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Alexandra Karamoutsiou | Postdoctoral Researcher – Adjunct Lecturer, School of Music Studies, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki | RCH Fellow“Social sustainability and urban music communities: the D.I.Y music studios of Thessaloniki as a springboard for interdisciplinary historiographical approaches”
(Η ομιλία θα πραγματοποιηθεί στα αγγλικά).
Discussants
Ioannis Tsioulakis | Lecturer in Anthropology and Ethnomusicology at the Queen's University Belfast School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics
Robin Kuchar | Post-doc researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Sociology and Cultural Organization at Leuphana University
Coordinator
Athena Bozika | PhD Candidate, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, RCH Secretary & Junior Researcher
Abstract
The musical practice of the D.I.Y. music studios has been present in Thessaloniki since the Metapolitefsi period. These studios have functioned as "urban musical paths" (Finnegan 2007) that have been reconfigured by different musical generations of the city over the last 40 years. However, the survival of these studios is now threatened by the implementation of non-inclusive tourism policies in the city center of Thessaloniki. This informal, extra-institutional, and until recently completely uncharted musical practice of the DIY studios has strengthened the city's musical communities and creatively fed the musical life of the country, in an underground and unseen way by both the musical audience and the official institutions. Their invisibility appears to reinforce their liminal character between sustainability and vulnerability
This presentation will explore a series of methodological concerns and proposals, including the following: To what extent can this D.I.Y. music practice serve as an example of social sustainability? Which historical research methodologies can we use to approach informal urban music practices and networks to highlight their transformations within the urban time-space.
Speaker’s Bio
Alexandra Karamoutsiou received her PhD from the Department of Music Studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She continues her research as a postdoctoral researcher and works as an adjunct lecturer in the same department. At the present time she is also participating as a researcher in two funded research projects. For the year 2024 she is an academic associate of the RCH. Her research field starts from urban music studies and specializes in the study of D.I.Y music practices, networks, communities and spaces with a focus on the D.I.Y music studios of Thessaloniki. She has presented parts of her research in dozens of international conferences from 2017 until today (IASPM, KISMIF, PNS, PMGIRC) and has published articles in approved journals such as Forum Historiae and Mousikos Logos. Her book will be published in early 2026 by Aprovleptes Publications. She is a founding member of the research group Critical Music Histories and an active member of the Popular Music in Greece: International Research Collective.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Mandrokleous 26, 11745 Athens, Greece, Μανδροκλέους 26, 117 45 Αθήνα, Ελλάδα,Athens, Greece
