Digital Audiovisual Folk Music Archive of Amorgos and its Islands

The Municipality of Amorgos, in collaboration with researcher Dr. Panagiotis Liaropoulos, and with the support of Fulbright Foundation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and the Center for Hellenic Music and Culture is launching the first Digital Audiovisual Folk Music Archive of Amorgos and its Islands - Donousa, Iraklia, Keros, Koufonisia, and Schinousa. The archive hosts all existing sources - audio, visual, printed, and oral, relating to the instrumental and vocal folk music and dance, as well as the folk poetic tradition of the islands.

Greek Music Ensemble: Tribute to Vassilis Tsitsanis

The Center for Hellenic Music and Culture presents a tribute concert to Greek songwriter and legendary bouzouki player Vassilis Tsitsanis on the 110th anniversary of his birth.

The concert features acclaimed Greek vocalist Natassa Bofiliou.

Guest artists from Greece include the Vassilis Tsitsanis Orchestra with singer and guitarist Vasilis Prodromou, virtuoso bouzouki players Manolis Pappos and Fotis Vergopoulos, and accordionist Dasho Kurti. They are joined by Boston-based violinist Bengisu Gokce, bassist Michael Harrist, and percussionist Fabio Pirozzolo for a powerhouse performance under the music direction of Panos Liaropoulos.

Vassilis Tsitsanis (1915-1984) is widely credited as one of the founders of the post-World War II “Rebetiko" and “Laiko" genres of Greek music, with over 500 songs to his name. Since 2003, rebetiko has been listed on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It represents a synthesis of elements from European music, various Greek regional styles, Greek Orthodox chant, and the modal traditions of Ottoman art music and café music. Rebetiko captured the collective soul of Greek people in urban spaces, new city dwellers, and villagers or refugees who remained on the margins of society during the period between 1890 and 1950. Tsitsanis succeeded in elevating rebetiko from its decades-old subculture status, giving it a new poetic and musical form, and situating it within the social and political realities of post-World War II Greece. Join us in this unique concert celebrating the musical legacy of an iconic Greek artist.

Friday, November 15th @ 7:30pm | Berklee Performance Center

Greek Music Ensemble: Tribute to Rembetiko

In this concert, the Greek Music Ensemble will trace the long history of Rembetiko, a World Music genre appearing in the 1900's and running through the entire 20th century. Rembetiko is a term used to designate originally disparate kinds of urban Greek folk music. Although it is now treated as a single genre, rembetiko is, musically speaking, a synthesis of elements of European music, the music of the various areas of the Greek mainland and the Greek islands, Greek Orthodox ecclesiastical chant (often referred to as Byzantine music) and the modal traditions of Ottoman art music and café music. The concert will include popular songs of Rembetiko's main representatives: Giannis Papaioannou, Mihalis Genitsaris, Roza Eskenazi, Stratos Pagioumtzis, Spyros Peristeris, Rita Abatzi, Marika Ninou, Markos Vamvakaris, Manolis Chiotis, Vassilis Tsitsanis, and others.