Just like every summer, this year also brings a surge in musical activities, both large and small. As my friend Alexandros Charkiolakis wrote in another column, “Festival news from summer Greece is particularly rich, indeed enviable.” However, the grumpy friend and music enthusiast I was chatting with didn’t pay much attention. “It’s a seasonal outburst that happens every year,” he told me, “…and it’s not just music. Throughout Greece, we have theater, exhibitions, everything. I remind you of what you wrote in your first Editorial when you started POLYTONON: Music is the poor relative of the cultural village, and that, ultimately, hasn’t changed to this day.”

Is that really the case? I searched and found issue No. 1, December 2003, and I was struck by how much of what we wrote then still holds true today. Even more impressive when one considers how much has happened in the interim and what changes have occurred in Greece. However, the most fundamental point remains as it was then: Music seems to be constantly at a crossroads. Things can get better, but they can also get worse. Something new emerges or something else continues, while at the same time an institution becomes inactive or an orchestra closes. One step forward, two steps back…

In the interview he gave us, Menelaos Pallantios speaks of the “golden age” of the 1930s. Among the older composers who spoke to us, he is the only one who believes that things went downhill from that point on. All the others, such as Sicilianos, Kounadis, etc., saw things improving. On the other hand, another important figure in the field, George Leotsakos, left an extremely negative and biased assessment of the Greek musical reality in his last book.

Can an objective assessment finally be made? I believe it can, if we look at the big picture over a long period. Change for the better is happening, but it’s very slow and often imperceptible. How could it be otherwise? We are in Greece, after all! It is also certain that the daily picture is blurred by the setbacks that occur every so often. However, those who have been in the field for years, like the older composers, having experienced the ups and downs firsthand, can understand the changes. And I think it’s significant that their life experience ultimately leads them to say that things are better. Even if only slightly.

So, “Musical and other things,” and welcome! Because there is always room not only to listen to music but to think about it and search for something new. At the same time, current events, whether positive or negative, will surely give us opportunities to comment and reflect every so often.

Until we meet again…