Search - Savina Yannatou, Primavera En Salonico, Kostas Vomvolos :: Songs From Thessaloniki

Savina Yannatou: voice
Kostas Vomvolos: qanun, accordion
Yannis Alexandris: oud, guitar
Kyriakos Gouventas: violin
Harris Lambrakis: nay
Michalis Siganidis: double bass
Kostas Theodorou: percussion

Savina Yannatous fourth ECM album is a dazzling evocation of her bands hometown, plunging deep into its rich and complex history.

Once known colloquially as the Jerusalem of the Balkans, Thessaloniki has been home to a host of cultures, religions and ethnic communities.
Greeks, Jews, Turks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Armenians, Macedonians and Pontiac Greeks have shared the citys diverse life.

Yannatou gives all of them a voice, even casting an Irish song about Salonika into this multilingual program, in which she shines as a unique interpreter and spokeswoman for the citys ghosts.

As ever, Primavera en Salonico are a delight, one of the most resourceful bands of any idiom, as they negotiate the inspired and very varied - arrangements of Kostas Vomvolos.

Recorded February 19-21, 2014 / Sierra Studios, Athens
Recording Engineer: Yiorgos Kariotis, Yannis Paxevanis
DDD
Produced by Manfred Eicher