Chris King, Talk on Epirotic Music, Vitsa, Zagori, 13 August 2013

  

Press Release -

August 13th, Vitsa,

Christopher King, a Grammy-winning producer, sound-engineer, and musician from the United States, will be visiting Corfu and Vitsa for the first two weeks of August.  Mr. King will be giving a talk on the 13th of August after the Annual General Meeting of the Vitsa Cultural Committee on his fascination with Epirotic music, especially the music contained on old 78 RPM discs recorded and issued in Greece.  Mr. King has produced two collections recently of Epirotic music.  One is a four-CD set containing 92 different performances, most of which were recorded before World War Two.  It is called Beyond Rembetika: The Music and Dance Of The Region of Epirus, 1919-1958.  The other set is a single CD containing 18 performances entitled Five Days Married and Other Laments: Song and Dance From Northern Greece, 1928-1958.  Both CD sets were composed of old 78 RPM discs from Mr. King's personal collection and both CDs will be available for sale after his talk.

Mr. King will be discussing his discovery of Epirotic music and his obsessive search for the old records and the biographical details of the artists that recorded them.  He will explain why this music is among the most sublime, powerful, and important expressions ever to be recorded and what the music means to him.

Mr. King is also researching the Epirotic violinist, Alexis Zoumbas, who was born between 1880-1885 in Grammeno, Ioannina and moved to the United States between 1910-1914.  He is planning a CD release of Zoumbas' most stunning performances.  Anyone who is related to Mr. Zoumbas or has any biographical details or old 78s recorded by Alexis Zoumbas is encouraged to attend so that they might help Mr. King in his research and writing. 

This visit and talk is facilitated by Thanasis Tsakalidis. 

For more information on Mr. King, you may visit: www.longgonesound.com

See also an earlier posting

and "Damn You, Foreign Lands" posting