Influential albums from the history of folk and roots music by Marius Roeting.
In this Discover, we explore the borders of current southern Europe and end up in Greece. Nevertheless, we remain close to home. The album Live by the Greek group Kompania was recorded with Dutch involvement by Dutch sound engineer Paul van Zeeland and recorded in the Netherlands. On May 6, 2012, the recordings took place of Kompania’s concert in the Lutheran Church in Nijmegen. That is the home base of Margot Schenk, a Greek music enthusiast and part of the Palio Parea formation. Schenk was utterly blown away by Kompania’s Greek music and organised a tour in the Netherlands in 2012. This resulted in the debut of the group, which at the time consisted of Katerína Tsirídou, Sotiris Papatragiannis, Dimítris Kranídas, Níkos Protópapas, and Giánnis Kalafatélis. The album was an instant hit and was seen as a representation of the new generation of Rebetika and Smyrneika musicians. A studio album was recorded the following year, also in the Netherlands, but then the major shuffling began. Musicians from the first hour left the formation and were replaced. As a result, it took until 2017 for the third album to be released. However, the exodus was not over yet, and there were regular rumblings in the lineup. The most recent album saw the light of day in 2021. The quality is still represented, but the spontaneity and extensive enthusiasm seem to have been curbed.
Kompania – Live – Chara 2012-1
1a. Garsona (Panagiotis Toundas)
1b. Afotou Egennithika (Dimitris Karidakis, Giorgos Therebeis)
1c. Gia Mia Kori Xelogiastra (Vasilis Tsitsanis)
2a. Barbagiannakakis (Panagiotis Toundas)
2b. Se Kenourgia varka Bika (trad)
2c. Teketzis (Siros Peristeris)
3a. Hatzi Baxes (bexe tsifliki) (Vasilis Tsitsanis)
3b. Misirlou (Nikos Roumbanis)
3c. As min Ximerone Pote (Apostolos Chatzichristos, Kostas Manesis)
4a. Romantza (Kostas Roukounas)
4b. Acharisti (Vasilis Tsitsanis)
4c. O Thermastis (Giorgos Batis)
5a. Ala (Michalis Sougioul, Christos Giannakopoulos, Aleksos Sakellarios)
5b. Of Aman (pino ke metho) (Spiros Peristeris)
