Petrakis, Lopez, Chemirani Trio
Cretan music meets melodies from medieval Europe and Persian musical tradition in one of the most exciting performances of the Summer Nostos Festival. This is the latest project of three globally acclaimed artists in different music disciplines: Stelios Petrakis, one of the most well-known performers and makers of Cretan lyra al lute of his generation, Efrén Lopez, a Valencian multi-instrumentalist and founder of L'Ham de Foc, a band that combines traditional sounds from the Iberian peninsula, Asia and Greece, as well as the percussionist Bijan Chemirani, who is considered to be one of the most important representatives of the Persian musical tradition. The project of the three artists includes musical compositions based on rhythms of different traditions, including melodies from Crete and other Greek islands, Turkey, Iran and medieval Europe.
Composer, instrumentalist and instrument maker, Stelios Petrakis composes music influenced both by Crete, his own homeland, and other musical traditions of Greece, Asia Minor, Istanbul and Iran. He has released three solo albums, in collaboration with important artists of the Cretan music scene. He has created the Cretan Quartet, an ensemble that brings Cretan rhythms and dances to the biggest festivals in the world and in countries such as India, USA, Malaysia, France and Morocco. His last album, titled Orion, was included in the top ten albums of the British magazine Songlines for 2009, while the American music organization Just Plain Folks named the album No 1 in the World Music category (2009), following a vote by 10,000 listeners. He has a workshop in Heraklion, the biggest city of Crete, where he produces various types of lyra, lute and saz.
A multi-instrumentalist and founder of L'Ham de Foc, Aman Aman and Sabir, Efrén López approaches medieval and traditional melodies through the study of modal musical systems -like makam and raga- working with eminent musicians from Greece, Turkey, Afghanistan and India, such as Ross Daly, Necati Çelik, Erol Parlak, Mehmet Erenler, Erdal Erzincan, Daud Khan, Ustad Mohammed Rahim Khusnawaz, Yurdal Tokcan and Ajoy Chakrabakhti. He has performed in prestigious festivals in Europe, South Africa, America and China and participated in the production of more than 60 albums.
Being the newest member of the Chemirani family, Bijan is dedicated to the zarb (or tombak), the main Iranian percussion instrument. He collaborates with the famous Irish musician Ross Daly. For a while he had settled in Crete, where he had the opportunity to shared a number of musical performances with Stelios Petrakis and other important artists of the island, such as Giorgos Xylouris and Vasilis Stavrakakis. He now lives in Marseilles, France, where he organizes percussion workshops with the well-known singer Sam Karpienia. He has released two solo albums, “Eos” and “Gulistan", and he is the director of the music group Oneira.
Contributors:
Stelios Petrakis
Efrén López
Bijan Chemirani