Sounds of Cyprus Performed a Moving Concert on June 19

ASTORIA – Sounds of Cyprus carried out an entertaining and likewise shifting live performance on June 19 on the Hellenic Cultural Middle in Astoria. The Cypriot orchestra, co-founded by Elena Chris and Peter Douskalis in New York Metropolis, performs the normal music of Cyprus in various orchestrations and kinds that each consciously honor the time interval of composition and interval devices whereas additionally performing with a contemporary strategy.

Elena Chris, vocalist and entrance individual of the group, sings the normal songs within the Cypriot dialect of Greek, in addition to in Turkish for songs that include lyrics in each languages. She gave the welcoming remarks in Greek on the live performance together with introductions to the songs and the distinctive conventional devices used within the present, whereas Peter Douskalis, Music Director, gave the English translations and some quips in his signature humor. Douskalis performs the laouto, oud, mandolin, and guitar within the group, switching between devices as wanted for the genuine and trendy orchestration of the items. The opposite members of this proficient group are Alex Tasopoulos on viola, Erikos Vlesmas on contrabass, Stavros Papadopoulos on pithkiavli and ney, and Mark Katsaounis on percussion. This was the primary look with the band for percussionist Katsaounis who impressed the viewers with a solo, as did the opposite musicians in numerous songs.

The present additionally featured visitor vocalist Gizem Gokoglu, who sang duets with Elena Chris, demonstrating and selling the multi and intercultural nature of Cyprus and its lovely traditions and music. They sang a number of the greatest identified Cypriot songs together with Michalis Violaris’ Ta Rialia to enthusiastic applause from the viewers.

In essentially the most emotionally charged second of the present, Gokoglu and Chris carried out H Diki Mou H Patrida (‘My Homeland’), the well-known track which has lyrics from a poem by Turkish-Cypriot poet and creator Neshe Yashin, written when she was 18 years outdated. The poem was set to music by the late Greek-Cypriot composer Marios Tokas and is a shifting assertion for unity. Gokoglu who’s Turkish and Turkish-Cypriot, from the occupied space of Cyprus, wept in the course of the track, which left many viewers members additionally in tears, reminding everybody of the human toll the division of the island nation continues to tackle all those that name Cyprus residence. Gokoglu and Chris embraced on the finish of the track highlighting the facility of music and artwork to convey folks collectively.

The efficiency was held beneath the auspices of the Consulate Basic of the Republic of Cyprus. Chris and Douskalis thanked all these current for his or her assist and likewise thanked the behind-the-scenes workforce, inventive director Alex Agisilaou, Stephanos Charalmbides for the sound and lightweight design, and Hellenic Cultural Middle inventive director Alexandros Ammohostianos.

On the conclusion of the live performance, viewers members congratulated the gifted artists and everybody appeared ahead to their subsequent reside efficiency.

The band was shaped in 2016 and gave its first efficiency in 2017. Among the many group’s reside performances this yr: a pop-up present on the Lengthy Island Metropolis Waterfront, twice at DROM in Manhattan, and most lately on the Hellenic Cultural Middle in Astoria. Their pop-up efficiency on the LIC Waterfront gained them recognition in Cyprus, having been coated repeatedly by information retailers, they have been invited to ‘Paradosiaki Vradia’ on RIK1.

Video of the band performing T’ai Giorkou – the epic story of Saint George – reside on the Hellenic Cultural Middle is out there on YouTube:  https://bit.ly/3x4kahZ.

Loula Mou Maroula Mou – carried out in Athens Sq. Park in Astoria can also be on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3acfHC2.

Elena Chris and Peter Douskalis on RIK1 Paradosiaki Vradia Tv Program in Cyprus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVzn56V_-3U.

Extra info is out there on-line: www.SoundsOfCyprus.com.