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Rebetika of the Gramophone and Beyond
with Fotis Vergopoulos, kostis Kostakis, Dimitris Koustas, Andria Antoniou
Tuesday 20th June 2023 @ Jericho Tavern
An evening of rebetika songs of all eras with some of the greatest musicians in this genre performing today.
Musicians:
Fotis Vergopoulos, voice/bouzouki
Kostas Kostakis, voice/guitar
Andria Antoniou, voice/hand held percussion
Dimitris Koustas, voice/accordion
Fotis Vergopoulos was born in 1988 in Melbourne, Australia, but before he even turned one, his family relocated to his spiritual home in Koroni Messinias, Greece. His first steps in music came at the young age of 6 encouraged by his father Nikos who was an inaugural member of the Melbourne-based Apodimi Kompania in the early 80’s.
Upon completing his schooling, he returned to his birthplace and to undertake a Civil Engineering degree. During this time Fotis really blossomed into his musical journey, and found himself playing live at various venues and quite a few festivals (including Brunswick Music Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival).
As of late 2012 he has returned to Athens and has taken part in various festivals around Greece and around the world. He has collaborated with artists such as Babis Goles, Agathon Iakovidis, Manolis Pappos, Dimitra Galani, Martha Frintzila and Anatoli Margiola.
Kostis Kostakis was born in 1986 and grew up in Athens. Originally classically trained from the age of 8, he switched to the electric guitar in his teenage years, eventually picking up the lap steel guitar as well. He has been performing professionally since the age of 18.
From 2005 to 2011 he participated in the rebetiko band HiPsi, where he thoroughly studied the songs, compositions and work of the great rebetiko guitarists, complemented by a guitar course with Erkan Ogur in Houdetsi (Labyrinth workshops).
Starting with Elektrobalkana in 2011, over the last 10+ years he has performed with numerous rebetiko and traditional bands, including Rebetien (now performing under the name Rebeti), Trio Katara Band and Sabi Band, which perform original material connecting gramophone sounds with contemporary musical patterns, and White Birds Band, a tribute to the great musician Kostas Bezos. As a lap steel guitarist, he also collaborated with Fotis Siotas in 2021.
Notable collaborations include Babis Gkoles, Agathonas Iakovidis, Solon Lekkas, Haig Yazdjian, Dimitris Mitsotakis, Nikos Tatasopoulos, Dimitris Mistakidis, Fotis Siotas, Vasilis Skoutas, Dimitris Mitarakis, Marios Papadeas, Yiannis Niarchos and other great musicians.
Dimitris Koustas was born in Athens, Greece in 1978. His study of the accordion began at the National Conservatory of Greece, where he studied with Kostas Tsilidis and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accordion and Advanced Theory; he continued his studies with Iraklis Vavatsikas and Raymond Bodell at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory and the University of Surrey, where he also studied composition with Steve Goss and Classical Studio Production with Sebastian Forbes. He completed his studies in Classical Accordion with Owen Murray (Royal Academy of Music).
He has performed as a soloist and ensemble member in Greece, the UK, France, Italy and Austria, in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Jazz Cafe, Le Divan Du Monde (Paris France), Warwick International Festival, and the City Of London School. His compositional work includes three full albums ,”Melting Pot”, “9Th Hour talk” and “Anergos Akrovatis” published by DNAlabel, alongside music for the theatre, documentaries, art installations and performance acts.
Finally, his book “Politika Of Armonika” published by faggotobooks consists of twenty pieces from Asia Minor and Istanbul which are representative of the Smyrneiko and early Rebetiko tradition.
Andria Antoniou, is a London-based vocalist and educator of jazz, Latin music and Greek Retro music. She collaborated with prominent representatives of the Latin-jazz, Greek and musical theatre music scene: George Hatzinasios (Greece), the band ‘Classico Latino’ (Colombia & UK), Omar Puente (Cuba), Mario Bakuna (Brazil), Roman Gomez (Argentina) and the West End Musical Director, Greg Arrowsmith. Performance highlights include: Union Chapel London (UK), King’s place London (UK), St’ James Church (UK), Teatro Colón de Bogotá (CO), the Vortex (UK), Pizza Express Jazz club (UK), Fougaro Art Center (GR), Gialino Theatro (GR), Athina Live (GR), La Linea Latin music festival, amongst others. Andria released her first debut album with Roman Gomez entitled ‘Encuentro’ for which they have received second place at the LUKAS 2019 award. She also features as a guest on Classico Latino’s latest album ‘Havana Classics’ recorded in 2018 at Egrem Studios in Cuba. Recent highlights include the creation of Greek-latin fusion band Babesa Cubana and the creative project ‘Wanderlust’ through which she aims to promote a sense of unity in cultural diversity.
Event Details
Doors open: 18:45
Music starts: 19:30
Music finishes: 22:00
Please note, the price at the door is £18 (General Admission), £13 (Students and under 18s). Cash only payments.
Fotis Vergopoulos:
Kostis Kostakis:
Dimitris Koustas:
Andria Antoniou:
