SVETLANA SLAPŠAK (ISH, Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Myth and Gender in Rebetika
Mit in spol v rebetiki

The main classical myth of the Antiquity still in use in Rebetika is a myth of Haron or the Death. Although merely a "transporter" of souls in Ancient mythology, he becomes a fighting force in Rebetika, and the fight with Death is a physical one - for instance the fight between Bruce Lee and Haron in newer Rebetika. The less visible cluster of myths are the myths of Gender: Rebetika authors voice them selves in terms of transexuality (men's and women's voices singing oposite sex's stereotypal discourses), constructing the Balkan Gender types (suffering woman, Oriental, treacherous blonde, passionate Albanian, mother, and so on) and the new social positioning of women (fashion, new professions, prostitutes). The political carnivalization is also present. All this Gender construction and new mythologies can be compared with the extravert nature of Ancient Greek culture, and must be respected in any research of Balkan mentalities.