Imago Poetae: The Aesthetics of Manos Hadjidakis

The worldwide fame of Manos Hadjidakis is inextricably linked to the commercial success of his early work, portraying him primarily as one of the major figures who brought the bouzouki into mainstream popular Greek music. This analysis develops an alternate, more comprehensive interpretation of Hadjidakis's work by examining which songs he preferred in contrast to which songs were most commercially successful, as well as the instrumentation he employed, the musical structure of his compositions, and his orchestrational style. Such investigations reveal that Hadjidakis employed the tradition of rebétiko in a flexible manner, as but one element of a much larger musical project in which he attempted to create a mythical/poetic space where present Greek experience becomes connected to cultural memory.