He could have gone the other way. After all, he was a relative of Pavlos Melas, the nephew of Ionos Dragumi, the grandson of the prime minister and the son of a minister. However, Markos Dragoumis, who “passed away” a few days ago, did not follow in the footsteps of his grandfather Stefanos and father Filippo. Instead, he inherited another inclination from his mother’s family, the Valaoritis family: a love of literature and music. He became one of the most brilliant musicologists of our time, awarded by the Academy of Athens. His greatest contribution was that he was able, through his research and knowledge, to continue the work of Octavius ​​and Melpos Merlier as the “soul” of the Musical Folklore Archive of the Asia Minor Research Center.

Born in Athens in 1934, he developed a love of music from an early age and was lucky enough to be in the hands of excellent teachers, making him an excellent teacher. He studied piano and advanced theory with the composer Papaioannou, Byzantine music with Margaziotis, and attended the traditional music school of Simon Karas for two years. After completing his studies in Athens in 1962, he enrolled on a British Council Scholarship in Musicology at the University of Oxford under Professor Egon Veles. On his return, he was appointed Professor of Music and Head of Music at Athens College High School until 1988. At the same time, from 1970 to 2003, he taught general history of music at the Athens Conservatory, and in 1975 became head of the Folk Music Archive of the Center for the Study of Asia Minor. “He had a rare education. As a connoisseur of folk music and the music of refugees, he also knew European music, ”says the director of the Center for the Study of Asia Minor, academician Paschalis Kitromilidis, in a column.

Art historian Denis Zacharopoulos was a man who studied with Dragoumis and was shaped by his acquaintance with the musicologist, as well as by a number of personalities with whom the latter hung out. This is how he describes his character: “Marcos had kindness, humor, a deep love for music, a subtle and never offending irony. He always shared his endless knowledge in all directions with a laugh. Unlike all the sophisticated “teachers” who often spoke platitudes, he was a storehouse of experience, personal adventures. In my classes with Markos, we went from Giannis Christou to the Beatles, from Mahler to Mitropoulos, from rebetiko to Kathleen Ferrier, from the last Liszt to Messiaen, and usually everything led to Berlioz (who knew how little he knew in those years). We have analyzed the entire 19th century, up to Béla Bartók, rhythms, folk music, the texts of Béla Balász and the relationship between poetry and cinema, ancient and modern music.” The funeral of Markos F. Dragoumis will take place at 11 am on Monday at the First Cemetery of Athens.