Irene Papas • Vangelis – Odes (1979, LP, Greece)

Tracklist:
A1 Les 40 Braves 5:15
A2 Neranzoula (Le Petit Oranger) 4:49
A3 La Danse Du Feu 6:03
A4 Les Kolokotronei 3:16
A5 Le Fleuve 6:45
B1 Racines 8:50
B2 Lamento 8:29
B3 Menousis 6:37

Musicians:
Arranged By, Producer, Performer – Vangelis
Vocals – Irene Papas

Ciccada – Harvest (2021, CD, Greece)

Tracklist:
1 Eniania (Keepers Of The Midnight Harvest) 7:25
2 Open Wings 5:28
3 The Old Man And The Butterfly 7:52
4 No Man's Land 8:40
5 Who's To Decide? 4:40
6 Queen Of Wishes 12:39

Musicians:
Acoustic Guitar [Acoustic 6 String], 12-String Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Vocals – Yorgos Mouhos
Bass, Fretless Bass – Aggelos Malisovas
Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals – Iliakis Yiannis
Flute, Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Recorder, Piano, Electric Piano, Organ, Mellotron, Synthesizer, Harpsichord, Clavinet, Glockenspiel, Backing Vocals – Nicolas Nikolopoulos
Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Backing Vocals – Marietta Tsakmakli
Vocals – Dimi Spela, Evangelia Kozoni

The music of Ciccada is a mix of rock, jazz, folk and the Western European legacy from the middle-ages to 20th century. It is mainly influenced by bands and artists of

the classic `70`sprogressive rock era, in the likes of Gentle Giant, Gryphon and Renaissance.

Vangelis ‎– The Dragon (1978, LP, Greece)

Tracklist:

A. The Dragon (15:00)

B1. Stuffed Aubergine (11:27)

B2. Stuffed Tomato (9:24)

Musicians:

Bass Guitar – Brian Odger

Drums – Mick Waller

Guitar – Anargyros Koulouris 'Arghiris'

Keyboards, Percussion – Evangelos Papathanassiou

Violin – Michel Ripoche

"The Dragon" is a composition by Vangelis recorded in 1971 and released in 1978 on an album of the same name. It is an odd piece in Vangelis catalogue. In fact - it is not even officially released - the 1978 album was a cash-in bootleg. Vangelis himself disowned it and characterized as "bad" because it was never really finished. What you can hear is a sketch. A starting point, something meant to be developed but ultimately left undone.

"The Dragon" is long and brooding stomp with some eastern stylings. It is composed in epic fantasy medieval style. It is very much like very-very drawned-out composition of Vangelis former Aphrodite's Child - just bigger, longer and more about the journey than a destination. The length of "The Dragon" is its defining feature. It goes and goes and goes. It moves forward relentlessly. This makes a lot of space for musicians to play off each other occassionally returning to a central theme before bouncong back to another soloing bout.

Kyriakos Sfetsas Κυριάκος Σφέτσας ‎– Το Στίγμα [To Stigma] (1982, LP, Greece)

Kiriakos Sfetsas "Stigma" music from the movie of Pavlos Tasios.

Orchestration - Conductor: Kiriakos Sfetsas

Musicians:
Tasos Poulimenos: flute, bass flute, clarinet, tenor saxophone
Vangelis Christopoulos: oboe
Manthos Halkias clarinet
Yannis Theodoridis: trumpet
Nikos Tatsis: lute
Babis Laskarakis: electric guitar
Giorgos Zikogiannis: electric bass
Yiannis Saroglou: electric bass
Yiannis Terzakis: piano, fender, body
Lefteris Tzimas: drums, percussion
Dimitris Vraskos: violin
Christos Sfetsas: cello

Production: Kiriakos Sfetsas
Recording: Studio I Columbia, May & September 1982
Sound Engineer: Stelios Giannakopoulos
Assistants: G.. Papaioannou, G.. Tzanes

Ciccada ‎– A Child In The Mirror (2010, CD, Greece)

Songs / Tracks Listing
1. Ciccada (4:38)
2. Isabella Sunset (6:09)
3. Ένα παιδί στον καθρέφτη - A Child In The Mirror (6:00)
4. A Storyteller's Dream (7:08)
5. Raindrops (4:16)
6. An Endless Sea (5:27)
7. Epirus - A Mountain Song (4:58)
8. Elisabeth (7:08)
9. Η Στιγμή - The Moment (3:14)
10. A Garden Of Delights (8:23)

Line-up / Musicians
Evangelia Kozoni / vocals, accordion (2), tambourine (4)
Yorgos Mouchos / acoustic & electric guitars, vocals (7)
Nikolas Nikolopoulos / flute, recorder, organ, Mellotron, Strings, glockenspiel (10), tambourine (9), vocals (7)
Omiros Komninos / bass, programming (11-14)

With:
Valerio Cipollone / clarinet (1,4,5,7,9)
Napoleon Savanis / alto sax (2)
Vassilis Lykos / cello (2,6,9,10)
Hryssoula Georgaki / clarinet (2,3,8,10)
Panayotis Yiannakakis / piano (2,3,8,10), electric piano (6,7)
Spyros Laskarides / trumpet (2,3,7,10)
Mattia Signò / glockenspiel (4,5)
Pietro Cavedon / piano (4,9)
Paolo Botta / Fender Rhodes electric piano (5)
Anna Böhmig / French horn (10)
George Kazianis / clarinet (11,12)
Fotis Mylonas / bass (12)
Alberto De Grantis / drums

The music of CICCADA is heavily rooted in folk music; it's complex, compelling, borowing influneces from many other spheres of progressive rock or more. If you're intrigued by fusing the most complex moments of GRYPHON and GENTLE GIANT, this band is highly recommended. (Progarchives)

Ciccada ‎– The Finest Of Miracles (2015, CD, Greece)

Songs / Tracks Listing
1. A Night Ride (6:26)
2. Eternal (8:02)
3. At the Death of Winter (4:04)
4. Around the Fire (9:16)
5. Lemnos (Lover's Dancer) (0:47)
- The Finest of Miracles:
6. Birth of the Lights (1:52)
7. Wandering (6:42)
8. Sirens' Call (1:38)
9. As Fall the Leaves (3:09)
10. Song for an Island (4:47)

Line-up / Musicians
Evangelia Kozoni / vocals
Yorgos Mouchos / acoustic, Classical & electric guitars, backing vocals
Nikolas Nikolopoulos / flute, recorder, tenor sax, organ, Mellotron, piano, electric piano, synth, glockenspiel
Yiannis Iliakis / drums, percussion, marimba

With:
John Kosmidis "Jargon" / vocals (4)
Savvas Paraskevas / acoustic & electric piano (1)
Panayiotis Sioras / clarinet & bass clarinet (2,4-10)
Spyros Kakos / French horn (10)
Panayotis Zafiropoulos / trombone (10)
Yannis Moraitis / trumpet (2,5,10)
Dionysis Agalianos / trumpet (10)
Sakis Myronis / tuba
Lydia Boudouni / violin (1,2,4,6-10)
Marianna Vassou / cello (2,4)
Yorgos Lambadis / bass (1)
Johan Brand / bass (2)
Omiros Komninos / bass (3,4,6-10)

Socrates Drank The Conium ‎– On The Wings (1973, LP, Greece)

Aggressive hard prog. Beautiful!

Socrates Drank the Conium ‎– Taste Of Conium (1972, LP, Greece)

Socrates Drank the Conium, known also as Socrates, is a Greek rock band that formed in 1969 and achieved success in the 70s. Influenced by heavy blues and rock bands like The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream, the band melded the unorthodox time signatures and orchestration of progressive rock and the intensity of blues and hard rock music, creating a unique sound that distinguished them from other Greek rock acts of that period. Outside Greece, Socrates is best known for Phos, their 1976 landmark collaboration album with Vangelis. The group has gone through many lineup changes, but the two core members have remained: guitarist Yannis Spathas and bassist/singer Antonis Tourkogiorgis.

Axis -- Axis (1973, LP, Greece)

Axis was formed in 1970 by Dimitris KATAKOUZINOS and Demis VISVIKIS, after they had hooked up as members of the backing band for Demis ROUSSOS (APHRODITE'S CHILD). They released three albums between 1971 and 1973. Their third album (their second self-titled album) brings the most interest to this site, as it is a mixture of heavy prog, canturbury jazz-rock, and pure fusion.

Kyriakos Sfetsas and Katerina Gogou - Sto dromo -- Κατερίνα Γώγου, Κυριάκος Σφέτσας ‎– Στο Δρόμο (1981, LP/CD, Greece)

Katerina Gogou (Greek: Κατερίνα Γώγου; 1 June 1940 – 3 October 1993) was a Greek poet, author and actress. Before her suicide by pill overdose at the age of 53, Gogou appeared in over thirty Greek films.

Early life
Gogou was born in Athens, Greece. Early in her childhood she experienced the Nazi occupation of Greece that began in 1941.
One of her books, Three Clicks Left, was translated into English in 1983 by Jack Hirschman and published by Night Horn Books in San Francisco.[3] The Greek title was 'Τρία κλικ αριστερά'; it was first published by Kastaniotis in 1978. Her poetry was known for its rebellious and anarcho-communist content.
Numerous poems written by Gogou appeared in Parangelia (παραγγελιά), a Greek film about the life of Nikos Koemtzis who, in 1973, killed three individuals (two of whom were policemen) and injured another eight at a bouzouki club in Athens over a dance.

The Album

In 1980, Greek cinematic director Pavlos Tassios filmed the real story of a Greek-Athenian blue collar worker who, on a February night in 1973, knifed a company of men in a tavern. Purportedly, the attack stemmed from the collective's refusal to allow the laborer's brother to pay his respect to his sibling, by dancing a "rebetiko" folk song all alone in front of the tavern's live band. The impact of the incident was such that it monopolized the oral and written outings of the public opinion and press, even though Greece was undergoing its 6th (and next to last) year of military dictatorship. The authorities argued that the worker had premeditated his assault, with some further speculating that this blind outbreak of rage was the indirect result of social and/or political discrimination. The film's spiral narrative deals with the dramatization of the events that led to the incident and the relentless police manhunt that followed (two of the victims were policemen). The success that followed the film's release in Greek theatres was also attributed to the soundtrack Στο"ρόμο (On The Road).

Tassios’ novelty regarding the film structure, is that the latter is inspired from ancient Greek tragedy plays. In parallel with the ongoing plot, he has his wife and poet/actor Katerina Gogou reciting pieces of her work, at segments that could be dubbed as “movie intermissions”. Gogou, whose poetry would be issued and appreciated in the States in the early ‘80s, does an excellent job in painting the portraits of marginalized people struggling to fit in an environment that appears to have little or no room left to do so. Her choice of words and prose are blunt, yet precise regarding the message to be conveyed. Some verses are censored, due to profane language, courtesy of the strict Greek censorship legislation at that time. However, not all of Gogou’s writings is soaked in dismay; her anger and disappointment, progressively give way to a restrained optimism for a future world, free of all forms of segregation.

Gogou’s oral testament lies upon the arrangements of Greek composer Kyriakos Sfetsas. If a single quote could be used to characterize Sfetsas’ work, that would be “crossover in the best possible sense”. Sfetsas puts together a jazz/prog rock band with a carefully assembled orchestra of classical and folk instruments, and goes back and forth in a non-trivial way, with respect to genres such as Greek folk (rebetiko), jazz, progressive rock, doom rock (!!), and horror movie soundtracks. Nominally, the mood is on par with Gogou’s vocal temper, but quite often, the arrangements follow a route of their own; there are times where Gogou is growling in despair, while, for example, the joint orchestras give in to a loose and casual jazz rock jam.

At times, it's hard to fully realize the depth and the genuine progressiveness of the actual music, especially in view of the corresponding political and social environment in Greece during the '70s; during the 7-year military dictatorship, the Western world's contemporary musical heritage - especially as it pertained to rock music - was banned by law. As a result, there was a serious time lag regarding the diffusion of progressive and hard rock within the land (artists like Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix were little known in the '70s and early '80s, in contrast to almost everywhere else). Sfetsas' work herein, along with outfits such as Socrates Drank the Conium, Akritas, and Axis, slowly but steadily began to turn the tide to a different direction.

In 2014, the Greek branch of Capitol Records reissued this film score, some 20+ years after its first release. In contrast to what Katerina Gogou hopes at the end of the album, her poetry is (unfortunately) still relevant, whereas Kyriakos Sfetsas' compositions form a major contribution, one that’s sure to stimulate the taste of obscure progressive rock and soundtrack enthusiasts whenever necessary.

Side A

A1 Η Ζωή Μας Είναι Σουγιαδιές - 2:22

A2 Θέλω Να Κουβεντιάσω - 3:02

A3 Μοναξιά - 3:52

A4 Κανείς Δεν Θα Γλιτώσει - 2:27

A5 Πάει Αυτό Ήταν - 2:19

Side B

B1 Κοίτα Πως Χάνονται Οι Δρόμοι - 4:03

B2 Καμιά Φορά - 3:22

B3 Πόσο Νωρίς Φεύγει Το Φως - 6:55

B4 Θαρθεί Καιρός - 2:39

Musicians:

Cello – Χρήστος Σφέτσας

Clarinet – Γιώργος Χαλκιαδάκης, Τάσος Πουλημένος

Electric Bass – Γιώργος Θεοδωρίδης

Electric Guitar – Μπάμπης Λασκαράκης

Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Piano [Staiway] – Γιάννης Τερεζάκης

Engineer [Recording Assistant] – Γ. Τζάννες, Κ. Ράινινγκ

Orchestrated By, Conductor [Orchestra] – Κυριάκος Σφέτσας

Percussion – Δημήτρης Μαρινάκης

Producer – Κυριάκος Σφέτσας

Recorded By – Στ. Γιαννακόπουλος

Santoor – Τάσος Διακογιώργης

Trumpet – Γιάννης Θεοδωρίδης

Violin – Δημήτρης Βράσχος

Voice, Lyrics By [Poem] – Κατερίνα Γώγου

Made By – EMI Greece S.A.

Printed By – EMI Greece S.A.

Pressed By – Columbia, Athens – 9052

Recorded At – Columbia Studio

Kyriakos Sfetsas è un compositore greco contemporaneo. Nella sua carriera ha spaziato in lungo e in largo su tutto il panorama musicale, collaborando tra gli altri con Max Deutsch, Iannis Xenakis, Luigi Nono, Henri Dutilleux e accompagnando al piano Maria Callas in uno dei suoi ultimi concerti. Ha realizzato balletti, sinfonie, pezzi jazz e folk, musica da camera, elettronica, musica per teatro o cinema. "Sto Dromo", appunto, è proprio la colonna sonora di un film chiamato "Paraggelia" del regista Tasios ed è forse l'opera di Sfetsas che maggiormente si avvicina alla musica rock. La musica, però, non è l'unica componente a caratterizzare "Sto Dromo", impreziosita anche dai testi della poetessa e attrice Katerina Gogou. La Gogou, molto famosa in patria, ha avuto una vita molto tormentata, culminata con un suicidio nel 1993, all'età di 53 anni. In "Sto Dromo" raggiunge forse il suo apice creativo. Lancia un grido disperato. Scrive e recita una elegia sulla corruzione della società moderna e la miserabile condizione dell'uomo in essa, un uomo sopraffatto dai soprusi, dalla routine quotidiana, costretto a vivere una vita priva di dignità. La Gogou immagina allora un mondo in cui i bambini scelgono i propri genitori e gli uomini il proprio lavoro, in cui si comunica unicamente con colori e note. I suoi testi, per chi non conosce il Greco, rimangono purtroppo oscuri, privando molti ascoltatori di una parte significativa dell'opera. Katerina recita in maniera continuativa, disperata, ma con forza e veemenza. L'attrice greca ha una tale forza espressiva che lentamente, ascolto dopo ascolto, riesce a comunicare, superando la barriera della lingua, riducendo così quell'amaro in bocca lasciato dall'incomprensione dei testi. Resta purtroppo il fastidio dei bip inseriti dalla censura nei punti più duri e blasfemi delle liriche.

Ritorniamo però alla musica: se è vero che i testi da soli sono un'opera d'arte, ma comprensibili totalmente solo da chi conosce il greco, la musica non è da meno e per di più fruibile da tutti . Abbiamo già detto che è l'opera più rock di Sfetsas ma, andando più nello specifico, è senza dubbio progressive. RIO e Jazz rock sono gli ingredienti di una musica dall'incedere ossessivo e tentacolare, che si fonde a meraviglia con versi altrettanto ossessivi della Gogou. E' un viaggio disperato nei meandri della psiche umana. Alla fine potremmo definire l'album quasi Zeuhl per l'incedere ipnotico, uno Zeuhl oscuro e avanguardistico che può ricordarci i grandissimi Dun. Oppure lo si potrebbe leggere in chiave più RIO/Chamber Rock, vista anche la presenza di violino, tromba, violoncello e due clarinetti, in bell'evidenza, che conferiscono in alcuni punti un'atmosfera quasi pastorale. Un RIO vicino ai vari progetti di Hollmer che non disprezza la melodia e le contaminazioni folk.

Anche questa definizione è però riduttiva, visto che la musica di quest'album è molto di più. Sfetsas è un compositore poliedrico, ma di formazione classica. Porta con sé tracce dei grandi del ‘900, in particolare Ligeti, per l'espressività quasi mistica, e Bartok, per la sua capacità di inserire elementi della musica popolare in contesti più colti. In particolare attinge a piene mani sia alla tradizione greca sia a quella araba, rielaborando entrambe in chiave moderna. Tra i membri della band non a caso è presente anche un santuri, strumento tipico della tradizione persiana.

"Sto Dromo" è un'opera d'arte a 360 gradi. Un'opera di uno spessore musicale fuori dal comune e di non facile lettura, complessa ma non cervellotica e al tempo stesso viscerale e coinvolgente. Sicuramente il primo approccio all'album sarà ostico per via delle difficoltà linguistiche, ma se non siete tipi da arrendervi troppo facilmente scoprirete un gioiello musicale, colpevolmente trascurato da molti appassionati del prog. Approfittate quindi di questa ristampa facilmente recuperabile per avere tra le mani un disco stimolante che soddisferà pienamente la vostra sete di buona musica. By Francesco Inglima (Arlequins)

Κυριάκος Σφέτσας/ Greek Fusion Orchestra ‎– Χωρίς Σύνορα post

Κυριάκος Σφέτσας - Greek Fusion Orchestra ‎– Χωρίς Σύνορα (1980, LP, Greece)

Here is a rare Greek Prog/Jazz LP from 1980 released on EMI/ Columbia 14C 062 71149.

Musicians:

Kyriakos Sfetsas: arranger, conductor

Yannis Terezakis: piano, fender rhodes

Giorgos Theodoridis: bass

Nikos Tatsis: luth, electric guitar

Lefteris Tzimas: drums, percussion

Tassos Poulimenos: tenoro sax

Giorgos Halkiadakis: baritone sax

Stelios Vichos: alto sax

Yannis Theodoridis: trumpet

Manthos Halkias: clarinet