Changing Spaces, Changing Music Ecosystems: What We’ve Learned so far in Greece: A feminist performance mapping the femicides in the public performing space

Abstract

Georgina Born has emphasised music is always mediated by space — whether physical, social, or virtual — and understanding music requires attention to these spatial dimensions. She also highlights the relative underdevelopment of analytical approaches to the social dimensions of the interweaving of music, sound, and space. During the last two decades many changes have taken place in the spaces used for music performance in Athens and other cities, especially through festivals. Even though “space” and “performance” are two quite popular terms that have risen in Greece — after decades the same had happened at the States —, there is surprisingly little research focused on how different music genres engage with and utilise space in the country. While ethnomusicological studies have explored traditional musics within specific regional or ritual contexts, there is a notable gap when it comes to examining how urban jazz and classical music genres interact with physical and social spaces. Issues like spatial politics and genre-specific uses of public, private or alternative spaces remain underexplored, leaving a significant area of cultural practice undocumented and analytically neglected. This paper, by examining different music genres, investigates how music performance and space navigate urban and rural environments, venue infrastructures, and informal or alternative performance spaces. Through personal fieldwork, discussions, spatial analysis, and reflexive theoretical approaches, I intend to uncover the ways in which space shapes musical genres and vice versa, filling a critical gap in the understanding of Greece's diverse and evolving musical landscapes.