Search - Ioannidis Nikolaos :: Aren't You Fed Up

The intellectual's voice

Paolo D' Andrea | Naples, Italy | 08/24/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I think that with this album as well as with his second album titled ?Be a master of your fate? Nikolaos Ioannidis puts words and sound to the thoughts and feelings of all the thinking people who share a vision and a passion to change the world. In the track ?Those with a brain?, he even calls the thinking people, to come forth and play their role in giving direction to this decaying society that has reached its lowest point (?those with a brain, those who create, the ones who aren?t stuck somewhere, the thinking people; where are they?). All songs talk about the need for change, not just political, but a profound one in our beliefs and values and attitudes in order to ??get out of this realm, this filthy prison to my dreams, of all the fake and the cheap, of all the begging and the sick?? (Those with a brain) The title track ?Aren?t you fed up?? is about the inadequacy of the political system and the need for individuals to adjust to the present conditions by fighting statism and adopting global thinking and acting (Aren?t you fed up always giving, taking nothing in return?? Fight custom! Change your life! Don?t be lazy to adjust). In the Byzantine-like ?Ever? he sadly contemplates on the forces that eternally pull society backwards: human weakness, passiveness, and fatalism (?ever being a slave to some relentless fate; never care to question and explain; never care to find the meaning of your pain. Only know to beg and pray, only trained to obey?), while in ?Looking for something to believe in? he stresses the need for new ideals, as the old ones don?t apply anymore (?holy men behaving badly; heroes, idols all gone; all the media creations not enough to turn me on). Not only lyrically but also compositionally, all songs reveal a rare talent. Actually, we haven?t seen anything like this before. By ingeniously blending classical music with rock and Greek folk and thus marrying the East with the West and the ancient with the modern, he has managed to create a sonic effect so different of what we are used to hearing and yet somehow familiar; a kind of global music that can appeal to everyone regardless of cultural background. Important to that effect is the absolutely unique use of guitar on which all compositions are based and which in Ioannidis?s hands is transformed into a play-all instrument that produces any conceivable sound, especially the sounds of Greek folk instruments such as bouzouki, zourna, lute etc. It is difficult to believe that some of the sounds come from normal guitars as for example the sound of bagpipe in the solo section of ?Aren?t you fed up?, or the lute and bouzouki sounds in ?Looking for something to believe in?. A really original element of this music is also the use of eastern European harmonies and scales which sung in English by Ioannidis?s soft and warm voice makes vocals extremely interesting and absolutely unique, especially in the monodic ?Ever?. To conclude, I think that every single track in this album is a piece of art and high intellectual value; it?s a mix of profound poetry, compositional ingenuity, guitar virtuosity, and musical innovation. This young intellectual (composer, writer, lyricist, virtuoso guitar player and multi-instrumentalist who does everything in his tracks, as becomes obvious from the credits on the cd) has managed to do the impossible; to make mature thinking compatible with youthful energy and revolt and meet the needs of an intelligent audience while remaining simple and coherent, beautiful and soothing."