Vassiliki Papageorgiou - Ellinotourkika

Turkish songs and Greek songs all united and…loved in a record one could call ‘heraldic’ of Greek-Turkish friendship. Its creators Vassiliki Papageorgiou and Nikiforos Metaxas convey this both discreetly and handsomely, I would almost say – ‘poetically’ : “Traversing again and again the symplegades of the Greek – Turkish experience in time and space, in music and in the ‘word’, we sailed with this dove which, devoid of choler in her vitals, flutters into the threefold depths of the souls of both peoples and comprehends their deep mystery.”
The timeless tragic coexistence of the two nations did not hinder the above-mentioned dove to flutter (then and now) into their souls and to temper the passions, the barbarity, the martyrdom of the subservient. Noble and blessed is the power of music, which achieved and achieves this never negligible deed of temperance.

Vassiliki Papageorgiou singer and lyrics writer of the group “Bosphorus” and Nikiforos Metaxas, composer, researcher and artistically responsible for the group both live since many years on the island of “Halki” – “Heybeliada” nurturing music and through it whatever brings closer both peoples. Their latest album consists of a selection of various Greek and Turkish songs belonging to different styles and epochs (traditional, popular – Theodorakis, Hadzidakis, Zambetas, Vamvakaris etc…)

Two factors emerge which seem to unify the whole. The first, as declared (in the liner notes):” The underground current which bonds the roots of Anatolia with the Greek source; the words of the warrior-king Shah Ismail, the Anatolian poet Karacaoglan with the poets and lyricists of the Aegean (Gatsos, Christodoulos); the traditional musical scales (makam) of the Alevi ashiks (bards) with the musical scales of the Rebetiko and contemporary inspiration…” The second unifying factor I believe to emerge (the most distinct, one would say almost “tangible” and definitely contemporary) is the actual skill and talent of the artists – Vassiliki Papageorgiou, Engin Arslan and Kleon Antoniou and the other musicians of the group.

Fine and revealing artistry. One of the positive traits sadly missing in album releases these last few years is that of the so-called “conviction” – The design. Here it exists – «The mind classifying according to a plan». The voices, arrangements and the realization of the music as a whole all lead to believe that there is a lucid and distinct artistic proposal.

The recording “Vassiliki Papageorgiou - Ellinotourkika” stands out as a distinctive recording amongst this year’s releases.
- Eleftherotypia newspaper