The Early Years
The Musical Folklore Archives were established on the occasion of the first large-scale recording project (1930–1931), which documented musical samples from across the Hellenic world, including Byzantine hymns and examples of local dialects and vernacular speech.
These recordings—together with similar initiatives in Romania and Czechoslovakia—formed part of the broader vision of French linguist, phonetician, and philhellene Hubert Pernot, who sought to map musical and linguistic phenomena in the Balkans.
The project received both moral and practical support from the Greek government under Eleftherios Venizelos and was sustained by leading intellectual and cultural figures of the period.
Using equipment and technical expertise from the French firm Pathé, the project treasured approximately six hundred songs, instrumental pieces, and speech samples, on 222 gramophone records that were not commercially distributed. Given the technological and economic conditions of the time, this output was remarkable.
The coordination of the project was entrusted to Melpo Merlier, a student and collaborator of Pernot. In the aftermath of the Asia Minor Catastrophe and the Population Exchange, Merlier realized the urgency of documenting the musical traditions brought by refugees before these memories faded.
The research generated by these recordings, together with the need for systematic documentation, laid the foundation for the establishment of the Musical Folklore Archives.
Distinguished musicians and musicologists of the Interwar era—including Samuel Baud-Bovy, Nikos Skalkotas, Petros Petridis, Georgios Poniridis, Nikolaos Chrysochoidis, Aglaia Agioutanti, and Despoina Mazaraki—collaborated with the Archives.
Postwar Years
Following World War II, the research activities of the Musical Folklore Archives expanded significantly.
Advances in recording technology enabled extensive fieldwork across the Hellenic world, resulting in systematic documentation of regional musical traditions. The primary goal was to construct a “musical map” that captured the distinctive characteristics of each region while examining interactions with musical traditions in other parts of Greece, the Balkans, and Asia Minor.
This research direction was complemented by the development of a rich and diverse library of books and audio materials, including 78, 45, and 33 rpm records, cassette tapes, and CDs.
Musicologist Markos F. Dragoumis played a central role in the Archives from 1960—when he conducted his first field research under the guidance of Melpo Merlier—until his death in 2023. Combining rigorous musical training with methodological precision and ethnographic sensitivity, Dragoumis documented and analyzed the musical, social, and cultural transformations of postwar Greece. His work spans rural traditions, urban popular music, and Byzantine chant.
From the 1980s onward, additional collaborators included Leonidas Empeirikos, Thanassis Moraitis, and Katerina Georgiadou. One of the most significant outcomes of these collaborations has been the publication of books and audio editions.
Today
Today, building on its rich historical legacy and the opportunities provided by modern technology, the Musical Folklore Archives continue to preserve, document, study, and disseminate the musical traditions of the Hellenic world while expanding their scope to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Musical Folklore Archive Staff:
MFA Supervisor: Xaris Sarris
MFA Associate : Katerina Georgiadou
