Year: 2024
Time: 40:41
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 94,1 MB
Art: Front
(3:34) 1. Arcs
(4:51) 2. Anamnesis
(3:07) 3. A Night in Piraeus
(5:25) 4. Echoes
(4:27) 5. Rivers
(2:15) 6. Lyssarides Lament
(6:08) 7. Kamilieriko Road
(4:30) 8. Orange Moon
(3:25) 9. From East to West
(2:55) 10. Zafeirious Solo
It is highly (exceedingly) likely that an album review involving a piano and a bouzouki has never been featured in any high end audio journal. Most will have never heard of this instrument and will utter “It’s all Greek to me”, and they will of course be correct.
Arcs & Rivers is just such an album, but fear not, with the exception of one track that celebrates the ‘Greekness’ associated with the instrument, the album will not evoke memories of long hot days on a magical Aegean isle.
This album is the result of musical curiosity, Joel Lyssarides (piano) went and heard Georgios Prokopiou (bouzouki) playing live in Stockholm, spoke to him afterwards, and they arranged to meet for a session and have forged a musical partnership. Both musicians come are of Greek origin but are residents of Stockholm.
The musical journeys taken by Lyssarides and Prokopiou could not have been more different to one another, while Lyssarides has made his name from accompanying mezzo-soprano Anne Sophie von Otter as well as being a contributor to the excellent Esbjörn Svensson tribute e.s.t. 30, commemorative album, Prokopiou had a less salubrious start and honed his skills playing his bouzouki at seedy clubs in Athens from the age of 10.
The result of this meeting of stark different musical backgrounds is a charming short album that in deference to the promos is far from being anything close to jazz, instead it offers melodious sounds that combine essences of ancient European music with hints of ‘nearly country music’ (the banjo is a distant relative of the bouzouki after all) with some Greek accents. There are melodys, pace and panache and a very synergetic musical relationship, there is no leader in this band of two.
The bouzouki sound signature is made of using three or four groups of two strings and is mostly at the mid high to high range of the sound scale. When accompanied by a piano that is able to offer syncopating background backup with lower registers, the bouzouki is projected and stands in front of the speakers, listening to the album is akin to a live session in a small space. Arcs & Rivers is a charming album, timed for the arrival of shorter days and a likely to aid lowering the blood pressure during a commute on busy highways and byways.
https://the-ear.net/music/arcs-rivers/
Arcs & Rivers is just such an album, but fear not, with the exception of one track that celebrates the ‘Greekness’ associated with the instrument, the album will not evoke memories of long hot days on a magical Aegean isle.
This album is the result of musical curiosity, Joel Lyssarides (piano) went and heard Georgios Prokopiou (bouzouki) playing live in Stockholm, spoke to him afterwards, and they arranged to meet for a session and have forged a musical partnership. Both musicians come are of Greek origin but are residents of Stockholm.
The musical journeys taken by Lyssarides and Prokopiou could not have been more different to one another, while Lyssarides has made his name from accompanying mezzo-soprano Anne Sophie von Otter as well as being a contributor to the excellent Esbjörn Svensson tribute e.s.t. 30, commemorative album, Prokopiou had a less salubrious start and honed his skills playing his bouzouki at seedy clubs in Athens from the age of 10.
The result of this meeting of stark different musical backgrounds is a charming short album that in deference to the promos is far from being anything close to jazz, instead it offers melodious sounds that combine essences of ancient European music with hints of ‘nearly country music’ (the banjo is a distant relative of the bouzouki after all) with some Greek accents. There are melodys, pace and panache and a very synergetic musical relationship, there is no leader in this band of two.
The bouzouki sound signature is made of using three or four groups of two strings and is mostly at the mid high to high range of the sound scale. When accompanied by a piano that is able to offer syncopating background backup with lower registers, the bouzouki is projected and stands in front of the speakers, listening to the album is akin to a live session in a small space. Arcs & Rivers is a charming album, timed for the arrival of shorter days and a likely to aid lowering the blood pressure during a commute on busy highways and byways.
https://the-ear.net/music/arcs-rivers/
Arcs & Rivers