SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Kombos Collective Director and Vardari band leader Ellie Falaris Ganelin shared an update on her summer so far, including her time in Greece and that Kombos has been awarded a grant from the Elios Foundation.
“I spent most of June in Greece, starting off in my dad’s hometown of Thessaloniki, where I bought a baglama and heard live folk music and rembetika,” she said. “I then did a roadtrip through Macedonia and Epirus, visiting a number of towns for the first time (Florina, Kastoria and Ioannina). A memory that sticks with me is driving through the mountain ranges in Epirus, marveling in their grandeur, all the while being mesmerized by the distinctive moaning of the klarino on the local radio station.”
“I then returned to California to attend Balkan Camp for the second year,” Ganelin noted. “This time, I performed a set in their nightclub, and continued my study of the kaval.”
Kombos Awarded Elios Foundation Grant
“I’m so grateful to share that the Kombos Collective won a grant from the Elios Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization that supports Hellenic initiatives in the area, including the launch of [the band] Vardari two years ago,” she said. “This new award will support my latest project, which is to compose a new multilingual song about unity with an accompanying music video.”
“It’s groundbreaking work that captures the essence of what the Bay Area folk community is all about, building peace through music and dance,” Ganelin said. “My ask: the grant covers half the cost, but I need your help to raise the remaining $2,000 by August 22.”
To learn more and to donate to this project, visit: https://kombosmusic.com/vimata/.
Now Streaming: Uproot in Concert
In collaboration with rembetiko interpreter Katerina Clambaneva, Kombos Collective’s critically acclaimed program ‘Uproot’, now available for streaming, features modern arrangements of Greek music from Asia Minor, celebrating this vibrant musical heritage and capturing the refugee experience through song. This hour-long concert video features footage from live performances in Baltimore and Traverse City, Michigan.
Purchase a streaming pass online: https://kombosmusic.com/watch/.
Bay Area Gig
Vardari performs shared folk melodies on Friday, August 28, 4:45-7:45 PM, at The Cheeseboard Collective, 1512 Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley, CA. Free admission.
RSVP online: https://shorturl.at/kLkNe.
