ↩︎
  41. “Dikeossini”, Yangos Psammatianos, 10723b – X-2-102659, Athens, October 1907; “I Dikeossini (Panathinea)”, Estudiantina Grecque, 13403b – 3-14580, Smyrna, May 1909. ↩︎
  42. “This age of sheet music exportation helped to satiate the demand created by piano-owning audiences who were enamoured of Neapolitan music […] Neapolitan song had become a consolidated ‘macro genre’, subject to be appropriated by artists of non-Neapolitan origin” (Prato, 2022: 238–239). ↩︎
  43. “Manes” refers to an alla greca form where vocal improvisation on a couplet plays a leading role. In the manes form, which in most of the recordings remains exactly the same (Introduction – A verse – Intermediate theme – B verse – Shift), the last part consists of the “shift”, a dramatic change that involves new melodies with new rhythmic features. See in detail: Kounadis (2010, 1: 45), Kokkonis (2017a: 112), Ordoulidis (2018), Kounas (2019). ↩︎
  44. For the so-called “seires” (series) in the folk repertoires and in their live performance, see Kokkonis (2011). ↩︎

La traversée sensible : récits et figures de la mobilité en Méditerranée – Sommaire de l’ouvrage collectif

La traversée : un monde de liens à part dans le champ des études migratoires ? Introduction – Constance De Gourcy, Eleni Demetriou, Maria-Elena Buslacchi, Saïd Belguidoum

Partie 1 : La traversée comme objet d’investigation

1. Déclinaisons méditerranéennes de la traversée – Maria-Elena Buslacchi et Constance De Gourcy
2. Crossing The Global Mediterranean: Caranvanserai or Wound? – Natalia Ribas-Mateos and Jorge Malheiros
3. Imaginaires de la traversée : de la figure de l’émigré à celle du harraga – Saïd Belguidoum
4. Tenter la traversée par le Maroc : les migrations subsahariennes entre récits et imaginaires – Sofia El Arabi
5. D’une traversée à l’autre : les migrations internes et transfrontalières des femmes paysannes dans L’anello forte de Nuto Revelli – Armelle Girinon
6. Les familles italiennes en Tunisie, une histoire de multiples traversées – Francesca Messineo
7. Trouble(s) dans l’imaginaire des traversées. Les routes d’émigration clandestine à partir de la Côte d’Ivoire vers l’Europe – Olga Kochie Akou

Partie 2 : La traversée comme angle d’analyse des arts et par les arts


1. Des pieds et des mains : prévenir une blessure de la frontière – Hélène Baillot et Raphaël Botiveau
2. Formes de (im)mobilité et Méditerranée : le rôle de l’artivisme dans la réflexion sur la migration – Melissa Moralli
3. Euphemia, les noyés et les sauvés : une œuvre collective entre l’art contemporain et la recherche sociale à Vintimille – Livio Amigoni, Silvia Aru, Antonino Milotta
4. De Paris à Athènes, repenser la réception du sensible au prisme des traversées – Eleni Demetriou
5. “Crossing the River”: Italian Songs Meet Greek Musicians – Nikos Ordoulidis

Partie 3 : La traversée : un espace de témoignages


1. La traversée Marseille-Alger de Rodolfo Alvarez. Hiver 1959. – Marie-Pierre Ulloa
2. « Les gens regardaient partir l’Algérie » : Regard sensible sur la traversée. 1962 et au-delà – Léna Haziza et Raymond Follin
3. « La parole s’envole, mais l’écriture reste » : la traversée de Moussa entre le Maroc et les Îles Canaries – Andrea Gallinal Arias
4. « Crew love is true love »? – Léa Nivoix

Postface – Sylvie Mazzella

La traversée sensible – Présentation des contributeurs

Olga Akou Kochie est chercheure en philosophie de l’éducation, membre de la société francophone de philosophie de l’éducation (SOFPHIED). Elle mène également une activité d’enseignement à l’institut national supérieur du professorat et de l’éducation (INSPE) de l’université de Bordeaux. Ses travaux de recherches ont été suscités par la mort massive de ressortissants d’Afrique Subsaharienne francophone dans le cadre de leurs projets d’émigration clandestine vers l’Europe et principalement les pays avec qui il a existé et/ou persiste un lien colonial.


Silvia Aru est chercheuse en géographie économique et politique à l’Université de Turin, où elle mène des recherches sur le thème de la migration et de la justice socio-spatiale. Elle est corédactrice de la Rivista Geografica Italiana et membre du comité directeur de l’Association des géographes italiens (AGeI).


Livio Amigoni est doctorant au département des sciences sociales (DISFOR), axe Migrations et relations interculturelles de l’université de Gênes. Il mène un travail ethnographique sur la migration forcée soudanaise et sur les réseaux de soutien aux voyages. Il fait partie du réseau de solidarité Progetto20K actif depuis 2016 dans la zone frontalière de Vintimille et dans le projet Eufemia Info&Legal Point.

Hélène Baillot est docteure associée au Centre européen de sociologie et de science politique (CESSP – Université Paris 1). Ses recherches portent sur la sociologie économique et les dynamiques d’internationalisation du militantisme. Elle est également l’auteure de courts-métrages documentaires.


Saïd Belguidoum est sociologue, maître de Conférence Hors-Classe, il est actuellement Chef du département Carrières Sociales – Villes et Territoires Durables à l’Université d’Aix-Marseille (AMU). Chercheur à l’Institut des mondes arabes et Musulmans (IREMAM – CNRS), il a mené de nombreux travaux portant sur l’Algérie, le Maghreb et la Méditerranée. Il a notamment dirigé des programmes de recherche en France et en Algérie autour des problématiques portant sur les mutations de la société algérienne, les dynamiques urbaines au Maghreb, la mondialisation discrète en Afrique méditerranéenne et subsaharienne, les circulations transnationales et les nouvelles routes de la soie entre la Méditerranée et la Chine.


Raphaël Botiveau est docteur en science politique et cinéaste. Après une thèse consacrée au syndicalisme dans les mines d’Afrique du Sud (Université Paris 1/ La Sapienza), il a intégré le Fresnoy-Studio national des arts contemporains où il commence à faire des films. Posdoctorant à l’Ehess et au Mucem, il réalise des films documentaires.


Maria-Elena Buslacchi est socio-anthropologue, chercheuse post-doc à l’Observatoire des publics et pratiques de la culture d’Aix-Marseille Université. Après une thèse à l’Ehess/Centre Norbert Elias et à l’Université de Gênes, elle a travaillé sur l’imaginaire et les transformations territoriales des villes portuaires et du littoral méditerranéen. Elle s’interesse aux méthodes créatives dans la recherche en sciences sociales.


Anna Daneri, conservatrice indépendante, a été co-commissaire d’Eufemia et de l’exposition I am Border sur les arts et la migration, des projets à l’initiative du département des sciences sociales DISFOR de l’Université de Gênes. Elle est également membre du collectif de recherche artistique Corpi idrici et du comité de promotion des archives de l’Atelier Pharaildis Van Den Broeck.


Constance De Gourcy est Maîtresse de conférences HDR à Aix-Marseille Université, chercheure au Mesopolhis (UMR 7064) et fellow à l’Institut Convergences Migrations. Ses travaux croisent l’étude des migrations avec les situations d’absence produites dans l’espace euro-méditerranéen. Elle a récemment publié avec Kamel Chachoua Mobilités et Migrations en Méditerranée : Vers une anthropologie de l’absence ? (REMMM, 2018) et a codirigé avec Monia Lachheb l’ouvrage Terrains sensibles au Maghreb et au-delà. Acteurs, chercheurs et affects, (Nirvana, 2022, traduit en arabe en 2023).


Eleni Demetriou est doctorante en sociologie à l’UMR Mesopolhis (7064). Ses travaux s’inscrivent dans les champs de la sociologie de la connaissance, des valeurs, des arts et de la mort. Sa thèse doctorale porte sur la requalification d’artefacts et d’espaces funéraires contemporains, situés en France et en Grèce. Elle s’intéresse aux savoirs qui se recontextualisent lors d’opérations de requalification et à la frontière symbolique qu’elles instituent, tout en la transformant. Elle s’intéresse aussi à l’histoire et l’épistémologie des sciences humaines et sociales.


Sofia El Arabi Titulaire d’un doctorat en géographie politique, culturelle et historique (Paris, Sorbonne), enseignante en licence et master à l’Université Paris Cité et à la Sorbonne, membre de l’Institut Convergences Migrations (ICM) et du City Diplomacy Lab (CDL) de Columbia Global Centers de Paris (CGC|Paris), Iméra fellow 2024, dans le cadre du programme “solidarités musulmanes face aux crises en Méditerranée”. Ses travaux explorent la complexité des trajectoires et des dynamiques migratoires et sont situés à l’interface entre études sur les logiques sécuritaires de gestion migratoire et études sur l’accueil des migrants dans les « villes-refuge » au Maroc en interrogeant les dynamiques de solidarité, les politiques d’hospitalité et le droit à la ville à partir des pratiques citadines et des luttes infra-politiques.


Raymond Follin est docteur en histoire, diplômé en Sciences politiques. Journaliste animateur radio.


Andrea Gallinal Arias est doctorante en science politique à Mesopolhis (UMR 7064). Ses travaux portent sur les “crises migratoires” et ses effets dans les sociétés qu’elles traversent. En prenant comme cas d’étude la route migratoire atlantique des Îles Canaries, elle s’intéresse aux recompositions que le phénomène migratoire et sa gestion produisent sur l’espace social de l’archipel. Elle travaille ainsi sur l’infrastructure de gestion des migrations qui s’y développe depuis 2020 et ses effets sur le territoire.

Armelle Girinon est spécialisée dans l’étude de l’histoire et la littérature italiennes (XIXe et XXe siècles). Sa recherche doctorale a porté sur les récits de voyage et sur l’appréhension et la construction de l’altérité. Elle travaille sur l’histoire orale des femmes paysannes et sur la construction de l’altérité sur l’histoire orale des paysannes et sur l’écriture de leurs récits de vie, recherche qu’elle mène dans le cadre d’un post-doctorat Marie Sklodowska-Curie.


Léna Haziza est doctorante en sociologie-géographie, rattachée aux laboratoires Mesopolhis et Migrinter. Membre de l’Institut Convergences Migrations, elle mène une thèse intitulée « Familles transnationales face à l’absence : quand la mobilité géographique recompose la mobilité sociale des femmes algériennes non migrantes ».


Jorge Malheiros est professeur associé à l’Institut de géographie et d’aménagement du territoire de l’Université de Lisbonne. Il est actuellement membre du conseil d’orientation du Centre d’études géographiques de l’université de Lisbonne et de la coordination du groupe de recherche ZOE (Dynamiques et politiques urbaines et régionales) de cette unité. Il développe des recherches dans les domaines des études sociales urbaines et des migrations internationales, en mettant l’accent sur l’intégration des immigrés, la dynamique démographique, les relations hommes-femmes, les problèmes de logement et de ségrégation, ainsi que les relations frontalières et transnationales. Il a publié plusieurs ouvrages au Portugal et à l’étranger.

Sylvie Mazzella est Directrice de recherche CNRS à l’UMR Mesopolhis. En tant que spécialiste de sociologie de l’immigration et des migrations et de sociologie urbaine, elle s’intéresse à la formation et la circulation des migrations qualifiées Nord-Sud et Sud-Sud, ainsi qu’à la politique migratoire et politique d’enseignement supérieur au Maghreb.


Francesca Messineo est anthropologue de formation, spécialisée dans les études sur la mondialisation. Elle effectue un octorat de sciences sociales appliquée à l’université La Sapienza à Roma.


Anto Milotta est artiste visuel et chercheur, titulaire d’un doctorat en Migrations et processus interculturels du Département de sciences de l’éducation de l’université de Gênes (Laboratoire de sociologie visuelle). Depuis 2024, il enseigne Montage vidéo à l’Académie des beaux-arts de Gênes.


Melissa Moralli est enseignante chercheuse « au Département de Sociologie et de Droit des Affaires de l’université de Bologne et chercheuse associée au laboratoire Mesopolhis (UMR 7064). Ses travaux portent sur l’artivisme, la migration et l’innovation. Elle a participé à plusieurs projets de recherche internationaux et a publié plusieurs ouvrages et articles scientifiques sur la migration, la production artistique, l’innovation sociale et les méthodes créatives. Elle a également co-fondé le collectif de recherche « Reimagining Mobilites » sur la question des approches critiques des régimes de mobilité au moyen des pratiques créatives.

Léa Nivoix est doctorante en science politique à Mesopolhis (UMR 7064) et à l’IEP d’Aix-en-Provence. Sa thèse doctorale s’intitule « Habiter la frontière, recomposer le borderscape. Le rôle des ONG de sauvetage en Méditerranée dans la politique migratoire européenne ». Ses intérêts de recherche comprennent les carrières d’engagement, la construction frontalière méditerranéenne par les acteurs non-étatiques et la mobilisation de savoirs professionnels spécifiques en contexte humanitaire.


Nikos Ordoulidis est musicologue et musicien. Il a obtenu un doctorat en musique à l’université de Leeds, au Royaume-Uni, et enseigne depuis dix ans au Département d’études musicales de l’université de Ioannina, en Grèce. Ses intérêts de recherche portent sur les répertoires [musicaux] provenant de l’Europe/ d’Europe, du Moyen-Orient et de l’Afrique du Nord, ainsi que sur leurs vies parallèles en Amérique, et se concentrent en particulier sur les phénomènes de syncrétisme musical. Il a publié des textes sur les idéologies musicales, la discographie historique, la propriété intellectuelle, les musiques populaires urbaines, le piano oriental et la musique ecclésiastique de l’Église Orthodoxe Orientale. Il est un compositeur, arrangeur et pianiste actif. Sa récente monographie a été publiée en 2012 par Bloomsbury Academic en Amérique, sous le titre Musical Nationalism, Despotism and Scholarly Interventions in Greek Popular Music.


Natalia Ribas-Mateos est sociologue, chercheuse à l’université autonome de Barcelone, membre associée au laboratoire Mesopolhis. Ses recherches l’ont menée en Grande Bretagne, en France et au Maroc. Ses recherches et publications portent sur le genre et les espaces frontaliers (Etas-Unis/Mexique, Méditerranée occidentale…).


Marie-Pierre Ulloa : diplômée de Sciences Po Paris et docteure de l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, est l’auteure de Francis Jeanson, un intellectuel en dissidence, de la Résistance à la guerre d’Algérie (Stanford University Press, 2008) et Le Nouveau rêve américain, du Maghreb à la Californie (CNRS éditions, 2019). Elle a coordonné le numéro spécial de la revue Expressions maghrébines, “Archiver le Maghreb”, publié en décembre 2022. Ses recherches portent sur l’histoire culturelle et intellectuelle de la France et du Maghreb, à l’intersection de l’histoire et de la sociologie de la littérature et du cinéma, en associant une pratique de recherche dans les archives avec l’histoire orale. Membre du Taube Center for Jewish Studies, du Mediterranean Studies Forum-Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies de Stanford, elle enseigne à l’université de Stanford depuis 2012. Chercheuse associée à Mesopolhis, le centre méditerranéen de sociologie, de science politique et d’histoire de l’université d’Aix-Marseille, elle dirige le programme Méditerranée de l’Iméra, l’Institut d’Études Avancées d’Aix*Marseille Université. Chevalière de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

“La traversée de Raymond, français d’Algérie”, résumé d’entretien

Depuis sa première journée d’études, le projet Cargo travaille sur l’ouvrage collectif “La Méditerranée traversée : récits et figures sensibles”, qui sera publié en 2024.

Pour préparer sa parution, l’équipe présentera ici des extraits issus des différentes contributions.

La première contribution présentée prend la forme d’un entretien, qui a été mené par Léna Haziza, doctorante à Mesopolhis. L’ensemble de l’entretien a été retranscrit et apparaitra intégralement dans l’ouvrage.

La traversée de Raymond, français d’Algérie

A travers la thématique de la traversée, cet entretien évoque la mobilité vers un autre pays comme un élément pouvant être fondateur dans les choix et trajectoires de vie des individus. Raymond, français d’Algérie, prend pour point de départ sa propre traversée entre l’Algérie et la France en 1962 lors de l’indépendance du pays et développe sur son parcours de vie, parfois orienté par son expérience migratoire, son rapport à l’Algérie et son sentiment d’appartenance à l’aire méditerranéenne.

A partir de son expérience de la migration – facilitée par son statut administratif de français – qui est intemporelle, il trace des ponts entre les migrant-e-s d’hier et d’aujourd’hui. Il montre les aspects communs qui peuvent se dégager de chaque traversées et expériences migratoires, bien qu’elles soient singulières en fonction du contexte historique, social, politique, des conditions de départ, d’arrivée et du trajet.

Pour aller plus loin, un lien vers l’ensemble des émissions de Mare Nostrum :

https://www.radiozinzineaix.org/index.php/les-emissions/mare-nostrum

Liste des émissions en lien avec cet entretien en particulier :

n°4: Migrants et temporalités en Méditerranée, avec Céline Regnard et Virginie Baby-Colin

n°50: Les Pieds-Noirs d’Alicante, avec Mariana Dominguez Villaverde

n°66: Migrations dans le Briançonnais, avec Raphael Botiveau

n°68: L’immigration italienne en France, avec Stéphane Mourlane

n°74: Travailler sur les routes migratoires en Grèce, avec Martin Pontier

n°77: Les Italiens à Bône (18°/20°), avec Hugo Verneren

n°93: Absence, mobilités, migrations, avec Constance de Gourcy

n°105: Syriens en transit, avec Céline Regnard.

Programme de JE “La Méditerranée traversée : récits et figures sensibles” 20 juin 2023, MMSH

20 juin 2023, 9h-17h
salle 101
MMSH – Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme
5 Rue Château de l’Horloge, Aix-en-Provence

Cette journée d’étude s’inscrit dans le prolongement du travail de réflexion mené autour des pratiques de traversée de la Méditerranée en prenant appui sur des récits de mobilité entre mémoire et histoire. Il s’agira de créer un espace de discussion autour des contributions des participants au programme en interrogant ce que la traversée fait à nos méthodologies d’enquête ainsi qu’à nos catégories d’analyse des mobilités. Nous réfléchirons aux apports et limites d’une approche sensible du réel attentive à la prise en compte des conditions matérielles de la traversée. À l’écart des représentations médiatiques des migrant.e.s qui mobilisent l’image des flux et les invisibilisent, nous chercherons ainsi à reconstituer des portraits sensibles de la traversée, à comprendre les imaginaires qui les portent et plus largement à éclairer à les dynamiques mémorielles contemporaines à l’aune de celles du passé.  

Suivez la rencontre en ligne au lien Zoom : https://univ-amu-fr.zoom.us/j/95678642565?pwd=QkhqMWY0MTczeE9oVFR1aUlneDRyQT09
ID de réunion : 956 7864 2565 – Code secret : 641340

Regards croisés #1 / Qui raconte la traversée ?

par Maria Elena Buslacchi

Le périple de Mahmoud Traoré (Partir et raconter : une odyssée clandestine, éd. Lignes, 2012)

La manière dont on représente la traversée au-delà des récits médiatiques dominants intéresse des arènes de plus en plus différentes, au-delà du monde des sciences sociales et des cercles militants. En est un exemple la rencontre Regards croisés : échanges entre deux rives sur les migrations contemporaines tenue à Marseille, au Coco Velten, vendredi 9 décembre dernier à l’initiative de la Féderation européenne de journalisme en collaboration avec Cospe et les associations Carta di Roma et Village Pilote. Journalistes, chercheur.es, militant.es, coopérant.es étaient réunis dans le but d’explorer de nouvelles manières de raconter la circulation des personnes entre l’Afrique et l’Europe, d’échanger autour de nouvelles pratiques d’écriture, parfois expérimentales, parfois très simples et pourtant guère banales.

Première épisode à la découverte de ces pratiques d’écritures : un questionnement autour de l’autorialité porté par Bruno Le Dantec et Mahmoud Traoré, qui signent ensemble Partir et raconter : une odyssée clandestine (Ed. Lignes, 2012, paru en format poche en 2017). Le livre raconte le périple de Mahmoud, apprenti menuisier à Dakar qui en 2002 décide de partir pour chercher de meilleures opportunités et conditions de travail. Son objectif n’est pas l’Europe : il se dirige d’abord vers la Côte d’Ivoire, où ses projets sont entravés par la guerre. En en taxi-brousse, en minibus, en 4×4 et à pied il traverse alors Sénégal, Burkina Faso, Niger, Algérie, Libye, Algérie et Maroc. Ce n’est qu’en 2005 – trois ans après son départ – qu’il atteint l’Espagne, en participant à un assaut sur les grilles de l’enclave espagnole de Ceuta, au nord du Maroc. Ses mots rappellent que la traversée commence bien plus tôt que la mer ne se profile à l’horizon.

Le désert tue deux à trois fois plus que la Méditerranée, mais « ces morts sont très difficiles à comptabiliser – explique Andrea De Georgio, organisateur de la rencontre – car sur cette partie du voyage il n’y a quasiment aucune couverture médiatique. Ce sont les morts parfaites pour des politiques qui visent à repousser le problème au-delà de l’espace européen.  Peux sont les journalistes[i] ou les chercheurs qui essaient de s’aventurer dans le désert, et en aucun cas ils peuvent le faire de manière légale ». La seule trace qu’on a de cette partie de la traversée, c’est la voix des personnes qui échappent au désert. D’où la question de l’autorialité : très rares sont les cas de rescapés qui arrivent, par contrainte ou par choix, à s’exprimer en première personne[ii] sur ce sujet, comme Mahmoud. Plus souvent leur parole est recueillie, filtrée, normalisée. Quand-même ils en parlent, ils jonglent entre les multiples versions de leur histoire, adaptées au contexte du moment. « Pendant le voyage – explique Bruno Le Dantec, qui a aidé Mahmoud à transformer son histoire en livre – on change plusieurs fois de nationalité, de nom. Quand on arrive en Algérie on dit qu’on vient du Mali, au Maroc on dit qu’on vient du Sénégal, en fonction des relations entre un pays et l’autre. En Europe on vient forcément d’un pays en crise, autrement on n’aurait pas droit à l’asile. En Lybie on prend un nom musulman même quand on ne l’est pas, pour s’épargner des problèmes qui se rajouteraient aux autres ». Pour cela, les auteurs ont voulu que la parole de Mahmoud ne soit pas interprétée par quelqu’un d’autre, mais écrite par celui même qui l’énonce. Bruno Le Dantec, écrivain et journaliste marseillais, l’aide à la mise en forme après avoir recueilli une trentaine d’heures d’enregistrement de son histoire. Dans cette démarche émerge l’importance des mots empruntés pour parler du voyage : Mahmoud n’est pas un migrant, mais un aventurier. C’est comme-ça que ceux qui partent se définissent : ils ne deviennent des migrants qu’en Europe.


[i] On signale un des rares cas de reportage : Bilal sur la route des clandestins, publié en 2008 chez Liana Lévi par le journaliste de L’Espresso Fabrizio Gatti.

[ii] Le peu de cas que l’on pourrait recenser rarement atteignent la notoriété. On notera néanmoins qu’il y a une exception intéressante à remarquer : les ouvrages contestés du sénégalais Omar Ba, Soif d’Europe : témoignage d’un clandestin, paru aux Editions du Cygne en 2008 et suivi en 2009 de Je suis venu, j’ai vu, je n’y crois plus, chez Max Milo. Les deux livres, qui invitaient les compatriotes de l’auteur à ne pas partir, ont été au centre d’une contre-enquête qui aurait démontré que les publications étaient davantage une opération éditoriale et médiatique visant davantage à décourager les départs qu’à témoigner d’une histoire. Le récit de l’auteur se serait d’ailleurs révélé « anachronique et incohérent » (Contre-enquête sur un affabulateur, Le Monde du 7 juillet 2009).

CARGO : projet d’ouvrage et appel à contributions

En donnant suite à la journée d’étude Figures sensibles de la traversée en Méditerranée (MMSH, Aix-en-Provence, 30 septembre 2022) ce projet de manuscrit prend appui sur les récits de traversées contemporains, les imaginaires ainsi que les différentes représentations qu’ils ont générées pour penser les mobilités et circulations entre les pays qui bordent la Méditerranée. Révélatrices des enjeux à l’échelle de sociétés en mutation, les mobilités sont pensées comme des pratiques de circulation en train de se faire dans un entre-deux spatial, temporel, culturel, social et linguistique. Alors qu’elles permettent de penser la Méditerranée comme un espace de liens, les récits qui les mettent en perspective témoignent de la diversité des situations de traversées depuis les plus sécurisées jusqu’à celles illégalisées par les États. Nous chercherons à voir dans quelle mesure ils restituent la profondeur des mobilités à différentes échelles d’analyse et s’affranchissent, ce faisant, de l’actualité politique et médiatique qui construit les représentations de l’altérité dans cette région du monde. À l’écart des représentations médiatiques des migrant.es qui mobilisent l’image des flux et les invisibilisent, il s’agira donc de reconstituer des portraits sensibles de la traversée, de comprendre les imaginaires qui les portent et plus largement d’éclairer les dynamiques mémorielles contemporaines à l’aune de celles du passé.

Les propositions d’article sont à envoyer aux adresses suivantes : constance.degourcy@univ-amu.fr, said.belguidoum@univ-amu.fr, mariaelena.buslacchi@univ-amu.fr, eleni.demetriou@univ-amu.fr

Calendrier :

15 décembre 2022 : envoi des propositions sous la forme d’un résumé (1000 signes) et une courte bio
31 janvier 2023 : retour aux auteur.e.s sur les propositions reçues
30 avril 2023 : remise des premières versions des textes. Les contributions pourront prendre différents formats – articles, entretiens – et n’excèderont pas 45 000 signes espaces compris
30 juin 2023 : dépôt des textes finalisés

Consultez et téléchargez le texte complet de l’appel :

JE Figures sensibles de la traversée en Méditerranée – le programme

30 septembre 2022, 10h-17h
salle Paul-Albert Février
MMSH – Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme
5 Rue Château de l’Horloge, Aix-en-Provence

Parmi les moyens de circulation, le bateau est plus qu’un moyen de transport, il est un trait d’union qui jalonne l’expérience migratoire et favorise une expérience de la mobilité en train de se faire, d’un espace à un autre, sans qu’elle soit jamais stabilisée, toujours en train de se recomposer au gré des récits de la traversée. C’est pourquoi cette journée d’études cherche précisément à porter l’attention sur les dynamiques de l’entre-deux alors que l’on n’est plus « ici » et pas encore « là-bas » et que se redessinent les identités et les appartenances. Les mobilités seront donc appréhendées comme des pratiques de circulation en train de se faire dans un entre-deux spatial, temporel, culturel, social et linguistique, des mobilités révélatrices d’enjeux à l’échelle de sociétés en mutation. À l’écart des représentations médiatiques des migrant.e.s qui mobilisent l’image des flux et les invisibilisent, nous chercherons à reconstituer des portraits sensibles de la traversée, à comprendre les imaginaires qui les portent et plus largement à éclairer à les dynamiques mémorielles contemporaines à l’aune de celles du passé.  

Suivez la rencontre en ligne au lien Zoom : https://univ-amu-fr.zoom.us/j/95678642565?pwd=QkhqMWY0MTczeE9oVFR1aUlneDRyQT09
ID de réunion : 956 7864 2565 – Code secret : 641340

Journée d’études “Figures sensibles de la traversée en Méditerranée” – 30 septembre 2022, MMSH

Istock by Getty Images, image libre de droit, ©danielsbfoto

Journée d’études30 septembre 2022 – salle Paul-Albert Février, MMSH

Parmi les moyens de circulation, le ferry est plus qu’un moyen de transport, il est un trait d’union qui jalonne l’expérience migratoire et favorise une expérience de la mobilité en train de se faire, d’un espace à un autre, sans qu’elle soit jamais stabilisée, toujours en train de se recomposer au gré des récits de la traversée. C’est pourquoi, cette journée d’études cherche précisément à porter l’attention sur les dynamiques de l’entre-deux alors que l’on n’est plus « ici » et pas encore « là-bas » et que se redessinent les identités et les appartenances.

Les mobilités seront donc appréhendées comme des pratiques de circulation en train de se faire dans un entre-deux spatial, temporel, culturel, social et linguistique, des mobilités révélatrices d’enjeux à l’échelle de sociétés en mutation. À l’écart des représentations médiatiques des migrant.e.s qui mobilisent l’image des flux et les invisibilisent, nous chercherons à reconstituer des portraits sensibles de la traversée, à comprendre les imaginaires qui les portent et plus largement à éclairer à les dynamiques mémorielles contemporaines à l’aune de celles du passé.

Le programme de la journée sera publié prochainement.