- rebetikocarnival@gmail.com
The Music of Asia Minor:
Violin Legends Semsis & Ogdontakis
with Kyriakos Gouventas Collective
Saturday 7th June 2025 @ The Hellenic Centre
During the great population movement in the southern Balkans in the early 20th century, outstanding artists from Constantinople, Smyrna and the coasts of Asia Minor settled on the Greek islands and ports. Among them, great music masters such as Ogdontakis and Semsis came to Greece and became leading figures in the local music scene. Their breathtaking performances and recordings made them legendary figures in the history of world music.
The main instruments in Early Rebetika are violin, santur, guitar, kanun, oud and tampoura. Santurovioli is a minimal combination of violin, santur and guitar. These three form an impressively functional musical system where the microtonal use of the violin shines brightly in the rich harmonics of the santur over a solid bass-guitar rhythmical background. Today, there are only a few grand masters in the genre and Kyriakos Gouventas is considered the leading-figure worldwide.
Kyriakos Gouventas. In his extraordinary career Kyriakos Gouventas records hundreds of performances from China to America, Africa and Australia, as well as collaborations with world famous artists from all over the world. Kyriakos, the “Genius of the violin” has been teaching modes and maqams to international top-class musicians creating a musical scene of his own and a great following worldwide.
Musicians
Kyriakos Gouventas: Violin
Cigdem Aslan: Voice
Pavlos Melas: Voice, guitar
Konstantinos Glynos: Kanun
Event Details
Doors open: 18:30
Music starts: 19:00
Interval: 15min
Music finishes: 21:00
