Urban [Musical] Representations: Stereo Nova and the city of Athens/
GR(original title)Αστικές [Μουσικές] Αναπαραστάσεις: Η πόλης της Αθήνας και οι Στέρεο Νόβα
Zervou Angeliki, research paper 2007
Music is a cultural product, a system of symbols that may convey the subject’s experience of the city and participate, in this sense, in constructing urban reality.
By using sound, lyrics and music videos as instruments in our attempt to understand and represent the city, we may gain important insight into the city’s makeup, the life of its inhabitants and the overriding concerns of each time. Representing the conditions of city life by means of its sounds and of their articulation into musical compositions is a practice first encountered in the history of art as early as the beginning of the twentieth century and the work of the Futurists, while lyrics become a vehicle for verbal descriptions of urban space and for references to the built environment, both public (squares, streets, etc) and private (the house, the apartment, etc). The origins of the music video are to be found in cinema and video art, as well as in the genre of the City Symphonies. Its principal characteristics being its prescribed (short) duration and the pace by which scenes follow one another, the music video manages to reinforce music’s inherent representational potential and to convey the rapid pace of life in the city, the hasty alternation of the images and forms it presents, the fragmentary way in which man experiences its reality.
By using sound, lyrics and music videos as instruments in our attempt to understand and represent the city, we may gain important insight into the city’s makeup, the life of its inhabitants and the overriding concerns of each time. Representing the conditions of city life by means of its sounds and of their articulation into musical compositions is a practice first encountered in the history of art as early as the beginning of the twentieth century and the work of the Futurists, while lyrics become a vehicle for verbal descriptions of urban space and for references to the built environment, both public (squares, streets, etc) and private (the house, the apartment, etc). The origins of the music video are to be found in cinema and video art, as well as in the genre of the City Symphonies. Its principal characteristics being its prescribed (short) duration and the pace by which scenes follow one another, the music video manages to reinforce music’s inherent representational potential and to convey the rapid pace of life in the city, the hasty alternation of the images and forms it presents, the fragmentary way in which man experiences its reality.
Particular music idioms, such as those developing in the broader context of pop music to refer to the reality of different cities, show that built space, its planning and technological development, its human resources, the political and social conditions specific to it are all factors in shaping musical expression and the production of music. Punk rock and hip hop both emerged out of a blending of the musical traditions of London and New York with those of the West-Indies and Jamaica, brought over by immigrants to these two cities. What is more, both are associated with urban public space. Techno- which was born in Detroit, a city famous for its automobile industry- is the product of familiarization with technology and its basic concept is the notion of harmony between man and machine.
The aim of this research is to explore the relationship between Athens and its music up until the end of the 90s, through an attempt at simultaneously charting the development of urban space and of music production. The 90s becomes the focus of this investigation since it marks a crucial period in the city’s development. At the beginning of this decade, Athens seems to be entering a period of constant transformation. Changes in the urban landscape are directly linked with the city’s preparations for the 2004 Olympic Games. At the same time, the collapse of communist regimes across Eastern Europe sent an influx of immigrants into Greece from the countries of the former so-called Eastern Bloc, a fact that brought about a series of significant changes to Athens’ built environment, while rekindling the dialogue on the issue of national identity, both collective and individual, and an interest in the identity of the city itself.
The relation of the human body to the constituent elements and scale of the urban landscape; the image of Athenian rooftops, extreme long shots and bird’s-eye views of Athens; the repetition of a stereotypical model, unsophisticated and monotonous, such as that of the urban apartment building; images of Omonoia square and of the area of Peristeri, one of Athens’ western suburbs where the members of the group lived, for which Omonoia square serves as a link to the centre of the city. Areas usually excluded from official urban discourse – the western suburbs, in particular – are highlighted in their work, offering a view of the elements that composed their reality at the time and the lifestyles of their residents. The band’s chosen subject matter (features and spaces of the city that serve to shape its identity as metropolis), the music video’s particular qualities as a medium of representation and their specific use of its technical characteristics in expressing their vision of the city, all combine to form their musical representations, which ultimately affect our own perception of urban space.
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The group of Stereo Nova has been selected among music bands that were prominent at the time, as they seem to be deeply concerned with the changes brought on Athenian urban space and the city’s reality at large and eloquently express this experience of transformation in their work. They have a distinct urban consciousness and use the music video as a fundamental expressive tool, which allows them to assess their own relationship to Athens and to shape their approach of the city.
Issues discussed include:
The relation of the human body to the constituent elements and scale of the urban landscape; the image of Athenian rooftops, extreme long shots and bird’s-eye views of Athens; the repetition of a stereotypical model, unsophisticated and monotonous, such as that of the urban apartment building; images of Omonoia square and of the area of Peristeri, one of Athens’ western suburbs where the members of the group lived, for which Omonoia square serves as a link to the centre of the city. Areas usually excluded from official urban discourse – the western suburbs, in particular – are highlighted in their work, offering a view of the elements that composed their reality at the time and the lifestyles of their residents. The band’s chosen subject matter (features and spaces of the city that serve to shape its identity as metropolis), the music video’s particular qualities as a medium of representation and their specific use of its technical characteristics in expressing their vision of the city, all combine to form their musical representations, which ultimately affect our own perception of urban space.
download full text in pdf(greek)
