Hi everyone,
I’ve tried to send this message with Greek characters twice, failing miserably, so I’ll write in English and hope it works! It’s about forum member Grigoris Maninakis, from a review by Gail Holst-Warhaft. I quote:
Since Greek music is what I know best, I am always most critical of hearing it in the wrong context. Grigoris Maninakis is one of my favorite Greek musicians, and he can always be relied upon to present the best of rebetika. The configuration of the Mikrokosmos ensemble for the festival was excellent, with Glafkos Kondementiotis on keyboards, Kostas Psarros and George Hajimarkou on bouzoukis, and Ioannis Moutsakis on percussion. The fine young clarinetist Lefteris Bournias joined them for a bracket of folk songs. Bournias, like the Pontic lyraris Ilias Kementzides, illustrates some of the changes in the ethnic-music scene. Since they play largely for Greek events where they are paid to be showy, they have learned to be crowd-pleasers. Sometimes their music loses much of its effect by its display of dexterity. Maninakis is a relentlessly modest performer, however, a quality that shines in a small space and may have caused him to forfeit a larger career. This is something I have always liked about the Mikrokosmos ensemble which needs a smaller venue to be appreciated. The popularity of rebetika on the world-music scene has demonstrated that this music has universal appeal, but it works best in a small venue.
The whole article at greekworks.com:
http://www.greekworks.com/content/index.php/weblog/extended/fusing_the_mediterra nean/
Lots of interesting articles on this site, on politics, history, literature. You might need to register to read articles or search the archives, but the registration procedure is very easy.
Eva