‘Savína Yannátou’

19:30 > 20:15

"Maria Callas was once Greece's iconic vocalist, today it's Savina Yannatou, who is enchanting audiences all over the world". (Songlines)

Studying in her home country and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Greek singer Savina Yannatou fell in love with traditional song and founded the group Primavera en Salonico with musicians from Thessaloniki. Together they have recorded eight CDs for the ECM label and have performed all over the world. Savina Yannatou has also composed her own songs and has recorded 21 albums in total. She has collaborated with the likes of bass player Barry Guy, percussionist Baby Sommer and the Canadian ensemble Constantinople, and works with renowned orchestras and Greek composers. Accompanied by an exceptional group of musicians, she performs traditional songs from Thessaloniki, nicknamed the Jerusalem of the Balkans and home to numerous Greek, Jewish, Turkish, Bulgarian, Serbian, Armenian and Pontic communities. Taking old songs as a starting point, they go on a musical journey to recreate the spirit of each community, thanks to the exceptional arrangements of Kostas Vomvolos.  

"Dark-toned but ambrosial, highly disciplined yet seemingly bursting with a soul of pure flame, the rather staggering Athens-born singer Savina Yannatou is a virtuosic chameleon adept at an extensive range of vocal traditions (and languages) from the Mediterranean region - not just interpreting but leaping off from these old folk musics with a daring, exploratory technique and far-flung tonal scope that allows her to stamp it all with a brash intelligence and some might say punky attitude. There's not a thing dried-up or academic about her new takes on ancient songs. Yannatou really lets the blood out of these songs, brazenly improvising on them, as if called by some inner primal force, kneeding and kneedling them, caressing them, smearing their borders and launching out something entirely new in the process." 
(L.A. Weekly).