Greece - Macedonia & Western Thrace

 

Chalkidiki, when I visited in 2013

Accordionist Thanos Stavridis was born just outside of Thessaloniki in the town of Langadas in 1978. According to his own words he didn't choose the accordion, but it chose him as he spotted one in a shop window aged 4, and he has been playing ever since.  Apart from representing dance music from his native Macedonia he widens his music to the wider Balkan region and Gipsy influences.  The name of his band is Drom, which translates as road in the Romani language.  Here is a fun track from his 2025 album fygame (let's go in Greek) called Raikos: 

  Going down to the 3-fingered hand shaped Chalkidiki peninsula, we visit the middle finger, where singer/songwriter and guitarist Sokratis Malamas was born in 1957 in the village of Sykia.  He spent large parts of his youth and adult life in Germany, but learned Greek tunes from his father.  He bought his first guitar aged 13 and later studied music at the Macedonian Conservatory in Thessaloniki.  He has since published many albums and has written music for movies too.  Here he is in collaboration with singer and actor Melina Kana from Thessaloniki playing a song called Hilia Prosopa, which features on the 2010 compilation album The Rough Guide to Greek Café:

On the next leg of our virtual journey we are going to have to leave the women behind, as we are entering the monastic settlement of Athos on the easternmost of the 3 finger-peninsulas, where women and female animals are not allowed (except cats to catch rodents (female ones I presume)).  So if you are a woman (or another female animal) and reading this, please skip to the next paragraph.  On the peninsula are some 20 monasteries housing about 2,000 monks, whom time seems to have forgotten about.  They have been here for at least 1,000 years, although probably not the same ones.  Anyway, apart from praying lots, the monks have also been known to do lots of chanting.  Somebody made some field recordings of them in the 1960's.  In 2024 French multi-disciplinary publishing house FLEE brought out a book about the musical traditions of the monks of Athos complete with an accompanying double CD, on which contemporary electronic musicians cover some of that music and incorporate some of those field recordings into their compositions.  The project was called Athos: Echoes from the Holy Mountain, and here is a track from the album by an act called Holy Tongue called Athos Dub:

Next we are heading to the far east of Greece to Xanthi  in the region of Western Thrace.  Here we meet sister duo Eleni & Souzana Vougioukli.  They sing traditional folk from Greece and other Mediterranean regions such as Italy, Spain and Portugal. Here's a song from their self-titled 2009 album called Kalinyfta, which, if my very basic Greek is correct, means good night:

As we are heading west again our next stop is in Drama, where singer Petros Gaitanos was born in 1967.  He mostly known for his interpretations of Byzantine music, the religious hymns and chants of the Medieval Byzantine empire.  Here is a more recent and contemporary song of his from 2024 called Molivia:

And finally we move little further west to the village of Agia Pnevma, where Glykeria,  one of Greece's most popular singers was born in 1953.  She started her career in the mid'70's and has been producing prolifically ever since, with several platinum albums of Greek folk and pop.  Here is a song which features on her 2009 album Tragoudi Asithimatiko called Piga Se Magissis:

That's it from the northeast of Greece, next we're finishing off in the northwest. In the meantime, as usual, you follow my virtual travels on my Tripline Map.

Greece - Thessaloniki

 We arrive in Greece's second city Thessaloniki, the capital of the Macedonia region.

photo credit: By Ymblanter - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128512358

Guitarist Dimitris Mistakidis is based here, not sure where he was born around 1970.  He interprets Rembetiko just using his guitar and voice.  His 1996 debut album 16 Rebetika Tragoudhia Paigmena Me Kithara came out as a bonus CD on the Rough Guide to Greek Café.  Whilst the following song

Στην Υπογα

didn't feature on that album, it is played in a Greek Café:

Singer & guitarist Savina Yannatou was actually born in Athens in 1959, but her musical home appears to be Thessaloniki, as the name of her band Primavera en Saloniko suggests.  Her repertoire mixes Greek folk with jazz, Sephardic and Mediterranean influences and even throat singing.  Here are some live extracts from her 2025 album Watersong:

Singer/songwriter Nikos Papazoglu was born in Thessaloniki in 1948 and sadly died prematurely of cancer in 2011.  In the 1970's he moved to Germany to break into the international market and formed his band Zilotis.  In 1976 he returned to Greece where his music started to gain wide recognition.  His following extended to all over Europe and the USA, becoming known for his distinctive red bandana and his playing of the baglamas.  Here is the title track from his 2005 album Maissa Selini:

 Singer Sofia Papazoglou (no relation to my knowledge) was actually born in Brussels in 1972, but moved to Thessaloniki with her family when she was still young.  She started singing traditional and contemporary folk in the clubs of Thessaloniki during her student years, moving on later to tour internationally and release several solo albums.  Here is a song which features on the 2010 compilation The Rough Guide to Greek Café called Rixte Sto Yiali Farmaki (pour medicine into the glass):

And that's it from Thessaloniki for now, next we'll explore the rest of the north-eastern part of Greece.  In the meantime, as usual, you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.

Greece - Peloponnese & Thessaly

 Leaving Athens we enter the Peloponnese peninsula.  Although Folk quartet Matzounia were founded in Athens, their members hail from various parts of mainland Greece, including Kyparissia on the Peleponnese.  They specialise in traditional dance tunes from Epirus, but also include songs from Macedonia and Albania playing clarinet, lute and other traditional instruments accompanied by their voices.  Here is a song from their 2021 album Στο πηγάδι του Αγγλία (in the English Well) called Σκοπός αμαν γιαρει.  The album is available on Bandcamp for a pay as you feel like it basis:

Composer and violinist Evanthia Reboutsika was born in 1958 in Kato Achaia on the north side of the Peloponnese near Patras.  She is mostly known for her instrumental arrangements and also for scoring for TV series and films.  The latter is probably due to her father having owned a cinema in her home town.  She learned the violin aged 6 and later toured with her siblings as a string quartet.  Her albums became best-sellers in Greece.  Here's a live version of her tune An Umbrella Over Vosporos from her 2003 album A Touch of Spice:

Next we are heading onto the mainland to Elassona in the province of Thessaly, where singer/songwriter Thanasis Papakonstantinou was born in 1959.  He likes to combine his traditional rembetiko with electronic and experimental notes, even veering into rock.  Here is a song called Pehlivanis, originally from his 2000 album Βραχνός Προφήτης, Vrachnos Profitis, which was reissued in 2015.

I'll leave it at that today.  Apologies for the long silence between posts, I had some health issues in the last few months.  Next time we'll look at some of the music from Thessaloniki.  In the meantime you can check my virtual wanderings on my tripline map.