September 24, 2002
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu

Maria Farantouri and Maryó perform urban Greek music of the 20th Century at UCSB Campbell Hall in their only U.S. appearance

Summary Facts:

• Maria Farantouri & Maryó
• Two of Greece’s greatest divas share the stage for the first time
• Their only U.S. appearance
• Maria Farantouri is the best interpreter of major Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis
• Maryó is one of the last authentic performers of Rembetika
• Friday, November 1 / 8 pm
• UCSB Campbell Hall
• General: $35/$30, UCSB students: $19/$16
• Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535

Two of Greece’s greatest singers, Maria Farantouri and Maryó, will perform on Friday, November 1 at 8 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall. Their program, “Urban Greek Music of the 20th Century,” will present the whole range of modern Greek popular song from the urban blues of Asia Minor and Piraeus to sophisticated settings of Greece’s greatest poets. This evening is further distinguished as the duo’s only U.S. appearance and as the first time the two have ever performed together. This unprecedented event is made possible by the James & Sarah Argyropoulos Endowment in Hellenic Studies at UCSB, which was created in part to bring a greater understanding of modern Hellenic culture to the community at large. The New York Times wrote, “Maryó is one of Greece’s leading traditionalist singers...She sounded torchy and resolute, yearning and fierce, tender and raw.” Former French President Francois Mitterand wrote, “For me Greece is Maria Farantouri. I have never encountered any other artist able to give me such a strong sense of the divine.”

The evening will begin with Maryó and her six-piece ensemble, featuring bouzouki, accordion and oud, performing a program entitled “From Smyrna to Piraeus.” Maryó is widely hailed as the foremost interpreter of Rembetika, which began as the music of the Greek urban dispossessed and told tales of illicit love, addiction and oppression. It’s music of both resignation and defiance, and Maryó delivers it with gutsy playfulness. Her career began at the age of 13, and she even sang alongside Markos Vamvakaris, often referred to as the “grandfather of Rembetika.” She remembers the last of the Café Aman era, too, a time of earthy songs in bars that gained their name from the frequent exclamation “aman aman” (Turkish for “alas, alas”). The relatively rough and tumble culture of Rembetika didn’t survive Greece’s difficult times during and after World War II. The music experienced a revival during the Greek colonels’ junta of 1967-1974, as students sought to revive all sorts of traditional culture banned by the dictatorship. Thus the music gained a political as well as a social edge, all of which is captured in the freedom and expressiveness of Maryó’s performances.

In 1999 Maryó released the album The Grand Dame from Greece that climbed to the Top 20 of the European World Music Charts. In the same year she was declared “Touring Artist of the Year” by the European Forum of World Music Festivals. She is a deeply affecting and sensitive artist who keeps alive a thrilling musical tradition.

The second part of the evening will feature Maria Farantouri and her three-piece ensemble performing songs from famous Greek composers of the second half of the 20th century. Farantouri is most often associated with éntekhno music (literally “artistic” music), an orchestral genre in which folk instruments and melodies are interwoven into a symphonic fabric. Perhaps the greatest composer in this genre was Mikis Theodorakis, and Farantouri is his most accopmlished interpreter. Theodorakis popularized Greece’s rich poetic tradition by setting poems by masters like Angelos Sikelianos, Yannis Ritsos and Odyssseas Elytis to music. Farantouri’s rich contralto, combined with her fine musical intelligence, makes her a superb exponent of Theodorakis’s wide range of musical styles. Santa Barbara audiences will be familiar with Theodorakis from two performances of Canto General, his setting of Pablo Neruda poems, given by the Oratorio Chorale several years ago.

Although she is best known as an interpreter of Theodorakis’s music, Farantouri has collaborated with numerous other Greek composers, most significantly Manos Hadzidakis, but also with Vangelis, Nikos Mamagakis and Stavros Xarchos. Her international repertoire includes the recording Songs of Protest, written by the Turkish composer Zulfu Livaneli and Italian composer Lucio Dalla. On 17 Songs she performed music by Caetano Veloso, Milton Nascimento, Michel Legrand, N. Piovani and Kurt Weill. In addition to her musical career, Farantouri was a member of the Greek Parliament from 1989 to 1993, representing the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).

The concert will close with the two divas sharing the stage for the first time in their careers for what will be sure to be a magical collaboration.

“Jim and Sarah Argyropoulos established an endowment in Hellenic Studies to help bring contemporary Greek art and culture to Santa Barbara as well as support our distinguished Department of Classics,” Dean Of Humanities and Fine Arts David Marshall said. “This remarkable concert is a brilliant realization of their wish to show the vitality of modern Greece.”

On the evening of the performance concertgoers may enhance their experience by attending a tasty Greek buffet served by the UCSB Faculty Club at 6 p.m. The dinner is $18 per person; reservations must be made by October 24 by calling 893-3096.

Maria Farantouri and Maryó are presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by K-LITE and Olympic Airlines. The concert is supported by funds from the James & Sarah Argyropoulos Endowment in Hellenic Studies. Tickets are $35 and $30 for the general public and $19 and $16 for UCSB students.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.