Understanding Civil Conflict through Music: Popular Expressions and Political Soundscapes during Greece's National Schism following the Elections of 1920

Abstract: The Greek national elections of 1 November 1920, in which Venizelos and his Liberal Party were defeated, provide an occasion to investigate the political soundscape in Athens during the National Schism. Ethnomusicological study of daily newspaper and other accounts during the two months following the elections finds extensive popular music-making with different expressive traits on the two political sides, and it reveals the mass musical psychological warfare that the victorious Antivenizelist party waged against the Venizelists. Many interesting elements can be observed: rhythmic chanting from both sides on the day of the elections; persistent public performances of the victorious party's leader's anthem(s), combined with religious resurrection chants and curses against the defeated party; political control of musical performances and the use of musicians to establish political dominance in public areas, where collective singing also incorporated other practices related to party competition; the impromptu addition to songs of new, often violent lyrics; and even the alteration of Christmas carols to emphasize the shift in power. Interdisciplinary investigation of this material reveals music's capacity to function in periods of intense conflict not only as an agent of that conflict but even as its aggravating instrument.