A collection of rare and beautiful Greek and Turkish urban songs of the early 1900's, first sung by the likes of Antonis Diamantidis (Dalgas), Roza Eskenazi and others, and which was a strong influence on the Rebetiko style which flourished soon after.

16 MP3 Songs
WORLD: Greek Folk, WORLD: Rembetika

Details:
Lucid Culture: "Dark mesmerizing intensity... Mavrothi Kontanis and his spectacular backup band are the real deal. If dark chromatic melodies donât scare you off, if you donât think that people who listen to music from other cultures are âweirdâ â then again, you wouldnât be reading this if you did â get to know this amazing band."


The musicians:

Lefteris Bournias clarinet
Megan Gould violin
Anastassia Zachariadou kanun
Timothy Quigely percussion
Phaedon Sinis politiki lyra (kemence)
Mavrothi T. Kontanis oud and voice


Mavrothi T. Kontanis was born in 1979 in Pennsylvania, USA, though his familyâs origin is from Halkidiki, Greece.

As a child, he showed interest in several instruments, including the clarinet, guitar, and bouzouki. However, at the age of 16 he discovered his true passion, the oud, and began lessons with his first teacher Stamatis Merzanis immediately. Since then he has studied with many other renowned masters including Münir N. Beken, Emin Gündüz, John Berberian, Kyriakos Kalaitzides, Dinçer Dalkılıc, Yurdal Tokcan, and Ara Dinkjian. In addition to playing oud, Mavrothi has become an accomplished singer and violinist, and also enjoys teaching and writing.

By combining his love for classical, urban, and folk music from Greece and the Near East, Mavrothi hopes to heighten awareness of the great beauty and freedom that exist within this unique and diverse musical tradition.

Mavrothi has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East playing traditional and classical music from all over the world, as well as original compositions of his own with various ensembles. He has been featured on several albums and the film soundtrack of âAmericanEast,â and is planning the release of two albums in the Spring of 2008 that will showcase the oud and diversity of sounds from the Aegean region. Mavrothiâs composition âUÅÅak Saz Semaiâ was performed by Dr. Münir N. Beken at the âEchoes of Diversityâ symposium at the University of Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria in November of 2007, and he has recently been commissioned to compose a piece for the âMusic of the Stonesâ project headed by visual artist William Berry.

People who are interested in should consider this download.