Moods from the Woods of Hval

are four small pieces for recorder, written especially for Ingeborg Christophersen. The pieces express moods and bird sounds from the forest at different times of the day, and includes the use of four different recorders.

New interview

The present issue of the greek music magazine Metronome contains Aleksis Vakis’ interview from the music trip to Athens in December last year. It was also a pleasant surprise to see the portrait of Katerina Papadopoulou in the same magazine, as I find her voice and expression fabulous.

Two Greek words for today

Αδέσποτα

This day started with an appointment with the stray dogs in Athens. They seem much healthier and happier than they did just a few years ago, and people seem to care more about them, letting them inside their shops while it is raining; feeding and appreciating them. For the first time I truely enjoyed my walks in Athens.

Κατεύθυνση

I was just a few hundered meters from my destination, a bazaar for stray dogs, when my map suddenly began to look different than my surroundings. I had to ask for help, and it turned out that those couple of hundred meters were not possible to pass by foot (that was not visible on the map). I would have to walk the same distance back again, then take the metro one station, then change, and one station further with another train. Only for 300 meters! I still enjoy my walks in Athens, but the city is far as logic as the greek grammar. 🙂

Pantelis Thalassinos live!

The concert was as wonderful as I dreamed of. The band contained of 10 amazingly steady musicians playing basic instruments as keyboards, bass, drums and guitars, as well as different kinds of wonderfully played flutes and a bagpipe. A psaltery like instrument called κανών (canon) was the ultimate sound spice during the concert, and the steady and expressive violin was in great balance with the extremely attractive λάουτο (laouto). The inevitable τουμπερλέκι (toumperleki) bound it all together and lifted the atmosphere up to beneath the roof. The voice combination Pantelis Thalassinos and Melia Kana was very successful. Kana is a wonderful singer. Pantelis himself is simply an endless source of good energy and wonderful melodies and arrangements, expressed through his wonderful voice and playing. He is a rarely inclusive, warm hearted and vivid musician!