Manifestations of profane mysticism in eastern greek folksong

Abstract

The use of Ottoman Sufism imagery is recurrent in the Greek folksongs developed in urban centres of Asia Minor. After the Smyrna catastrophe, the refugees brought with them this tradition and they integrated it in the so-called rebetiko style that was flourishing at that time.

Although this phenomenon appears as a major and extraordinary interesting issue, it was given only secondary attention by the research so far.What kind of relationship had the dervish lodges and their rituals with Anatolian Greek musicians? How can we explain the presence of terms like tekke, hal, mast or derviş in the song lyrics? Was it a mere aesthetic and metaphorical construction? All these questions are related to a larger and sometimes controversial question: the cultural identity of Ottoman Greeks as it is reflected in music.

 Through the analysis of the mystical terminology in the song lyrics, I will try to highlight the connection of some Sufi tarikatlar (Bektasi and Mevlavi) and their specific heterodox rituals with marginal elements of Greek society in Constantinople and Smyrna during the later 19th century.