Talented local indie-scene acts are appearing throughout the week
A number of credible acts coming from the local independent scene, both Greeks and expatriates now based here, will be performing shows at various Athens venues throughout the week. The activities – appropriate mostly for listeners drawn to non-mainstream scenes – includes Irish expatriate Ross Daly, who since landing in Greece some three decades ago, has focused mostly on traditional Cretan sounds and related improvisation; Athens-based ethnic-jazz band Mode Plagal with Michalis Siganidis, whose work, as bassist, with a couple of the country’s more renowned bands – Himerini Kolymvites and famed vocal artist Savina Yiannatou’s Primavera En Salonico – is supplemented by truly interesting solo releases; the gifted cellist Nikos Veliotis, an active figure on the international experimental circuit; and cult punk band Lost Bodies. There is also a three-day festival, this Friday to Sunday, with domestic pop-rock and electro-pop leanings on offer at the Technopolis Venue (100 Pireos, Gazi), as a parallel event to the Athens Video Art Festival. Acts here include a number of popular local bands, such as Mikro, Raining Pleasure and Rodes, performing Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively, as well as newcomers. Daly, who performs next Tuesday at the Avlaia venue in Athens (15 Agious Orous & Constantinoupoleos, Votanikos, tel 210.347.4074) will be accompanied by a six-member ensemble for an evening of traditional Cretan material. Also at the Avlaia venue, the ethnic-jazz act Mode Plagal unites with Siganidis for four performances, this coming Friday and Saturday, as well as Friday and Saturday next week. Siganidis, probably better known for his role as bassist – with strong improvisational tendencies – in Yiannatou’s backing band Primavera En Salonico and the rebetika surrealists Himerini Kolymvites, has released several intriguing albums of his own work. The Thessaloniki musician’s albums feature guest appearances from members of Mode Plagal, a unit of sought-after musicians in Greece. The joint Siganidis-Mode Plagal shows will feature material from both acts. The cellist Veliotis – an experimental musician who has recently enjoyed wider exposure on the strength of well-received collaborative efforts with Yiannis Aggelakas, the former frontman of top-selling Greek rock band Trypes – joins forces with fellow experimentalists Anastassis Grivas and Reynaldo Young from the UK for an evening of experimental adventures, which should range from noise to silence, at the Small Music Theater (33 Veikou, Koukaki, 210.924.5644) this Thursday. The evening coincides with a new release from Veliotis and Grivas titled «Vertical» on the Patras-based label Low Impedance. Lost Bodies, a punk-minded act seasoned with a touch of social satire that has accumulated one of the country’s stronger cult followings over the past couple of decades, performs a career-spanning set on Friday at After Dark (31 Didotou, Exarchia, 210.360.6460).
