Bassist comes to fore
Michalis Siganidis, one of the country’s more creative musicians who is best known as a band member of the renowned vocal artist Savina Yannatou’s backing group Primavera En Salonico, as well as the rebetika surrealists Himerini Ko-lymvites, takes the stage with his own work for two nights in Athens this week. A double bassist in his backing role for the aforementioned acts, Siganidis, the solo artist, delivers a wide-open yet coherent mix of jazz, blues, funk, traditional Greek sounds, electronics, poetry, a sharp social outlook and loads of humor. Siganidis’s adventurous solo material comes as a natural extension to his work with Himerini Kolymvites, where old Greek rebetika and serenades, known as «cantades,» are infused with free jazz experimentalism, with the bassist a prime contributor to the latter aspect. Siganidis will be backed by a quartet for his two solo shows, at the Alavastron venue in Pangrati (78 Damareos St, tel 210.756.0102). Joining him on stage will be Cypriot singer-songwriter Alkinoos Ioannidis, who has recorded with Siganidis in the past, on flute and vocals; Haris Lambrakis, a fellow member of Primavera En Salonico, on keyboards and ney; Theodoris Rellos, a member of the worthy local ethnic jazz act Mode Plagal, and, more recently, Himerini Kolymvites, on clarinet and saxophone, and Costas Theodorou on drums.
