By Stergios Pooleret
In the last 2 years you must have heard somewhere the lyric «Oh, and if you were a lie, if you were a lie, if you were a lie, if I could live and love without you». And if you've heard it, then I'll put my hand on the fire that you've wondered something very specific.
If we saw her in the role of chief architect on some Lord of the Rings, ...it wouldn't surprise us. This ouija has this form and combined with the melodies of some of her songs, it is inevitable that your mind will not go to Celtic deities. I may even be led to exaggerate. Maybe.
But one thing that certainly does not belong in the land of exaggeration is that the Andromache has a characteristically beautiful voice that is unlike anything else and you can't get it out of your head.
Just as you won't forget, at least I want to believe, the interview he gave to Menshouse and follows immediately.
- What kind of psychological and artistic state are you in at the moment, as a year is coming to an end when the lives of many of us have come to a standstill?;
I feel a peace and tranquility that I can't explain! In October I was feeling very strange and I had reached my limits, so I guess my peace is a defence mechanism (laughs)! Anyway, inspiration is there, I'm writing lyrics and poems, singing in my bathroom and I can't wait to get back to our normalcy!
- How can an artist sustain his creative expression when the part of survival appears in his life urgently in an era when he is forbidden to claim an income?;
I think that because we artists are deprived of our work, the thirst for expression becomes even more intense and not to mention we become more selective in terms of «if that's the way things are, let me at least do exactly what I want, the way I want it».
- Is being part of a company like Panik like a safety net and an unhindered creativity?;
You certainly don't feel unattached, you belong somewhere. Panik Records is a family for its artists. It cares about how you are, what you need. We keep creating, we keep testing parties, running everything that can be run now that everything is on pause.
- What is the moment when you know that a song is what you want to say? Your new song I Love You, for example, what elements of it made you feel that way?;
When you hear a verse and you identify and it stays and you think «how applicable» and you cringe! You make images and live them through the notes and words. That's exactly what I felt with «I LOVE YOU». It has key phrases in it that reminded me of my experiences and I said «yes, this song expresses me and I want to say it».
- As music expresses strong feelings and usually more painful ones, feelings that many times we say we would like to forget, I want to ask you this: putting a painful feeling in a song, does it help you to get over it more easily or is it something you want to remember that pain?;
This pain is something I want to remember, because this pain also made me what I am today. It's good to be able to remember the pain without it hurting you. That's where you know you've moved on. And yes, it definitely helps you get over the pain faster and easier, because you get used to the images and bad feelings and they no longer «surprise» you.
- I read somewhere that your grandfather was a cantor, your uncle was a rebet and your dad was a folk dance teacher. And as I was reading that, I thought it totally justified your musical path and choices so far. Do you make any of those connections in your life? That a decision, a choice you're making now, was somehow determined by the past?;
They say that life is a permanent loop and that we are somehow repeating things that our parents have done. Maybe not necessarily the exact same act, but it all has to do with what we have seen and heard from our parents and the environment we grew up in. So yes, I find that a lot of my choices are totally related to things about family in general, a lot of things and a lot of situations are predetermined and when we realize it we think «what are you saying now?».
- Do you believe in a more spiritual-energetic interpretation of our lives or do you think it's fatalistic?;
Clearly I am a person who believes in a more spiritual - energetic interpretation of life. I am constantly on a quest of what and how and why...
- To paraphrase the question above, are you a person who demands things or do you like to let life guide you?;
In my life I go through a combination of both. I let life show me the way and I walk by claiming! You see it when something goes by itself and doesn't force its way forward. I let go, observe, make decisions, put all my energy into them and go after what I love!
- Apart from S'Agapo, which is your latest single, we saw you participate with DuoViolins in a cover of Thalassaki Mu. In recent years it's been a major trend in music from new artists - especially from the afropop and middle east folk scene - to tweak the traditional/classical and introduce different musical genres, from pop to electronic. An example is, say, Zack Sekoff who gives an electronic tone to classical jazz. Why do you think this shift exists?;
I believe that the heart and mind reminisce when anything old is adapted to the now. Even in clothing. I feel very warm feelings when I see people dressed in vintage style, it reminds me of my childhood, the 90s.
So in music. Melodies take us back in time, to familiar places, sweet memories and that's why we seek to bring them back to the now. We feel safe. From a psychological point of view, that's it. But beyond that there is another quality to anything old. Especially when we are talking about music that awakens through our DNA the «together», the «homeland» and the «blue of Greece».
- Leaving aside the musical influences from your family environment, what are your own musical perceptions? What do you listen to, what are your favorite records, what artists do you admire?;
I love Michalis Hatzigiannis, his voice, his discography...I have listened to his albums for endless hours over and over again from the beginning! I love Yannis Haroulis and Glykeria is also one of my favorite voices. I love our traditional music and I also love the art music scene and folk songs. In general I listen to everything.
I can tell you that nowadays, I listen to a little more foreign music than Greek music. I love Beyoncé, Dua Lipa and Coldplay. And I love listening to Rnb and pop 90’s and 00’s, as well as their Greek counterparts. I listen to everything, really!
- For a long time the music industry went through a «must» phase, with labels pressuring artists to constantly release new material in the name of revenue. The last 2-3 years have seen a singles logic that potentially gives an artist the opportunity to do each song as they wish. What's your take on this?;
I'm more of an album guy. It's a complete work and through it an artist can present all sides of himself to the world. So you avoid being labeled as only arty or only folk. You can be «colourful».
- What do you hope the new year holds for you in terms of music and what can we expect from you?;
I want to prepare my first album slowly. I have a lot of songs in mind that I want you to hear. Different songs from each other...Cheers to everyone and pick up where we left off. To finish what we left in the middle and make all our dreams come true!
