Maeandros - Mavrothi T. Kontanis

Bio:

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Two Debut Albums Now Available:  Buy CD's



The group Maeandros was created in 2006 by musician and songwriter Mavrothis Kontanis to fill two needs: to show traditional representations of Greek and Near Eastern Music, and also more modern, broadly influenced sounds and lyrics. Combined, these elements are a true picture of his upbringing as a Greek living in the United States.

Maeandros (MEnu - nu + andros = Maeandros) includes traditional folk/classical music of Greece and the Near East, along with original music by Mavrothis Kontanis with lyrics in both Greek and English. These pieces are not simply trying to translate poetry or writing styles from one language to another, but instead meld together simple melodies and lyrics that invite the listener into the reality and closeness of what is often artificially characterized as "East" or "West". Just as Mavrothis cannot completely characterize himself as only Greek or only American, these songs show the combination and sometimes confusion of being neither one or the other.

Two Debut Albums Now Available:  Buy CD's

Check out Mavrothis' myspace personal page:   outistas

Websites:
maeandros ensemble
mavrothi t. kontanis music
oudcafe

Recent projects:
music of the stones
new adventures in folklore
aman saki trio w/ münir n. beken at yale

Member Since:

August 22, 2006

Members:

The members of Maeandros:

Mavrothis Kontanis - oud, violin and voice
Lefteris Bournias - clarinet
Megan Gould - violin
Timothy Quigley - percussion


Some guest musicians:

Phaedon Sinis - politiki lyra (kemence) and kanun
Anastassia Zachariadou - kanun
John Themelis - laouto, santouri and voice
Antonis Tsimounis - bouzouki, baglama and voice
Seido Salifoski - percussion
April Centrone - percussion
Ozan Aksoy - saz, ney, percussion and voice

Influences:

Older influences include: Traditional Greek, Turkish, and Armenian Music; Byzantine Music; Classical Ottoman Music...

More modern influences include: Ara Dinkjian; Orfeas Peridis; Nikos Papazoglou; Alkinoos Ioannidis; Jimi Hendrix; The Beatles; Radiohead; Beck...

Sounds Like:

Sounds something like Orfeas Peridis, Nikos Papazoglou, Alkinoos Ioannidis, En Chordais, Ara Dinkjian, and Nikos and Yiasemi Saragouda...but not exactly...

Record Label:

Mavrothi T. Kontanis Music