The Cypriot Fiddler: A Review of Nicoletta Demetriou’s Talk by Melek Kaptanoğlu

In this paper, I will share my reflections on Nicoletta Demetriou’s wonderful talk The Cypriot Fiddler: The Oral History of a Professional Class in the Twentieth Century. Demetriou’s research provides us with valuable information on the relationship between culture and music. Ethnomusicology, the study of music in its social and cultural contexts, is a field that provides us with information on the perspectives of practitioners and audiences.[1] Ethnomusicologist Adelaida Reyes (2009) emphasizes the relationship between music and culture within the cultural context. According to her, music studies are enlightened by human agency and music as a social object. Music is shaped within the expressivity of culture, and it requires historically constructed cultural meaning and collective experience of the culture. In this context, music and culture are inevitable (Reyes, 2009). I found Demetriou’s methodology crucial because, as an ethnomusicologist, she collected her data directly from the fiddlers themselves. In other words, she gathered her information from the respondents in relation to music and culture. Maria Georgiou’s contributions were also enlightening. She led the listeners to think deeper about the source of the (cultural-historical) information. She made us look beyond by asking questions like “how do we know the things we know?”

Demetriou explains that her research “is an oral history of traditional music-making in Cyprus in the twentieth century of a specific professional class, but it also concerns personal stories...” From her research, we can see not only the power of stories, but also the relationship of music with different aspects of society. Music is directly connected with celebrations like weddings, the economy, gender roles, discourses, tradition/master-apprentice relationships (usta-çırak ilişkisi), and much more.

“Fiddler” refers to men playing the fiddle (not the violin). But what is the difference between calling it the fiddle/fiddler or violin/violinist? This is not a coincidence of course. On the contrary, it is a signifier of the fiddlers’ identity. Fiddlers are not violinists. First, they call themselves the fiddler/kemaneci/lautacı. And this word may become one's nickname or surname over time. The “violinist” refers to people who are Western-educated and have different repertoires while fiddlers learn this job from their father and/or their masters', during the master-apprentice relationships (usta-çırak ilişkisi). Therefore, an apprentice must go through a certain training process to become a master. An apprentice (çırak) becomes a master (usta) only when he is mature enough to “make a wedding” by himself. The relationship between apprentice and master (mostly) does not have written and definite rules. This process has its own rules and transmits verbally. This is precisely what we call tradition. And master-apprentice relationships are an inevitable aspect of traditional works/jobs.

Referring to Arnold van Gennep (1909), weddings are among rites of passage (with birth and death) and they are vital in societies. Fiddlers are indispensable for weddings. We cannot imagine a wedding without music and in those times, we also cannot imagine it without fiddlers. Therefore “they are not invited to weddings” or “they do not make music” at the wedding. Instead, they “make weddings” with their presence and music. The wedding season is mostly summertime. Because, in Demetriou's words “many Cypriots were farmers and they waited for the harvest time (for money) to make their weddings”.

Lastly, I want to mention the blind fiddlers (kör kemaneciler). My grandparents are from Paphos and I loved to listen to their wedding stories and customs when I was a kid. My grandmother was telling me about the blind fiddlers and how they were playing only for women. Demetriou's research supported the whole story that I was listening when I was a child. The Turkish-speaking Cypriot community is a traditionally Muslim society, therefore male strangers were not allowed to interact with Muslim women. Thus, their musicians needed to be blind fiddlers (kör kemaneci). Demetriou's blind fiddlers’ example was also important in another aspect. She explained one blind fiddler’ consisted of a Greek-speaking Cypriot man and a Turkish-speaking Cypriot woman working together. Thus, through this example we can see that there were both bi-communal and multi-gendered fiddlers.

In conclusion, looking a little deeper into the fiddlers one can see lots of things about the social and cultural life in Cyprus. How music relates to gender roles, ethnicity, entertainment, tradition, and many more. Music tells us much about a culture. These two phenomena (music and culture) mutually shape each other.  Also, relationships between performers (fiddlers in this context) and the audience tell us about the cultural context. Therefore, music is crucial to understand the cultural aspects of society and we can see this from Demetriou's research.

End note

[1] https://www.ethnomusicology.org/page/AboutEthnomusicol   Date of Access: 1st of April 2023.

Bibliography

Reyes, A. (2009). What do ethnomusicologists do? An old question for a new century. Ethnomusicology, 53(1), 1–17.

Gennep, Arnold van, Monika B. Vizedom, and Gabrielle L. Caffee. 1909. The Rites of Passage. University of Chicago Press.

Photo

"Η Κύπρος: στο γύρισμα του 20ού αιώνα" - Φωτογραφική Έκθεσηστο Πολιτιστικό Ίδρυμα Τραπέζης Κύπρου