interviews
Excerpts of answers in interviews on the occasion of the production of the double CD “Pictures for
the sadness of the blond girls and of Eleni” which was released by EMI CLASSICS.
(Translated by Demetrios Lekkas)
[To Liana Malandrenioti, musical magazine Diphono / April 2011]
….. I have no idea which depot I come from and which terminal I am headed to. And I really enjoy that because it entails surprise – mother of creation. To me, all music ‘genres’ gush out of the same spring; they are the numerators of a fraction with music as a permanent denominator.
… One needs no courage towards accomplishing what one is destined to – by whom, I don’t know, and had best not find out; just as no courage is called for towards breathing. Therefore…
….. Charismatic musicians are free by nature. They have no need for instructions; just one glance at the black and inanimate score paper suffices for them to elicit the focus of the musical phrase. Their talent takes command on them so that this happen.
….. I am one of the contemporary creators living and breathing the same air along with others in the 21st century and bringing to public view whichever sensitivity they may be carrying by way of musical compositions having the ‘other person’ as a destination – the other person is the goal always and everywhere. It is all about a pair eyes facing. Without those, creation has no reason whatsoever to be. Without those, love has no reason to be. As a person I feel happy – I hope I’m not getting conceited – for the very flattering comments of critics stooping on my music. As a man of art, all I wish happening to my music is what Constantine Cavafy says: “for history to deign to make note of it”.
….. The words of the poems are the words of the poems of everyone’s life. The poet is the person-bee who, from whoever flower-person she meets on her naturally programmed trip, sucks their honey out, makes it a word-poem and returns it to each and every one of us. It is natural that each one of us should identify something of ourselves in the poem –besides, isn’t that the sole reason for a poem to exist? I think that C. Caryotakis’s poetry –‘Caryotacism’ more specifically– lingers in almost every one of us. It is the ‘blackness’ carried by every entity from birth. We may well be excited by the fact that ‘he modified his life’ in the very way we ourselves would wish but will not dare.
...............................................
[To Tastos Karantis at the webzine www.e-orfeas.gr / November 25, 2010]
…. It would appear that symphonic music has an audience of people fitting its bill: those determined to ‘give themselves’ for the chance that artistic creation ‘be given’ to them for whatever it has to offer. Some may be thinking that symphonic music is a difficult thing. Yet all things feel difficult on the outset of a journey. If only one should take the first step –‘the longest journey starts with one step’ says the poet–, always keeping one’s ears and eyes alert and soaking one’s body and soul with the desire to be ‘visited’ by the ‘different’, what which lies ‘outside’ of you, since the works of creators throughout the globe do not just concern each creator’s narrow human environment, there and then and next; they are indeed universal.
….. Culture is not just works of art; it is everyone’s behaviour regarding anything. It covers how we exercise our voting right, how we choose to elect who shall run our lives based on their fabric, the cheapness in how we feel, how we put up with what is paltry and degrading for our existence. Why do we incline towards the cheap and the paltry? Why do we allow our own mind to ail? Why have we turned into toys, into servile puppets in the hands of cheapness? Why do we become followers? Where is our free will? Where is the uniqueness of our existence? How do we manifest them?
........................................................
On the occasion of the production of the CD
Sleep, my laughter and my light, white jasmine of the world /
17 contemporary lullabies
(Translated by Demetrios Lekkas)
[To Nikos Sarafianos / www.avopolis.gr, December 15, 2009]
.... Avopolis Greek met Thanassis Moraitis on the occasion of the release of his work Lull, my laugh and my light, white jasmine of the world comprising an original material of 17 lullabies, featuring his own music composition, lyrics and arrangement. Amidst all the interviews the undersigned has so far carried out, this is the one that brought him face to face with the most musically passionate person he has ever met. And this passion constitutes a creative legacy for his future works, which we cannot wait to listen to…
…. I like men who do perceive some of what lingers in a woman’s sensitivity. Here lies a decisive factor towards moving out of the quarters of idiotic phallocracy. I fall short of conceiving of a man lacking that sensitivity. We owe gratitude to women, because it is thanks to them that we are here. No worries about losing our masculine status, should we lend an occasional ear to womanhood, pregnant with the new eyes to come.
.......................................................
[ Interview to Tassos Karantis for www.e-orfeas.gr , 2009]
…. My relationship with music was and is like that between a tortoise and its shell. So, I guess, this was my share in life. Which mortal actually knows why this or why that? Which one of us makes a calculated decision to fall in love with a specific person and then goes on into falling in love with them? It all hits from an unexpected angle and there we are, caught up inside it. The master stage director –who knows who that is?– holds the scale, picks a rôle for each and then every one of us just goes about following his commands so that the unique ‘stage show’ going on for ages. In reciprocation, he allows us, too, the right to ‘inhale the scent’.
….. No certificate can validate knowledge, especially ‘musicality’ (imagine someone saying: “I am in love, so here, I have a certificate”)… No teacher, no matter how gifted, can teach you ‘flame’ and ‘duende’, if this stuff doesn’t dwell inside you already.
….. All true artists are my family. Everyone is dear if only because they are musicians. I’ve ‘inhaled scent’ from all of them.
…. Now that I feel that I’ve concluded the chapter ‘Arvanitic songs’ (inestimably valued was the contribution of composer Demetrios Lekkas, dear friend to me and partner in all work round Arvanitic songs) I can talk about the reasons that led me to this series of releases and about the interest generated, at least in me, by the ethnomusicological research in Arvanitic songs.
a) The process of recording Arvanitic songs sung by authentic singers presented us with the original and –violently or so-meant-to-be– outcast members of the body of Greek culture. Studying these original sound documents we were able to give answers concerning the intricate and most delicate modal structures of folk songs, contrasting to Western European ones.
b) These crude songs have helped us and will help future musicians towards comparative research with the rest of them in every field; thus the tradition of the Greek culture will come through a conscious procedure of re-evaluation and incorporation which will be adjusted to the contemporary circumstances, as any loss is lugubrious (let me refer you to the severed limbs of the Parthenon sculptures, whose loss has been brought to focus through the creation of the Acropolis Museum). Conscious knowledge of these relics –as assisted, I trust, by these specific releases– will help classify traditional stimuli and procure the methodology of what deems to be preserved and what does not.
c) This knowledge will give us the opportunity to join our voice with the voice of the aged singer fromMacedonia
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(Translated by Demetrios Lekkas)
[To Liana Malandrenioti, musical magazine Diphono / April 2011]
….. I have no idea which depot I come from and which terminal I am headed to. And I really enjoy that because it entails surprise – mother of creation. To me, all music ‘genres’ gush out of the same spring; they are the numerators of a fraction with music as a permanent denominator.
… One needs no courage towards accomplishing what one is destined to – by whom, I don’t know, and had best not find out; just as no courage is called for towards breathing. Therefore…
….. Charismatic musicians are free by nature. They have no need for instructions; just one glance at the black and inanimate score paper suffices for them to elicit the focus of the musical phrase. Their talent takes command on them so that this happen.
….. I am one of the contemporary creators living and breathing the same air along with others in the 21st century and bringing to public view whichever sensitivity they may be carrying by way of musical compositions having the ‘other person’ as a destination – the other person is the goal always and everywhere. It is all about a pair eyes facing. Without those, creation has no reason whatsoever to be. Without those, love has no reason to be. As a person I feel happy – I hope I’m not getting conceited – for the very flattering comments of critics stooping on my music. As a man of art, all I wish happening to my music is what Constantine Cavafy says: “for history to deign to make note of it”.
….. The words of the poems are the words of the poems of everyone’s life. The poet is the person-bee who, from whoever flower-person she meets on her naturally programmed trip, sucks their honey out, makes it a word-poem and returns it to each and every one of us. It is natural that each one of us should identify something of ourselves in the poem –besides, isn’t that the sole reason for a poem to exist? I think that C. Caryotakis’s poetry –‘Caryotacism’ more specifically– lingers in almost every one of us. It is the ‘blackness’ carried by every entity from birth. We may well be excited by the fact that ‘he modified his life’ in the very way we ourselves would wish but will not dare.
...............................................
[To Tastos Karantis at the webzine www.e-orfeas.gr / November 25, 2010]
…. It would appear that symphonic music has an audience of people fitting its bill: those determined to ‘give themselves’ for the chance that artistic creation ‘be given’ to them for whatever it has to offer. Some may be thinking that symphonic music is a difficult thing. Yet all things feel difficult on the outset of a journey. If only one should take the first step –‘the longest journey starts with one step’ says the poet–, always keeping one’s ears and eyes alert and soaking one’s body and soul with the desire to be ‘visited’ by the ‘different’, what which lies ‘outside’ of you, since the works of creators throughout the globe do not just concern each creator’s narrow human environment, there and then and next; they are indeed universal.
….. Culture is not just works of art; it is everyone’s behaviour regarding anything. It covers how we exercise our voting right, how we choose to elect who shall run our lives based on their fabric, the cheapness in how we feel, how we put up with what is paltry and degrading for our existence. Why do we incline towards the cheap and the paltry? Why do we allow our own mind to ail? Why have we turned into toys, into servile puppets in the hands of cheapness? Why do we become followers? Where is our free will? Where is the uniqueness of our existence? How do we manifest them?
........................................................
On the occasion of the production of the CD
Sleep, my laughter and my light, white jasmine of the world /
17 contemporary lullabies
(Translated by Demetrios Lekkas)
[To Nikos Sarafianos / www.avopolis.gr, December 15, 2009]
.... Avopolis Greek met Thanassis Moraitis on the occasion of the release of his work Lull, my laugh and my light, white jasmine of the world comprising an original material of 17 lullabies, featuring his own music composition, lyrics and arrangement. Amidst all the interviews the undersigned has so far carried out, this is the one that brought him face to face with the most musically passionate person he has ever met. And this passion constitutes a creative legacy for his future works, which we cannot wait to listen to…
…. I like men who do perceive some of what lingers in a woman’s sensitivity. Here lies a decisive factor towards moving out of the quarters of idiotic phallocracy. I fall short of conceiving of a man lacking that sensitivity. We owe gratitude to women, because it is thanks to them that we are here. No worries about losing our masculine status, should we lend an occasional ear to womanhood, pregnant with the new eyes to come.
.......................................................
[ Interview to Tassos Karantis for www.e-orfeas.gr , 2009]
…. My relationship with music was and is like that between a tortoise and its shell. So, I guess, this was my share in life. Which mortal actually knows why this or why that? Which one of us makes a calculated decision to fall in love with a specific person and then goes on into falling in love with them? It all hits from an unexpected angle and there we are, caught up inside it. The master stage director –who knows who that is?– holds the scale, picks a rôle for each and then every one of us just goes about following his commands so that the unique ‘stage show’ going on for ages. In reciprocation, he allows us, too, the right to ‘inhale the scent’.
….. No certificate can validate knowledge, especially ‘musicality’ (imagine someone saying: “I am in love, so here, I have a certificate”)… No teacher, no matter how gifted, can teach you ‘flame’ and ‘duende’, if this stuff doesn’t dwell inside you already.
….. All true artists are my family. Everyone is dear if only because they are musicians. I’ve ‘inhaled scent’ from all of them.
…. Now that I feel that I’ve concluded the chapter ‘Arvanitic songs’ (inestimably valued was the contribution of composer Demetrios Lekkas, dear friend to me and partner in all work round Arvanitic songs) I can talk about the reasons that led me to this series of releases and about the interest generated, at least in me, by the ethnomusicological research in Arvanitic songs.
a) The process of recording Arvanitic songs sung by authentic singers presented us with the original and –violently or so-meant-to-be– outcast members of the body of Greek culture. Studying these original sound documents we were able to give answers concerning the intricate and most delicate modal structures of folk songs, contrasting to Western European ones.
b) These crude songs have helped us and will help future musicians towards comparative research with the rest of them in every field; thus the tradition of the Greek culture will come through a conscious procedure of re-evaluation and incorporation which will be adjusted to the contemporary circumstances, as any loss is lugubrious (let me refer you to the severed limbs of the Parthenon sculptures, whose loss has been brought to focus through the creation of the Acropolis Museum). Conscious knowledge of these relics –as assisted, I trust, by these specific releases– will help classify traditional stimuli and procure the methodology of what deems to be preserved and what does not.
c) This knowledge will give us the opportunity to join our voice with the voice of the aged singer from
************************************************
