Greek American Heritage Society of Philadelphia Presents Christopher King on Early 20th-Century Greek-American Music
September 28, 2025 in Events
The Greek American Heritage Society of Philadelphia invites the community to a special Lecture–Concert at Penn Libraries exploring how Greek folk music first flourished on American soil.
On Wednesday, October 8, 2025, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., Christopher C. King—ethnomusicologist, writer, producer, and re-mastering engineer—will reflect on the pivotal role of immigrant communities and early American record labels in spreading the sounds of the Eastern Mediterranean.
His presentation pairs rare 78-rpm recordings from his own collection with readings, photographs, and a live musical performance.
A Surprising American Story
Greeks often feel that authentic folk music must be born and sustained in the homeland. Yet from 1910 to 1932 the overwhelming majority of Greek-language 78-rpm recordings were made and manufactured in the United States.
By the mid-1920s, nearly one-sixth of all phonograph discs sold in America featured Greek or Asia Minor music.
This event previews the upcoming exhibition at the Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, The Greek-American Music Experience in the Early 20th Century.
Through historic discs, images, and live performance, King tells a story of preservation, innovation, and entrepreneurship—and of the central role the United States played in keeping Greek folk traditions alive.
Related materials from the Penn Libraries collection will be on view in the Lea Library beginning at 6:15 p.m. and again after the program until 9:00 p.m.
About Christopher C. King
Over a career of twenty-five years, Christopher King has produced 353 CD collections of historical folk music from around the world. He won a Grammy Award in 2002 for Best Historical Album and has been nominated seven more times.
In 2018, he published Lament from Epirus (W. W. Norton & Company), later translated into Greek as Ηπειρώτικο Μοιρολόι (DOMA Publications). The book and his related southern Balkan music collections have earned international acclaim and helped bring the mirologi of Epirus, the traditional songs and dances of Greece, to audiences across Europe and America.
Highlights of his work include:
- Bringing The New York Times to Epirus in 2014
- Coordinating a major documentary in 2017
- Presenting Greek music internationally from 2018–2024
- Curating Onassis Stegi’s three-day festival “Why the Mountains are Black” in Konitsa since 2023
King has served as a digital preservation specialist for the Library of Congress and the Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture, and as a museum consultant in the United States.
He has presented at TEDx, the New York Public Library, the Gennadius Library, Megaron–Athens Concert Hall Music Library (with Lambros Liavas), the Library of Congress, and the Paris Review of Books, and he chairs the journal of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections.
In 2022, King received a Public Diplomacy Grant from the U.S. State Department for lectures in Greece on the contributions of Greek-Jewish women to Greek folk music and was awarded honorary Greek citizenship for his work. That same year he managed the U.S. tour of Isokratisses, an all-woman Greek-Albanian polyphonic singing ensemble.
Event Details
Date & Time: Wednesday, October 8, 2025, 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Location: Kislak Center, Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, 6th Floor, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, 3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Admission: Free and open to the public. Registration is required for guests outside Penn and encouraged for all participants.
Sponsors
Sponsored by the Hellenic University Club of Philadelphia, the Dean C. & Zoë S. Pappas Interdisciplinary Center for Hellenic Studies at Stockton University, and the Greek American Heritage Society of Philadelphia.
Co-host: Zilberman Family Center for Global Collections.
Join us to hear the historic recordings and live music that reveal how early Greek immigrants helped shape and sustain the folk traditions of Greece—right here in the United States.
