Greek Music Express

SamosThe island of Samos is not part of the Dodecanese but it could not be absent from our tribute, given its geographical proximity and wealth of music tradition. The 2000 collection “Games and gamers”, based on research by Dimitris Zahariou, highlights the songs and melodies that traditional ban...

Leros “Songs of Leros”: A unique panorama of the music of Leros island curated by leading ethnomusicologists Markos Dragoumis and Thanasis Moraitis. This is essentially the first organised attempt to introduce the special colours of the island’s music tradition to a broader audience, through recor...

Karpathos An initiation to the musical heritage of Karpathos through the album “Karpathian Music and Song – Traditional Musical Memories. Karpathians engage in poetic-musical dialogues for hours in social gatherings and parties. The main ‘tool’ of this interaction is ‘mantinathas’ – spontaneo...

Vangelis Konitopoulos Traditional songs from all around the Dodecanese, performed by Vangelis Konitopoulos, prominent member of a family of musicians that has marked the development of island music. The “king of nisiotika” has included the musical tradition of the Dodecanese in his vast rep...

Approaches to the DodecaneseMusic for the islanders is a way of life, an integral part of their daily routine, and it is through songs that they tend to express their love, joy or grief. Today, we will be listening to representative songs from the music tradition of each island of the Dodecanese, performed...

Notis Mavroudis, part 5 From 1975 onwards, Notis Mavroudis permanently settled in Athens and started teaching classical guitar at the National Conservatory. In 1978 he took part in the international Festival of Political Song in East Berlin and in the 11th World Youth Festival in Havana, Cuba. As...

Notis Mavroudis, part 4 Notis Mavroudis collaborated with renowned poets such as Odysseas Elytis, as well as with renowned lyricists including Tasos Samartzis, Akos Daskalopoulos and Ilias Katsoulis. He also worked with outstanding Greek performers, from Glykeria to George Dalaras and from Elli Paspala...

Notis Mavroudis, part 3 Notis Mavroudis’ discography is huge, yet consistent in terms of quality. In 1976, the album ‘Paintings by Theofilos’ with lyrics by Akos Daskalopoulos was released. In 1977, he set poems by Manos Hadjidakis to music on the album ‘Child of the Earth’. In 1985, the album ‘Er...

Notis Mavroudis, part 2 Notis Mavroudis was born in Athens in 1945. He spent the first two years of his life in prison with his mother, who was a political prisoner after the Greek Civil War. In 1958 he started classical guitar lessons at the National Conservatory of...

Notis Mavroudis, part 1 Greek composer Notis Mavroudis died in January 2023 after a horrific accident at his home at Mount Pelion, at the age of 77. Mavroudis was a songwriter, guitarist, columnist, and radio producer. He worked with many distinguished musicians and was honored with international...

For Smyrna "Neither my grandmother, nor my grandfather or any of my other relatives, as far as I know, are from Smyrna. But I, like most Greeks, carry it within me as a sweet memory, as a memory of pain, but also, strangely enough, as a cause of pride and joy, which I hope my music will convey to...

Songs from Asia Minor live from …Utrecht Our tribute to Asia Minor songs continues today with a fantastic live recording of a concert in Utrecht, Holland on 15 December 2007. We will be listening to the special voice of Katerina Papadopoulou and to two colossal soloists, oud player and singer Christos T...

Nikos Androulakis sings the Smyrneika Andreas Mitsou has said the following about Nikos Androulakis, the singer of Asia Minor songs that we are listening to today: “Androulakis touches me with his genuine passion and especially with his love for tradition. He seems to have a conscious relationship w...

The Estudiantina Orchestra The name of the orchestra derives from the most famous Greek orchestra that was created in Smyrna and toured the world between 1898 and 1921. Thus, in the footsteps of a glorious history, the new Estudiantina was created in 1998 by Andreas Katsigiannis. It is a 20-member...

Scent of Smyrne The album “Aroma Smyrne”, released in 2004, is a truly exhaustive collection of songs from Asia Minor. Its sound is shaped by leading soloists like Giorgos Koros, Nikos Saragoudas and Manolis Pappos and the songs are performed by top folk and traditional performers, such as Glykeria, Aga...

Voyage to Lesbos The album "Journey to Lesvos" includes a small part of the exciting repertoire of the island of Lesvos. This is a place with rich sounds and with many influences from the West and the East. The musical journey takes you mentally to the beautiful corners and the picturesque alleys...

Songs from the village of Ayiassos With their ceaseless imagination and work, the inhabitants of Ayiasos, Lesbos, carved out an unsurpassable artistic and folk tradition. And raised with the melodies played by the magic flute of nature, such as the sound of the wind and the roars of winter storms,...

Angelique Ionatos’ Sappho De Mytilene Greek poet Sappho was one of the greatest poets in classical literature. Her lyric poetry is among the finest ever written and, although little of her work has survived and little is known about her, she is regarded often as the greatest woman poet in world l...