From: "YUKO YAMAMOTO"
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 12:13:08 -0800
Subject: Byzantine Chant and Rembetika: Greek Festival 2004
****Please Forward***
World Music Institute & ADaM Productions present direct from Greece
return appearance of renowned rembetika singer
NY debut of Greeces most famous Byzantine choir
5th ANNUAL GREEK FESTIVAL
SACRED & SECULAR TRADITIONS
FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2004 8:00 PM
WOMEN OF REMBETIKA: MARYO with GIOULI TSIROU
Peter Norton Symphony Space, Broadway at 95th St., NYC
$30; students $15 with college ID Box office (212) 864-5400
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SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2004 8:00 PM
BYZANTINE MUSIC: MASTERS of the PSALTIC ART
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 112th Street & Amsterdam Avenue, NYC
CitiTix (212) 581-1212 $50, $35, $25; students $15 with college ID
Tickets available at Greek Music & Video (718) 932-8400
Info/charges (212) 545-7536 worldmusicinstitute.org
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Maryo is one of Greeces leading traditionalist singers, and for good
reason
.She sounded torchy and resolute, yearning and fierce, tender and
raw
. and gave each (song) a passionate immediacy.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
This years annual Greek Festival will feature 30 singers and
instrumentalists from Greece in programs of sacred and secular music. On
Friday, April 16th at Symphony Space, the festival will feature an engaging
tribute to the divas of rembetika - the Eastern-influenced Greek blues
that is the foundation of popular Greek music- with songs from the 1920s to
'50s made famous by such singers as Rosa Eskenazy, Marika Pagaghika and
Marika Ninou. The artists include Maryo, the grand dame of Greece" who is
one of the last exponents of a style of music that has all but disappeared;
Giouli Tsirou, a rising star in Greek song; and a brilliant ensemble on
lutes (oud, bouzouki and baglama), violin, accordion and piano.
On Saturday, April 17th at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Masters of
the Psaltic Art, Greeces most famous Byzantine choir, will make its U.S.
debut. Comprised of the leading chanters from the churches of Athens, this
20-voice choir is under the direction of the highly respected Byzantine
authority, Gregorios Stathis. The choir specializes in Byzantine chant, the
great Eastern tradition which developed out of early Christian monody
(plainsong) into a sophisticated liturgical music. In addition to striking
renditions of traditional sacred chants, including resurrection hymns, the
ensemble will perform secular songs and instrumental music. The program will
take place in one of New Yorks most glorious venues.
THE ARTISTS
Maryo, who has been called the living legend of rembetika, is regarded as
one of the most important representatives of rembetika and Greek popular
music. She started performing at the age of 13, singing and playing
accordion with her father. Against her fathers will, she went on to
perform with the most important interpreters of rembetika and laiko (popular
urban folk music). In the 1960s she sang with Marcos Vambakaris, one of the
last great rembetes. With Thessaloniki as her base, she has toured Greece
and appeared in leading venues in Western Europe. Her appearance was one of
the highlights of the 1st Annual Greek Festival in New York in 2000. She has
made numerous recordings, including The Grand Dame from Greece, which
climbed to the Top 20 of the European World Music charts; Asiatidos Mousis
Eraste (Lovers of the Asian Music) with songs from the Cafe Aman with Lizeta
Kalimeri; and the recent live recording, I Mario Sto perivoli tOuranou.
Giouli Tsirou has performed and recorded with such famed Greek voices as
George Dalares, Eleftheria Arvanitaki, and Manolis Mitsias. She has recorded
five albums including the recent Sta pazaria tou kosmou (Worlds Bazaars).
Masters of the Psaltic Art has appeared at services, ceremonies, and
festivals throughout Greece, Russia, Italy, France, Cyprus, Israel, Armenia
and Australia. The choir was formed in 1983 by Gregorios Stathis, an
internationally renowned researcher and professor of Byzantine Musicology
and Psaltic Art at the University of Athens. He has authored over 300
publications, and is chief editor of the eight album set of recordings
entitled Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Composers of the Institute of
Byzantine Musicology. He founded the choir to research and present the main
Byzantine and post-Byzantine composers and to establish and define the
criteria for the renewal of the Psaltic art in Orthodox worship.
This program is made possible in part with support from the Foundation for
Hellenic Culture, the Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation, and the National
Endowment for the Arts.
