Athens set for jazz and ethnic festival
Jazz and ethnic tunes are returning to the capital early next month, as the second Ethnic and Jazz Music Festival of Athens prepares to hit the stage on October 5, 6 and 7, featuring well-known figures of the World Music scene. The Odes Festival, as it is known, was one of last year’s great winners on the musical front, combining a rich mix of world tunes from countries such as Armenia, France, Turkey, Brazil, Greece and the United States. Similar to last year, this year’s events will take place at the Diogenis Studio and Apollon music halls – two venues principally known for promoting popular Greek artists. Despite initial doubts about whether the halls were appropriate for hosting such events, the festival’s subsequent success last year proved them to be more than adequate choices. Once again, the halls will be altered to meet the demands of the artists. A world of tunes One of this year’s most eagerly awaited acts is that of saxophone player Manu Dibango, from Cameroon. During a career spanning some three decades, the artist has enjoyed a steady and prominent presence on the international scene as a musician, producer, conductor and publisher of magazines specializing in the field. And there’s more, as other participants at this year’s Odes Festival include Mexican accordion player Flaco Jimenez; guitar virtuoso Vicente Amigo from Spain; Radio Tarifa, a group with Moroccan and Spanish roots (their alternative repertoire includes one Greek folk song); British singer Caroline Lavelle, who has collaborated with, among others, Massive Attack, The Cranberries, Loreena McKennitt, Ryuichi Sakamoto as well as Vangelis Papathanassiou; De Phazz from Germany, a band mixing easy listening with cool jazz; Christina Branco from Portugal, an emerging name in the world of fado; Abderrahmane Abdelli from Algeria; Peruvian DJ Martin Morales, Greco-Cuban Aroma Caribe; Finnish singer Kimmo Pohjonen; as well as Mario Reyes, in a concert featuring a guest appearance by Alkistis Protopsalti. On the Greek front, the list of participants is equally exciting: Notios Ehos (The Sound of the South) will be accompanied by guitarist Achilleas Persidis; young and upcoming Downtown Beat will appear with Michalis Hadziyiannis; Stavros Lantsias will perform alongside Yiannis Spathas; singer Melina Kana; cellist Miltiadis Papastamou will perform with jazz pianist Markos Alexiou; and Makis Ablianitis are all on the festival’s schedule. Featuring six concerts every evening, tickets for each day are set at 8,000 drachmas, while a three-day pass costs 20,000 drachmas. For more information on the three-day event, go online at www.odes.gr. In the photographs from the 1930s, America comes across as a world in transition. In those of the 1940s, it is a world at war. Technology, including radiographs, cable and telephone, enabled images to be sent from the battlefront in a matter of hours, but the kinds of images that finally went out to the public underwent careful federal governmental control.
