"Ordoulidis . is well equipped to embark on this analysis through his combined expertise in musicology, Greek ecclesiastical chanting, and popular music performance. Overall, the book is a product of evident passion and knowledge, impressive in its depth and detail." -- 2022 Yearbook for Traditional Music "Scholars of popular music have long been in search of its historical longue durée , the path along which multiple repertories, styles and social practices have converged over time, from diverse origins in the past to the sonorous cosmopolitanism of the present. Nikos Ordoulidis takes readers on a journey across this historical landscape in Greece, navigating a complex of distinctively Greek popular musics, those that fill the ecclesiastical worlds of the Orthodox Church and the national politics immanent in secular laiko music. Ordoulidis deftly weaves together analytical details from the songs themselves with his own captivating scholarly engagement." -- Philip V. Bohlman, Ludwig Rosenberger Distinguished Service Professor in Jewish History and Music, the University of Chicago, USA "Ordoulidis, a scholar-performer, rejects both the neoclassical and the medievalist versions of musical ethno-nationalism.

He shows here how attempts to forge a Byzantine genealogy for a famous popular Greek song distort the realities of musical creativity. This book is an original and critical contribution to cultural historiography." -- Michael Herzfeld, Ernest E. Monrad Research Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University, USA.