Thursday, September 29, 2011

Ki Sano Terra

Pantelis Pantelopoulos is a contemporary artist inspired by the city (landscape, people and sounds). The industrial element (forms, shapes, noises etc), omnipresent in his art, de-humanizes the person and at the same time emphasizes one’s cry for humanity.

Pantelis, influenced by surrealism, comics and pop art but also from industrial design, has mastered his art and created a distinct, unique personal style that is expressed in several (often unconventional) ways including installations with visual action, projections, screen printing and painting.

"Stress", 1981
By Pandelis (Pandelopoulos) (1957)
Pencil on paper, 17Χ25 cm.
Inv. No.: P-41
 

During this period he participates in modern art Biennale 3 in Thessaloniki with his video “Ki Sano Terra”.

"Ki Sano Terra", 2008


Other information and videos you can find here.

PS. He has also designed the cd pack from Alexia’s triple album presented a couple of weeks ago.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Mano's Jazz


Dimitris Kalantzis eventually found the best host for his creation.
So the jazz tribute to Manos Hatzidakis’ music is released by Verve and is simply a jazz masterpiece.
Hatzidakis was not a jazz composer. Jazz was there of course, either in pure form like in The Last Lie from 1957 Kakogianis’ movie soundtrack, or as an influence with some jazz elements and “touches” in works like Joconda’s Smile.
What Dimitris Kalantzis did is transformed some of the finest classical music into a pure jazz delight interpreted by a jazz quintet and a classical orchestra.
The outcome would make Hatzidakis proud.

Here's a sample from May I Be Your World (Dedication) - Dimitris Kalantzis Quintet (from Mano's album, 2011)


It certainly gives another perspective to Hatzidakis music that was hard to imagine. Kalantzis and his Quintet having mastered their art, they considered this as a natural next step: to take the great composer’s music they grew up listening and make it theirs.

Street Song - Dimitris Kalantzis Quintet (from Mano's album, 2011)


Athens Kamerata does a great job supporting the Quintet by filling or leaving space to the great musicians. Kamerata’s conductor is Miltos Logiadis and the string arrangements belong to Jiannis Antonopoulos.

Dimitris Kalantzis Quintet are:

Dimitris Kalantzis: piano, arrangements
Takis Paterelis: alto saxophone
Andreas Polyzogopoulos: trumpet, fluegelhorn
Alexandros-Drakos Ktistakis: drums
George Georgiadis: double bass

You can also listen to Away On the Misty River here

Friday, September 9, 2011

Duende

Definition (Wikipedia): El duende is the spirit of evocation. It comes from inside as a physical/emotional response to music. It is what gives you chills, makes you smile or cry as a bodily reaction to an artistic performance that is particularly expressive.

Federico García Lorca writes in his Duende speech: "Duende, then, is a power, not a work. It is a struggle, not a thought. I have heard an old maestro of the guitar say, 'Duende is not in the throat; duende climbs up inside you, from the soles of the feet.' Meaning this: it is not a question of ability, but of true, living style, of blood, of the most ancient culture, of spontaneous creation"

Alexia - Remember Boston (from Re-Be 2010)


"Duende's arrival always means a radical change in forms. It brings to old planes unknown feelings of freshness, with the quality of something newly created, like a miracle, and it produces an almost religious enthusiasm."
"All arts are capable of duende, but where it finds greatest range, naturally, is in music, dance, and spoken poetry…"

Alexia - My Tango (from Re-Be 2010)


Well…I certainly was not expecting such an amazing album from Alexia. Not because she’s not capable of delivering one (she just did actually) but because I was not prepared for this. It’s too much for me to handle. And I’m not talking about the album’s length (3 discs, 50 songs, 200-page booklet with bi-lingual lyrics), I’m talking about DUENDE. It’s personal and universal, it’s passionate, emotional and yet down to earth, it’s educating and entertaining, it’s pop and jazz and blues and spoken poetry, it’s inspired and natural.

Alexia - Electricity/Family (Re-Be 2010)


and here's the above song with different orchestration and lyrics (practically a new song and equally beautiful):
Alexia - Time/Love me (Re-Be 2010)


It took her 10 years to prepare. She wrote all the music, lyrics and performed. Every single detail is great, from the package to the web site: www.rebe.com

It’s Re-Be and it’s amazing!

Alexia - The Street I Live (live on Greek TV)

More info about Alexia here
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