Maria Androulaki, folklorist and musicologist, Research Director of the Hellenic Folklore Research Centre and researcher of the folklore of Rhodes, performed field research in Soroni within the framework of official research visits to the island of Rhodes on behalf of the Academy of Athens and recorded rich folklore, musicological and ethnomusicological material. In collaboration with the Municipal Community of Soroni and the Cultural and Folklore Association of Soroni, Rhodes “Ampernalli”, she undertook the processing and publication of this material along with the songs recorded in 1969 in Soroni by the late Georgios Amargianakis, who was at the time researcher of the Hellenic Folklore Research Centre.
The book focuses on historical and anthropological perspectives of social and cultural processes related to music, dance and song by emphasizing individuals’ lived experiences of participation in customary practices. Special reference is made to the emblematic for Soroni community, monastery of St Silas and its fair which is extensively analyzed throughout its historical evolution from the period of the Italian occupation on the island onwards. A whole chapter comprises an extensive analysis of the traditional wedding which is approached as rite of passage. The third chapter of the book focuses on musical practices of the past. The songs of the Amargianakis collection are approached in an annex of the book. These songs comprise the contents of the CD-1 that accompanies the volume. The songs are published along with their musical transcriptions. In addition to these songs several other transcriptions of songs of Soroni are also included as well as a great number of historical and contemporary photographs. Through the process of creating this book a group of students from the Music School of Rhodes has been mobilized and worked under the supervision and guidance of their music educators to revive forgotten songs of Soroni from the Samuel Baud-Bovy collection (1935). These songs make up the contents of the CD-2 of the volume.

translated by Savvas Alexandros