Musical Workshop οn Makam Improvisation (Taksim)Michalis Kouloumis
17 March 2023Polyphonic Body: The Radiant StorytellerJulianna Bloodgood & Rafał Habel
17 March 2023Stylistic approaches in folk singing
Coordination: Yiannis Dionysiou, George Georgopoulos
Duration: 30 hours
Language: English, Greek
25 - 31 August
(25.8 welcome date / 31.8 departure date)
Greek urban folk songs are directly linked to the collective unconscious of the people and encompass elements concerning their culture and beliefs. This functions in a psychoanalytic manner (on a personal level) where if one wishes to connect with their inner self, first they delve into the past. And that, whether for personal development or to resolve personal issues. In the same way, folk songs offer atonement to their audience.
Yiannis Dionysiou and George Georgopoulos delve into the past, aiming to bring the atmosphere that indelibly marked an entire historical period to the forefront. They present a workshop based on Greek folk songs from the Golden Era of the 1950s to the 1980s, featuring prominent performers such as Stelios Kazantzidis, Stratos Dionysiou, Manolis Angelopoulous and more, as well as composers like Manolis Hiotis, George Zambetas, Akis Panou, Christos Nikolopoulos, Thanasis Polykandriotis, and others.
This workshop is aimed at folk singers and instrumentalists.
Yiannis Dionysiou
He was born in Limassol, Cyprus in 1990. At the age of five, he started taking piano classes and at the age of ten, violin classes at the Cyprus Olympic Conservatory, as well as classes of Music Theory and Harmony. At the age of eight, he started taking classes of Byzantine Music. He graduated from Music School of Nicosia, the Department of Music Science and Art in University of Macedonia, in Thessaloniki, in the major of Byzantine Music, with specialization in “Performance in Chanting Art” and he has a master’s degree in “Chanting Art” from the Department of Music Studies in National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
In July 2019 he takes part in “Fengaros Music Village” in Cyprus as an instructor of a workshop about Greek Urban Folk singing. Since 2019, he teaches the course “Folk Song” in the Department of Music Science and Art in University of Macedonia.
During his residency in Thessaloniki and Athens, he takes part in many music ensembles, performing and playing music with influences from the Greek Folk, Traditional and Urban music in the beginnings of 20th century. Since 2013 he has taken part in many theatre productions as a singer.
Since 2014, he participated in various albums, radio and TV shows. Recently he released his first personal album “Proti Volta”, including compositions of seven different composers, while the lyrics are written by Kostas Fasoulas.
George Georgopoulos
George Georgopoulos was born in 1983 in Athens. When he was eight years old he moved to Kalamata with his family, where he had his first music lessons at the age of nine. He started playing music in different bands from an early age. He studied at the Department of Traditional Music in Arta, Greece. He has performed as a bouzouki soloist with famous orchestras and in big festivals in Greece and in many countries abroad, some of which are Croatia, Switzerland, Germany, North Macedonia, Sweden, China, Austria, Cyprus, England etc. He has performed with the most famous singers in Greece and the last years he is pursuing his career as a soloist together with his other artistic activities.