February 13, 1957
GREEK MUSIC: (From a music review by Minos Dounias): «The Cypriot composer and musicologist Solon Michailidis, a deep thinker and student of popular Greek music and Byzantine tradition, as well as the author the two-volume ‘Harmony in Modern Music,’ has given an enlightening lecture on Greek music under the auspices of the Union of Greek Musicians. After a brief historical perspective, Michailidis emphasized the considerable progress made in modern Greek music and the need for the public to value the hard work being done by our composers, the main purveyors of the country’s musical culture. According to the speaker, the position of the Greek composer, who has the ability to draw from the folk tradition and Byzantine hymns, is truly a privileged one. However, the intensity of these national elements within the framework of Western symphonic art, which is unavoidable, has proved to be a dangerous tendency and one which many Greek composers have fallen prey to. He said foreigners’ doubts about the Greek character of Cyprus could be disproved by the ancient popular traditions of the island. Its songs, dances and legends tell the story of the Cypriot people.»
