YALLA 2.0
A volcano of explosive female voices featuring traditional and contemporary sounds will sweep through the Summer Nostos Festival when the multi-talented singer, composer, and performer Marina Satti and Fonés and Chóres come to the Greek National Opera’s Alternative Stage. Fonés and Chóres are, respectively, the female vocal ensemble and the 50-member women’s choir formed by Satti. The artist brings together and guides all these voices, along with her electric band, in a stage experience described, by those who have watched it, as simply unique.
Marina Satti is a special case as new artists go. Originally from Crete and Sudan, she has a classical piano degree, a diploma in higher musical studies and classical singing, and is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, which she attended on a scholarship. She represented Greece at the European Jazz Orchestra ‘09 and has appeared in stage productions of West Side Story and Erotokritos, among others. Her single Mantissa, which she wrote and arranged, went to number one in the Greek and Bulgarian charts. In November 2017, she appeared at Google's Europe On Stage, which took place at the Bozar Center for Fine Arts in Brussels, participating in the “10 Most Interesting YouTube Acts of 2017.”
In 2016, she created the Fonés ensemble. They have since sung in venues such as the Herodes Atticus Theater, the SNFCC, and the Athens Concert Hall and have worked with Nikos Kypourgos, Dionysis Savvopoulos, Pavlos Pavlidis, Foivos Delivorias, and Dimitris Kalantzis, among other artists. In the summer of 2018, they sang as the Okeanides in a stage production of Prometheus Bound, directed by Martha Frintzila at the Little Theater of Ancient Epidaurus. In September 2018, they appeared at the United Nations Champion of the Earth Awards in New York. And in November 2018, they sang in Marathon at the lighting of the flame for the 36th Athens Marathon Race.
What is intriguing is the way in which Marina Satti systematically excavates and brings to light aspects of the global music tradition, and giving them new life, making them sound 100% contemporary, and yet remaining faithful to the original creation. When in 2016 she organized a series of events aimed at promoting the international traditional repertoire, many young women came to her to express an interest in polyphonic song. A new ensemble broke away from Fonés, which already existed, and became Chóres. The purpose of the ensemble is to educate its members in music, dance, and acting, as well as to develop artists with a broad education and acute social perception.
Chóres experiments with linking elements of different cultures by removing geographical and age boundaries, and making the most of all available expressive means to produce specific messages. More than 50 women aged 13-45 participate in the group’s weekly activities. What brings all these women together is their interest in the performing arts, their promotion of diversity, their love of learning, and their participation in a community of mutual support. Chóres has become a hotbed for artists and it has not stopped growing, with new members joining and its educational work being enhanced by distinguished teachers of different arts.