:: General info
Based on traditional material - mainly from the Mediterranean Area - Savina Yannatou and the group Primavera en Salonico offer an open sound without borders or labels, from simple songs extending to contemporary music forms.
Insisting on acoustic instruments, half of which have their origin in the East, they attempt at exploiting their specific sound, oftentimes also exploring them to the limits of their possibilities. Beyond her exquisite interpretive capacity Savina Yannatou gives special emphasis to the expression of the "music" of each different language, without letting that stop her from oftentimes using her voice as one more instrument.

With a background that combines classical studies and "authentic" traditional music with improvised music and jazz, Savina Yannatou and the musicians of Primavera en Salonico find themselves like rope-dancers on the chord which connects the modal music of the East with the equivalent music of Western Europe, music of the Middle Ages and the popular polyphonies of the Mediterranean. Beginning from the melismatic riches of the Eastern Maqam and the charming irregular rhythms they explore the territory of collective free improvisation, meeting there modern jazz.

Savina Yannatou and Primavera en Salonico have been giving concerts all over the world since 1996. This includes the whole of Europe, the United States, Israel and Taiwan, and venues like the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Barbican in London, the 92nd Street Y in New York, The Holon Theatre in Tel Aviv, the Melbourne Concert Hall and various WOMAD festivals, as well as numerous other world music festivals, like Stern Grove in San Francisco, Taipeh World Music Festival, Fiesta des Suds in Marseille and many others. Highlights of 2003 include the Moers new Jazz Festival in Germany, Music Meeting in Holland and a sold-out Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, in 2004 Etnosur Festival in Spain and Musicas do Mundo in Portugal, while 2005 started with a concert at the 20st edition of the International Jazz festival Muenster in Germany.

Together with Primavera en Salonico Savina Yannatou recorded "Primavera en Salonico", Sephardic Folk Songs from Salonica (Lyra), Mediterranea (Sounds True, USA/ Lyra), The Virgin Maries (Lyra), Terra Nostra, a live CD licensed by ECM Records in 2003 and a new production by ECM, result of creative collaboration with producer and label founder Manfred Eicher: Sumiglia, which was released in March 2005.


BIOGRAPHIES


 
:: Savina Yannatou
:: Primavera en Salonico →  Kostas Vomvolos
  →  Yannis Alexandris
  →  Michalis Siganidis
  →  Kyriakos Gouventas
  →  Kostas Theodorou
  →  Haris Lambrakis
 
  :: Savina Yannatou
Born in Athens, Greece, Savina Yannatou studied song with G.Georilopoulou at the National Conservatory and later with Spiros Sakkas at the Workshop of Vocal Art in Athens. She attended postgraduate studies (performance and communication skills) at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, with a scholarship awarded by the Mousigetis Foundation.

Her professional career as a singer started while still a student, when she sang for the very successful and until today highly respected daily program of the Greek National Radio 3 «Lillipoupoli» under the direction of the famous composer Manos Hadjidakis.

After that she interpreted «entechno» («artful») Greek songs, collaborating with well-known Greek composers and also covered contemporary opera and music. Later she focused on medieval, renaissance and barock music. In the early nineties she started experimenting with different vocal technics in free improvisation. Parallel to that she started a collaboration with a number of Thessaloniki-based musicians, who at that occasion founded the group «Primavera en Salonico», with which she recorded - and later performed - "Primavera en Salonico"-Sephardic Folk Songs from Salonica-, "Songs from the Mediterranean" , the "Virgin Maries of the World" and "Terra Nostra" (all released by LYRA/Musurgia Graeca, the second also in the USA by Sounds True under the name "Mediterranea" and the last one also by ECM).

Latest releases are "Sumiglia" by ECM, "Tutti Baci" with Elena Ledda, and "Musique des Chambres" by Lyra also.

Savina Yannatou has also composed her own music and songs (a.o. "Rosa das Rosas" and "Dreams of the mermaid" both released by Musurgia Graeca), as well as music for theater, for Medea, performed in 1997 by the National Greek Theatre, for Bacchai (2005) and Dibuk (2006), performed by the National Greek Theatre, and for the play "The Woman of Zante" of Dionyssios Solomos, she has also composed music for video art and dance theater. All together she has brought out and/or participated in over 20 LPs and CDs.

Her professional career as a singer since 1979 and as a composer-singer-vocalist since 1986 has been covering a variety of musical kinds in performances, festivals, theater and TV production, recordings etc..


 
  :: Primavera en Salonico
The group was formed in 1993, when this group of musicians, under the direction of Kostas Vomvolos, collaborated for the production of the Sephardic Folk Songs with Savina Yannatou. But before that its members have been collaborating in various groups, recordings and music projects since the early eighties.
The musical activity of the group members covers a broad range of styles: from European classical and old music to Byzantine music, traditional Greek music and music from the Near East to jazz, all of which with a strong emphasis on modern musical tendencies and improvisation. The group members have published some 15 CDs as composers, soloists or members of other groups, while the overall number of appearances on CDs surpasses 150 titles.


 
  :: Kostas Vomvolos :. Quanun, orchestration
Kostas Vomvolos was born in 1959. He lives in Thessaloniki since 20 years. He studied accordion and music theory at the national conservatory, as well as medicine at the state university of Thessaloniki. He has composed music for over 50 theatrical productions, mostly for the State Theater of Northern Greece, the «Peiramatiki Skini tis Technis» and the Actors Touring Company of London. He is a member of the legendary music group «Winter Swimmers» (Heimerini Kolimvites) and the jazz group «Wutu Wupatou». He orchestrated the music of 10 CDs with traditional and modern Greek music. Except for his participation in CDs of the «Winter Swimmers» , «Wutu Wupatou» and «Primavera en Salonico», he also published three CDs with some of his theater compositions.
Kostas Vomvolos orchestrated the "Sephardic Folk Songs from Salonica" and also the "Songs from the Mediterranean Sea", as well as half of the "Virgin Maries of the World".


 
  :: Yannis Alexandris :. Oud, guitar
Yannis Alexandris was born in Thessaloniki and studied there at the Efklidis School. From 1966 - 1970 he worked for the State Theater of Northern Greece as a member of the choire and he studied music, dance, rhythm, phonetics, etc. He also learned to play the guitar and from 1968 he played new Greek music in bars. From 1973 he lived in Sweden for ten years, where he started to study and play traditional Greek music. Since 1979 he builds musical instruments like bouzouki, baglama, lute, tambouras, politiki lyra, etc. He is a member of the Tombourlika ensemble, which has an enormous repertoire of Rembetika songs and often collaborates with the well-known Rembetika singer Maryo. With her he also participated in a production of songs of the Cafe Aman and recently in her CD "Laledakia", as well as in previous productions.


 
  :: Michalis Siganidis :. Double bass
Michalis Siganidis was born in Thessaloniki in 1958. He started to play guitar as a child and then studied double bass and mandolin at the State Conservatory. He writes poetry and songs. In 1979 he started to collaborate with Sakis Papadimitriou, Floros Floridis, Theodoris Rellos and other musicians of jazz and improvisational music. He is a member of the famous group "Winter Swimmers". He composed music for short films and theatrical performances and he orchestrated the music for two records: " Ichnilates tou Ioura" (songs from the Hebrides) and "O Ilios kai to Fengari" (The sun and the moon). Except for his participation in the records/CDs of the Winter Swimmers and the CD of Wutu Wupatou, he published: "Mikros Aderfos" (Little Brother), "To Proi kai to Vradi" (In the Morning and the Evening) and "To Traino Fantasma Filo" (The train Ghost Friend), "Mikres Angelies" (Small advertisements or announcements) and recently with his newly founded group "Sygrotima Lambrakis" or "Lambrakis Complex" he released the CD "Basse Classe" (Lyra).


 
  :: Kyriakos Gouventas :. Violin, viola
Kyriakos Gouventas was born in Thessaloniki in 1967. He studied violin at the State Conservatory and collaborated with the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki as well as with chamber music ensembles. He is a member of the Ensemble of Traditional Music of the municipality of Thessaloniki. He has participated in some 60 recordings/CDs of traditional Greek music and "entechno" ("artful", modern) Greek music. He often played Rembetika with the well-known singer Maryo and generally is very much in demand as a violinist by the most famous and skilled traditional singers and musicians of Greece. Recently he co-founded and became a member of the folk orchestra "Estudiantina".
 
 

  :: Kostas Theodorou :. percussion

Kostas Theodorou is a regular replacement in the group for percussionist leftheris Angouridakis, who often can't travel abroad due to his obligations to the State Orchestra. Kostas Theodorou has been an active member of the Greek music scene since 1983, when he moved to Thessaloniki from his home village in Northern Greece, where he had abandoned school at the early age of 16 in order to devote his life to music. He taught himself guitar, then electric bass and finally decided to focus on the double bass in 1989. For years he travelled throughout Europe in a mobile home, learning to play different musical instruments and styles. Since he returned to Greece, he has worked as a musician (double bass and percussion) with many composers and performers. He has arranged the music for CD productions of seven well-known Greek performers. Kostas Theodorou is the percussionist participating in the new release of Savina Yannatou with the group, called Sumiglia (ECM Records).


 
  :: Haris Lambrakis :. Nay, recorders
Haris Lambrakis was born in Athens in 1976. He completed his studies at the music school of Pallini in 1994 and finished a degree in musicology at the university of Athens in 2000. He studied and played Nay since 1992. He orchestrated half of the songs on "Virgin Maries of the World". He collaborates with several groups of traditional and more contemporary music and is very much in demand as a nay player with leading musicians of the traditional music circuit, as well as with composers of Greek contemporary music and jazz. At present he is doing a PHD on urban traditional music in Greece at the musicology department of the University of Athens.