What is it about?
Based on the assumption that Heracles, as all the Greek gods and heroes, is part of mythic material, that, as C. Kerényi said, is “not unamenable to further reshaping” and is “capable of transformation”, this paper will deal with the context of the use of the name Hercules in the music scene from the last half of the 20th century to the present day.
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Photo by Rosario Esposito La Rossa on Unsplash
Why is it important?
The paper shows that, by choosing Herakles’ myths and all its potentialities, musicians can easily communicate, through their lyrics (that are, mainly, as poetry is, concise), a whole range of feelings, of worries, they can raise flags for their ideas (and ideals). By using a very well-known name, they need just a few contextualising keywords to motivate the listeners who recognize the reach of the message, or, at least, can be made curious.
Perspectives
This article is just a small sample of the many lyrics I found, in works by musicians from the 20th and 21st centuries, demonstrating the persistence of Greek mythology in contemporary artistic expressions.
Adriana Nogueira
Universidade do Algarve
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Herakles in Twenty-First Century Music, August 2024, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004696938_017.
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