Michael Alexandratos | The University of Sydney (original) (raw)

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Conference Presentations by Michael Alexandratos

This paper was presented at the 2019 Sydney Folk Festival and focuses on musical mis-appropriatio... more This paper was presented at the 2019 Sydney Folk Festival and focuses on musical mis-appropriations of Indigenous Australian cultures by non-Indigenous composers, particularly in popular music. The argument is made that this body of songs and musical works, although controversial, can be re-purposed and de-colonised by Indigenous creatives. In order to draw attention to this aspect of Australian music history, two projects are outlined and discussed. The first is a database and index of "Musical Aboriginalia" which seeks to document all such compositions and related iconography, and the second a reissue album of rare archival recordings of this material from 1949-1962. Issues and concerns surrounding the use of this material is discussed, using both Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives.

This paper focuses on how I collect and curate sound recordings, particularly the 78rpm shellac f... more This paper focuses on how I collect and curate sound recordings, particularly the 78rpm shellac format. It deals with the motivating forces behind why I collect sound recordings and how I situate them in their appropriate historical context - through curated exhibitions, blog writing and reissue projects. I touch upon curating methodology involving sound and how the reissue "package" can function as a physical site in a similar way to an exhibition space. I also draw attention to the importance of sound recordings as an active, living history in an Australian context, and why we should do more to share and disseminate them.

Drafts by Michael Alexandratos

The following listing presents the English language periodicals of Yorgis Zarkos preserved in the... more The following listing presents the English language periodicals of Yorgis Zarkos preserved in the social history archives of ΑΣΚΙ in Athens, Greece. The periodicals are characterised by their unusual spelling, syntax and grammar, and feature translations in English from Greek, Italian, Japanese and Chinese poets. These periodicals are particularly important because they contain the final body of writings by Zarkos before his death in 1967.

The main aim of this essay is to provide an overview of the phenomenon of Outsider Art in Greece.... more The main aim of this essay is to provide an overview of the phenomenon of Outsider Art in Greece. The essay is divided into broad thematic sections and discusses the collections, exhibitions, artists and literature on this locally produced art. It is hoped that this study will serve as groundwork for researchers and curators in defining and testing the limits of this term against the history of artistic production within Greece. Although the methodological and theoretical basis of this essay is limited, by dealing with this phenomenon in thematic sections, the reader who is already familiar with this term in its international iterations will come to understand how it operates in a localised context.

The second volume of the collected works of writer Yiorgis Zarkos (1902-1967), whose importance a... more The second volume of the collected works of writer Yiorgis Zarkos (1902-1967), whose importance and status in Modern Greek literature is only now starting to be acknowledged with the appearance of critical writing on his work in Greece. The second volume includes all of Zarkos's post-war writings, with facsimile reproductions of his short stories, libels and books scanned from printed first editions and original manuscripts. This volume features two works by Zarkos that were previously considered lost, the 1951 Συνωμοσία - σελίδες χρονικού and Τα Σκατά from 1953. This digital edition of Zarkos's collected writings is an indispensable reference work for scholars and general readers to consult his work in their first printed editions.

The first volume of the collected works of writer Yiorgis Zarkos (1902-1967), whose importance an... more The first volume of the collected works of writer Yiorgis Zarkos (1902-1967), whose importance and status in Modern Greek literature is only now starting to be acknowledged with the appearance of critical writing on his work in Greece. The first volume includes all of Zarkos's inter-war writings, with facsimile reproductions of his short stories, libels and novels scanned from first editions. The only work that is missing is the novel Τρέλα σε όλα τα στάδια (1932), a first edition copy of which the editor was unable to locate and scan. This digital edition of Zarkos's collected writings is an indispensable reference work for scholars and general readers to consult his work in their first printed editions.

This discography documents the complete recorded output of Australian singer and entertainer John... more This discography documents the complete recorded output of Australian singer and entertainer Johnny Wade (1916-1993). This includes commercially-issued shellac 78rpm recordings as well as all surviving acetate radio transcriptions, vinyl and CD formats. This document was compiled in order to accompany a complete reissue of Wade's Hawaiian-style output from 1937-1956, through the Rouseabout Records label. It serves as a useful reference work for collectors and researchers into Australian popular music history.

The following is an unpublished outline for the "Australian Discographic Reissue Project" - an un... more The following is an unpublished outline for the "Australian Discographic Reissue Project" - an unrealised venture that would have seen Australia's entire recorded output of 78rpm recordings (from 1925-1958) digitised, remastered, researched and reissued through a combination of physical CDs and digital outlets like iTunes and Spotify.

Papers by Michael Alexandratos

Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 2023

This autoethnographic text details the author’s reflections on his own positionality and process ... more This autoethnographic text details the author’s reflections on his own positionality and process in researching and publishing a zine in the emerging and contested field of queer rebetology. By using the archive as a means for scholarly and creative interventions in the Greek urban music genre of rebetika, the author draws atten- tion to the process of erasure that has occurred in discourses surrounding the genre’s queer exponents, sites of performance and subcultures. The author’s position as a second-generation Greek-Australian in exploring these histories is framed as a “queer- ing back” to the dominant discourses produced in Greece by local researchers and writers. It is argued that this distance to Greece “proper” allows the author the privilege and vantage point from which to explore the queer elements of a music genre that has now become entangled in the normative, nationalist and homophobic discourses of the modern Greek nation-state.

The Discographer Magazine, 2016

Started in 2009, the 78rpm Collectors' Community is the original 78rpm social network with a memb... more Started in 2009, the 78rpm Collectors' Community is the original 78rpm social network with a member base of over 6000 collectors of 78rpms recordings, early Lp's, phonographs, memorabilia, recording machines and the history of the 78rpm recording era. -It's like FaceBook -but for collectors of all things 78rpm related.

This paper was presented at the 2019 Sydney Folk Festival and focuses on musical mis-appropriatio... more This paper was presented at the 2019 Sydney Folk Festival and focuses on musical mis-appropriations of Indigenous Australian cultures by non-Indigenous composers, particularly in popular music. The argument is made that this body of songs and musical works, although controversial, can be re-purposed and de-colonised by Indigenous creatives. In order to draw attention to this aspect of Australian music history, two projects are outlined and discussed. The first is a database and index of "Musical Aboriginalia" which seeks to document all such compositions and related iconography, and the second a reissue album of rare archival recordings of this material from 1949-1962. Issues and concerns surrounding the use of this material is discussed, using both Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives.

This paper focuses on how I collect and curate sound recordings, particularly the 78rpm shellac f... more This paper focuses on how I collect and curate sound recordings, particularly the 78rpm shellac format. It deals with the motivating forces behind why I collect sound recordings and how I situate them in their appropriate historical context - through curated exhibitions, blog writing and reissue projects. I touch upon curating methodology involving sound and how the reissue "package" can function as a physical site in a similar way to an exhibition space. I also draw attention to the importance of sound recordings as an active, living history in an Australian context, and why we should do more to share and disseminate them.

The following listing presents the English language periodicals of Yorgis Zarkos preserved in the... more The following listing presents the English language periodicals of Yorgis Zarkos preserved in the social history archives of ΑΣΚΙ in Athens, Greece. The periodicals are characterised by their unusual spelling, syntax and grammar, and feature translations in English from Greek, Italian, Japanese and Chinese poets. These periodicals are particularly important because they contain the final body of writings by Zarkos before his death in 1967.

The main aim of this essay is to provide an overview of the phenomenon of Outsider Art in Greece.... more The main aim of this essay is to provide an overview of the phenomenon of Outsider Art in Greece. The essay is divided into broad thematic sections and discusses the collections, exhibitions, artists and literature on this locally produced art. It is hoped that this study will serve as groundwork for researchers and curators in defining and testing the limits of this term against the history of artistic production within Greece. Although the methodological and theoretical basis of this essay is limited, by dealing with this phenomenon in thematic sections, the reader who is already familiar with this term in its international iterations will come to understand how it operates in a localised context.

The second volume of the collected works of writer Yiorgis Zarkos (1902-1967), whose importance a... more The second volume of the collected works of writer Yiorgis Zarkos (1902-1967), whose importance and status in Modern Greek literature is only now starting to be acknowledged with the appearance of critical writing on his work in Greece. The second volume includes all of Zarkos's post-war writings, with facsimile reproductions of his short stories, libels and books scanned from printed first editions and original manuscripts. This volume features two works by Zarkos that were previously considered lost, the 1951 Συνωμοσία - σελίδες χρονικού and Τα Σκατά from 1953. This digital edition of Zarkos's collected writings is an indispensable reference work for scholars and general readers to consult his work in their first printed editions.

The first volume of the collected works of writer Yiorgis Zarkos (1902-1967), whose importance an... more The first volume of the collected works of writer Yiorgis Zarkos (1902-1967), whose importance and status in Modern Greek literature is only now starting to be acknowledged with the appearance of critical writing on his work in Greece. The first volume includes all of Zarkos's inter-war writings, with facsimile reproductions of his short stories, libels and novels scanned from first editions. The only work that is missing is the novel Τρέλα σε όλα τα στάδια (1932), a first edition copy of which the editor was unable to locate and scan. This digital edition of Zarkos's collected writings is an indispensable reference work for scholars and general readers to consult his work in their first printed editions.

This discography documents the complete recorded output of Australian singer and entertainer John... more This discography documents the complete recorded output of Australian singer and entertainer Johnny Wade (1916-1993). This includes commercially-issued shellac 78rpm recordings as well as all surviving acetate radio transcriptions, vinyl and CD formats. This document was compiled in order to accompany a complete reissue of Wade's Hawaiian-style output from 1937-1956, through the Rouseabout Records label. It serves as a useful reference work for collectors and researchers into Australian popular music history.

The following is an unpublished outline for the "Australian Discographic Reissue Project" - an un... more The following is an unpublished outline for the "Australian Discographic Reissue Project" - an unrealised venture that would have seen Australia's entire recorded output of 78rpm recordings (from 1925-1958) digitised, remastered, researched and reissued through a combination of physical CDs and digital outlets like iTunes and Spotify.

Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 2023

This autoethnographic text details the author’s reflections on his own positionality and process ... more This autoethnographic text details the author’s reflections on his own positionality and process in researching and publishing a zine in the emerging and contested field of queer rebetology. By using the archive as a means for scholarly and creative interventions in the Greek urban music genre of rebetika, the author draws atten- tion to the process of erasure that has occurred in discourses surrounding the genre’s queer exponents, sites of performance and subcultures. The author’s position as a second-generation Greek-Australian in exploring these histories is framed as a “queer- ing back” to the dominant discourses produced in Greece by local researchers and writers. It is argued that this distance to Greece “proper” allows the author the privilege and vantage point from which to explore the queer elements of a music genre that has now become entangled in the normative, nationalist and homophobic discourses of the modern Greek nation-state.

The Discographer Magazine, 2016

Started in 2009, the 78rpm Collectors' Community is the original 78rpm social network with a memb... more Started in 2009, the 78rpm Collectors' Community is the original 78rpm social network with a member base of over 6000 collectors of 78rpms recordings, early Lp's, phonographs, memorabilia, recording machines and the history of the 78rpm recording era. -It's like FaceBook -but for collectors of all things 78rpm related.