Eleftheria Arvanitaki: We like to forget

A favorite song of hers, Meno Ektos (I still remain an outcast) with lyrics by
Lina ikolako!oulou an" music by Ara #ink$ian which talks of lost homelan"s, of
!eo!le who were u!roote", who lost their countries, who lost not $ust their
!ossessions but also their i"entities, s!urre" a "iscussion with Eleftheria
Arvanitaki about the !henomenon of racism against the mo"ern%"ay u!roote"
who have come to our country, an" about the e&am!le that can be set by music'
(he famous singer insists on the crucial role of the state concerning the causes
of the rise of racist violence in our country' )ver the last few years, *reece has
welcome" an un!rece"ente" number of (foreigners), an" in the !rocess of trying
to a"$ust to this new reality, the !eo!le who were unfamiliar with refugees an"
immigrants e&!resse", at best, a certain "egree of sus!icion'
+owever, I think the main !roblem "oes not lie with the !eo!le but with the
state, which was not !re!are" to welcome these !o!ulations an" has "one
nothing, even to this "ay, in or"er to integrate them or give them a way out, as
most of them "on,t even want to stay in the country' (he e-orts that have been
ma"e are too few an" too little com!are" to the si.e of the !roblems that arise'
/he insists that both the roots of racism an" its solutions can be foun" mainly at
the institutional level of *reece an" Euro!e, but also 0in"ivi"ually0 at the level of
e"ucation' )nly through !ro!er e"ucation an" culture can we tame the negative
si"e inherent in all of us which, in some e&treme cases, is e&!resse" through
violence' 1ut human violence is the worst kin" of all, because it is the violence of
evolve", a"vance" beings, she states, referring to the instances of coor"inate"
racist violence'
2ollowing this, however, she "raws a line between racism resulting from "aily
coe&istence with !eo!le who, "ue to institutional failure, have been !ushe" to
the margins, an" racism resulting from i"eology' 3hen !eo!le live in misery,
an" when this ha!!ens in your neighborhoo" an" to the !eo!le ne&t "oor, a
change in your behavior is natural' 4acist i"eology, on the other han", is a
"i-erent story, a "ee!ly sick story in my o!inion, which may warrant !sychiatric
research'
Aske" about the role of music in !romoting greater tolerance, she s!eaks of the
many artists, es!ecially abroa", who have collaborate" with humanitarian grou!s
or movements, showing tremen"ous sensitivity to the issue, an" cites the
e&am!le of anti%a!arthei" concerts' 5ertainly the stage o-ers a !latform to
e&!ress oneself an" to take a stan" against "iscrimination of any kin"'
1ut music itself can o-er a won"erful e&am!le of coe&istence' 3hat they call
to"ay 6worl" music, or 6ethnic music, is a genre which, essentially, combines
cultures' 3e "on,t have to look far' In *reece, which is at a crossroa"s an" has
varying musical tra"itions 0from E!irus to 5rete, an" from the Ionian serena"es
to 7ontic an" islan" music0, it was easy for !eo!le to listen to an" a"o!t music
from the rest of the worl"' Manolis 5hiotis, for e&am!le, takes a (latin8) rhythm
an" turns it into *reek !o!ular music'
1ack to the sub$ect of Meno Ektos, Eleftheria Arvanitaki conclu"es9 )ver the
last few years our country has live" through an outlan"ish tale beyon" any
measure of normality' 1ut meanwhile many of us forgot that we are also a !eo!le
that have immigrate" many times since the "estruction of Asia Minor' An" of
course we have also e&!erience" racism' I have hear" such stories from my
gran"father who was in America' It is a story which we have live" in the !ast, in
one form or another, but we like to forget'
Meno Ektos (I still remain an outcast)
https://!"outu#e!com/atch$v%&'pk(c)gf*I
I still remain an outcast
I remember names
I run at the s!ee" of light
I still remain an outcast
like some voiceless mouths
that a lotus "rove out of this worl"
In my bachelor evenings
I sing Armenian songs
I want to go back
but my !ara"ise is close"
In my bachelor evenings
I sing Armenian songs
I want to go back
but my homelan" is erase"
I still remain an outcast
My s!eech is ma"e of vibrating chor"s
I,m !oise" in silence like an eagle
I still remain an outcast
like some sha!es
written on the san" by a believer