ArtistInfo

Stelios Petrakis

fl, str, *1975
World and Folk
A.k.a. Στέλιος Πετράκης

I was born in 1975 in Athens and grew up in Sitia, Crete up to the age of 18. I attended the Municipal Lyra School. My teachers were Giannis Dandolos for one year (1982), Ross Daly for another (1983) and, for 10 successive years, the heroic Eleni Drettaki, to whom I owe a great deal. My relationship with local music is, I would say, a matter of lifelong experience; ever since I remember grown-ups would teach me mandinades rhyming couplets (often full of innuendo). Without quite knowing the meaning of what I was singing, I would join in adult gatherings to add my own little rhymes, making the whole party burst out laughing. I had not expressed a wish to learn a musical instrument. My father, then the town mayor, wanting to encourage his fellow-citizens to send their children to the newly-established lyra school, sent me and my older brother there first. The summer concerts of the lyra school were both fun and stressful for all the pupils. We had to make sure everything went well at the performance. There was a climate of discipline and concentration, both prerequisites for music itself… At the age of 15 I began to scratch away on the guitar, which helped me to get a feeling for the (simple) harmony of Greek music. I now took my lyra with me to gatherings, where I was almost sought after, and therefore privileged. I tried the bouzouki a bit, too – it was fun. In 1993, at 18 years of age, I moved to Athens, supposedly to study law, with a lyra degree (attained after hard examinations) in my suitcase, signed by my teachers and future collaborators Ross Daly and Zacharias Spyridakis. (Of the three of us, only Ross Daly still has no degree…) In Athens my main concern was to continue studying with Ross. I sought him out and asked him; he agreed, as always, with pleasure, and we started lessons at once. I also became interested both in other types of music and in other traditional instruments. A whole new world of music, hitherto unsuspected, was opening out in front of me. The lessons soon became rehearsals, and the rehearsals gradually became mini concerts. I too was becoming a member of the "Labyrinth" group, which Ross had founded years earlier and which had offered (and continues to offer) so much to Greek and other music. Labyrinth is an open group consisting of a small core of people. All these years, it has hosted great musicians and teachers from mainly Eastern musical traditions, presenting live dialogues of different types of music and traditions in the form of performances and recordings, utilising the creativity of all its members. As part of this group, I had the great good fortune to play with musicians such as Ross Daly of course, the Trio Chemirani, Vassilis Stavrakakis, Sokratis Sinopoulos, Necati Çelik, Mehmet Erenler, Huun Huur Tu, Ballake Sissoko, Zohar Fresco, Periklis Papapetropoulos, Haris Lambrakis, Hosein Arman and many others. Ross had spoken to me of Giorgis Xylouris as a benchmark of the Cretan lute (laouto). He lived in Australia, visiting Greece for only a few months in the summer. On one of his trips I was able to meet him in Athens, at his brother Lambis’s house. When we took out our instruments and played, I felt that the music emerged easily and naturally, as though we had already been playing together for 40 years… When we stopped for a break, we found three hours had already passed. That day certainly showed that we had not met by chance. A year and a half later, Giorgis settled in Crete with his family and suggested we work together. We have been playing together at concerts and traditional fiestas ever since, giving me an in-depth knowledge of Cretan music and dance. (And, of course, we have a great time whenever we play together – and even when we don’t play…) I am also obliged to Labyrinth for my meeting the great musician Bijan Chemirani, who invited me to my first official recording in 2000 for his CD "Eos", released in France by a Marseille company. Bijan is not only a top musician (and firm friend); he also has the gift of approaching music in a free and extremely creative spirit, and he was the first to encourage me to collaborate with him, composing and recording our own pieces. So, almost without my realising it, we started recording my first CD ("Dikoi mou Filoi" [my Friends] ) in 2002, completing it in three months. The guest musicians who willingly contributed to the CD (Giorgis Xylouris, Vassilis Stavrakakis, Ross Daly, Haris Lambrakis, Hammidreza Khabazzi) endowed the overall sound with such spirit that the CD was a great success by the standards of Cretan discography at the time, and is still many people’s favourite today. Following the success of Bijan’s "Eos" on the French market, the door of L’empreinte Digitale of Marseille was open for my own CD "Akri tou Dounia" (Edge of the World). It was soon released in France, to critical acclaim from the French press. That same year, Achilleas Persidis (the guitarist and lutist) suggested that I join his group "Notios Ihos", in which my teacher Ross Daly had played until then. I already knew Achilleas’s work from his CDs, so the rehearsals were few, fun and creative. Our live concerts were a success, and I count my time at Notios Ihos among the most valuable musical experiences of my artistic career. I also took part in the recordings of Achilleas’s third CD with Notios Ihos, which I hope will soon be released, although I am afraid there may be some delay. After such a good discographic debut with Bijan Chemirani, barely six months after the release of my first CD we started recording the next, to be signed this time by both of us. The guest musicians were mostly the same, with the addition of French flautist Henri Tournier and the Thessaloniki singer Maria Simoglou, a fresh, warm and strong voice who gave the recording a new air. "Kismet" was released just a year after the first album, winning equally good reviews and awards in Greece and France. In summer of the same year (2003) I became a member of two groups, "Palyrria" and that of Kristi Stassinopoulou. Electronic sounds mingled with natural instruments, sturdy floors, bright lights, smoke, standing audiences… Many concerts, many journeys. I had a wonderful time with both groups, warm people with respect and a sense of humour. The following winter (2004), the composer Stamatis Spanoudakis was looking for a lyra player (lyraris) to play in his concerts. Chico (Panagiotis Katsikiotis), his oldest collaborator, with whom I had already played in Notios Ihos and Palyrria, told him about me and sent him my CDs as a sample of my work and sound. Spanoudakis invited me to rehearsals for his forthcoming appearances. It was hard work, with uncomfortable positions for the lyra and a Cold War atmosphere between the Greek classical musicians and maestros and this Cretan with his strange, untuned instrument entrusted with most of the solos… Major official venues (the Albert Hall in London, the Enescu Theater in Bucharest, the Herodeion in Athens, the Olympic Athletic Centre of Athens, Beijing…), a beautiful sound and, above all, Stamatis’s elegant compositions, some of which are already part of Greek musical history. Our artistic relationship continues to this day, including, apart from major appearances, Stamatis’s unpredictable, unfailing and radical humour, and my contribution to the recording of two CDs ("Alexandros ΙΙ" and "Live in China"). In summer 2005, the leading Greek composer Christos Leondis invited me to participate in his concert entitled "Chelidon Hedomene" at the Herodeion in August. Leondis, a mild and modest man, is one of the few composers to appreciate me as a composer myself and encourage me to write music. He even mentions me in his interviews, for which I am particularly grateful. The concert was held, the packed Herodeion burst into applause, and Leondis saluted the audience, delighted and deeply touched. It was time for me to start recording my next album. In the summer of 2006 I shut myself away at my family home in Petras, Sitia, where I had set up my own studio and recorded my two previous CDs. I began to create "databases" of the pieces I had. My first guest musicians were the exceptional cellist Giorgos Kaloudis and the bagpipe-player Giorgos Makris, a long-term partner at live concerts whom I had met in Kristi Stassinopoulou’s group. This was the first time I had used the cello and Greek bagpipes (gaida), and they worked together very well, changing the sound I had created in the earlier albums. I was filled with enthusiasm. That same summer I managed to record Giorgi Petrov and Kostas Meretakis, who were in Crete for seminars at the Labyrinth Musical Workshop. I arranged a meeting with Maria Simoglou in Athens, at the house of my friend Giorgos Symeonidis, who has incredible recording equipment. Then Bijan Chemirani passed through Petras, adding his "magic fingers", as well as the amazing Spaniard Efren Lopez, whom I had admired and wanted to work with for some time. I also recorded guitarist Kevin Seddiki at Petras; he says he has never heard his guitar recorded so faithfully since. Hammireza-KhabaziHaris Lambrakis and Hammidreza Khabazzi were recorded in Athens, Hammid in a room at the Titania Hotel. He said the same thing to his collaborators on returning to Iran: "The best sound I’ve ever heard on my tar was recorded by a Greek composer in an Athens hotel room". The CD had become a major production. With the addition of the Cretan singers Giorgis Xylouris and Vassilis Stavrakakis, Chico on the daouli and bassist Michalis Kalkanis, the recording sessions came to an end. In the meantime I had completed my official studio in Mohlos (www.mohlosstudio.com) and invited Italian sound recordist Silvio Soave there to mix the album. It was the first crash test for the brand-new Pro Tools system. It took 52 tracks at 24/96 sample rate to tire it out a bit, but luckily it survived. The CD, entitled "Orion", was finally released in Greece in 2008 (www.aerakis.net) and France in 2009 (www.budamusique.com). I still receive reviews (all good with a single exception). The CD is even up for an American award ("Just Plain Folks"). We shall see… While the "Orion" recording sessions were taking place, Keyvan Chemirani, the brother of my long-term partner Bijan Chemirani, invited me to take part in his concerts in Athens (Athens Festival), France, Sweden, Portugal, Mauritania and Morocco. New music, new experiences and meetings, many voyages and, above all, the warm embrace of the Chemirani family, whom many people, myself included, consider exemplary at everything they believe in and are. During the same period, "Palyrria" sent me an Andalusian lullaby by "Ojos de Brujo" for me to play the lyra part. Achilleas Persidis had already added the laouto and Chico the percussion. I played the lyra tune over the pre-recorded laouto. It harmonised very well. The "Ojos" were so pleased with the result that they expedited its release; it was eventually included in their double CD "Techari Live". The famous Spanish singer Manolo Garcia heard the album and immediately asked the "Ojos" for our contact numbers. In January 2008 he came to Mohlos Studio for 10-day recording sessions with Achilleas, Chico and me, and the CD "Saldremos a la Lluvia" was released in the spring (it has already gone platinum). In the summer he invited me on his Spanish tour. I went whenever possible, to a total of about 12 concerts. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The Spanish love him and his concerts are a huge fiesta. I think more will follow… In March 2009 I attended a 10-day seminar in Paris with the world-famous Indian violinist Dr L. Subramaniam. I was left speechless. How deep a knowledge of music can man attain! What emotions can such a musician make you feel with a single note! To what heights can discipline, systematic study and practice lead! Dr Subramaniam invited me to one of his own concerts in India in May, but unfortunately it did not go ahead due to lack of time. My disappointment at the cancellation of that concert was reversed by an invitation from the Paris record label Accords Croisés to create a CD of Cretan music for them, with Iranian Keyvan Chemirani and with Giorgis Xylouris as the main singer. The CD was recorded in May and will be released before Christmas under the title "Si je salue les montagnes".

Instruments

• Flute
• Strings
• Backing Vocals

Genres

• World
• Folk
• Classical

Plays With