Alkis Zopoglou & Kontrabando

“Elephant”

Kanun player virtuoso Alkis Zopoglou & his backing band Kontrabando return with a multi-faceted West meets East instrumental album of contemporary mediterranean music with threads of jazz, rock and world music.

With:
Alkis Zopoglou: kanun, Composer
Panos Karathanasis: bass
Vangelis Karipis: percussion
Yiannis Kirimkiridis: piano
Alexandros Drakos Ktistakis: drums
Yiannis Tsigkas: guitars
Harris Xylas: saxophone
Haig Yazdjian: oud
Stergios Moschoyiannis: clarinet
Sylvia Soupila: cello
Dimitris Yannopoulos: saxophone
Stavros Sarantidis: accordion
Vassilis Tzortzinis: lute
Maria Zachariadou: violin
Sofia Kakoulidou: vibraphone
Kyriakos Petras: violin
Pantelis Stoikos: trumpet
Yannis Malamas: zourna

Daniel Barbas: arrangement

  • RELEASE DATE /November, 2007
  • LABEL /Elephant music

Release tracklist

  1. 01 Solo Stasi
  2. 02 Stasi
  3. 03 Elephant
  4. 04 Little Waltz
  5. 05 Saloufa
  6. 06 Beyoglu Tango
  7. 07 Solo Simandro
  8. 08 Simandro
  9. 09 Stoa
  10. 10 Balkan 6
  11. 11 Garsona
  12. 12 Stasi (Superphysics Dub Mix)

Reviews

“A truly great CD! A fruitful “wedding” between East and West within an ethno-jazz experimentation”.

– Difono Magazine

“18 Greeks, all virtuosos of their instruments, artfully combine ethnic, jazz and rock and cracking the hell out of Tountas’ classic song “Garsona”.

– Epsilon Magazine

“An intriguing mediterranean journey with jazz “stops”. Zourna meets Keyboards meets clarinet meets cello meets oud meets electric guitars meets kanun anyone?”.

– Kathimerini Newspaper

“What can I say? Reeds, percussion, strings, unbelievable rhythms, unforgettable melodies, colourful harmonies…
Thank you Kontrabando!
Thank you for making real MUSIC that defies categorization and genre…”.

– Ethnos Newspaper

“Zopoglou refuses to “surrender” to any of his two loves: east or west… Full of surprises from start to finish. A CD that demands your full attention”.

– Ependytis Newspaper

“Number 1!”.

– KOSMOS 93,6 FM Athens

“Makes you want to listen to every track back to
back without the slightest sign of weariness!
It’s really hard to pick a stand out track…”.

– Musiccorner.gr

“Dreamlike latent waltzes with a breeze from the East, Istanbul inspired “movie themes” (as if Henry Mancini was invited to a Sultan’s garden reception…), Hybridized tangos (as if Gotan Project put down their mixing decks and picked up lutes and ouds…), “cloudy” electric guitars, crying zournas and violins, brass euphorias…
Overall, a totally successful experiment!”.

– Avopolis.gr