Echoes and Dreams offers an evening of Greek music past, present and future for this year’s Festival of Chichester – the fourth and final Festival of Chichester contribution from Pavlos Carvalho.
The concert will be at St Paul’s Church, Churchside, Chichester, PO19 6FT on Friday, July 17 at 7pm, with tickets available on https://wegottickets.com/event/696821#tickets
On the night Pavlos (bouzouki), his wife Sarah Carvalho-Dubost (cello) and George Tsolakis (vocals/guitar) will take you on a journey through all of Greece with classic songs by Loizos, Theodorakis, Zabetas, Xarhakos, Hadjidakis and more, an evening of beautiful Greek music that offers a bridge to the past, across the seas, and a glimpse into the future.
It features music from different eras of great Greek composers including Tsitsanis, Zabetas, Theodorakis, Xarhakos, Hadjidakis, Loizos, Kazandizis and Andriopoulos, as well as original compositions from members of the group. Expect arrangements for voice, guitar, cello, bouzouki, baglama and harmonica.
George, Sarah and Pavlos are musicians who have been on the Greek music scene for many years. Between them they perform with different groups, including Amalgama, Plastikes Karekles and The Icons of Greek Music Project among others.
But as Pavlos says, this latest combination came about by accident: “We had a gig where two of the musicians had to cancel because of illness. A couple of days before, we asked Sarah to join us and we chose the repertoire and we wrote the arrangements. We just turned up on the day. We didn’t ask her to play in a traditional Greek way. We asked her to play like she does and it was just amazing. It is just three instruments and the voices, and you could really hear the soul of the instruments. It just worked amazingly well.”
They made their debut last June and have since done four or five performances: “We would love to do a lot more. We just fell in love with doing it. It just works so easily.”
They have performed at venues including the Green Note, Vortex, Jamboree, Royal Festival Hall, King’s Place and Royal Albert Hall. However, their passion is playing in the smaller, more intimate venues where they present these songs, closer to the audience, in an ambience of sharing and intimate storytelling.
“Even though the classical cello is not an instrument traditionally associated with Greek music, when its rich, human, sustained sound combines with the sparkle of the bouzouki and the exoticness of Greek microtonal voice, something magical happens. Two worlds become one and a new common language emerges.
“After trying it once, the results were such a beautiful revelation that continuing to explore this minimal combination of instruments with voice was too irresistible to not go further. So here we are, with a very personal project that includes our arrangements of traditional Greek songs we love and some new compositions of ours, inspired by the music of the past.”
