EXILE (PAFOS 2017)

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The history of humanity is a long, painful history of exile. For the Christians, there is reference in the Bible of Adam and Eve being exiled from Paradise; for the Muslims, this expulsion is the exile away from Mekka. For dissidents, exile has always been a sad reality and a means of punishment or even physical annihilation. Millions of people have been led (by force or forcedly “voluntarily”) to exile, for political, religious and national reasons, or even in search of a better future, as in the case of migrants. Exile however is not only physical; it is also an emotional and psychological condition. Nostalgia seems to have been memorised in our DNA, and we are forever seeking a paradise lost, a utopic land, even if our present reality is not by definition difficult. Therefore, exile is a current concern, be it in its physical or its spiritual dimension. Kyriakos Kalaitzides, composer and artistic director of the ensemble En Chordais is one of the most important researchers of the Mediterranean music tradition. He also comes from a family of refuges from the Pontus and Cappadocia, and he has dealt with the issue of exile in depth, in an enchanting fusion of eastern and western music, of sensitivity and virtuosity.

Music Ensemble En Chordais: Kyriakos Petras (violin), Kyriakos Kalaitzides (oud, vocals), Drosos Koutsokostas (vocals, lute), Alkis Zopoglou (qanun), Petros Papageorgiou (percussion, bendir), Kiya Tabassia (from Iran) (setar), Giorgos Kokkinakis (piano), Leonidas Palaskas (sound engineering). With the participation of the Commandaria Orchestra conducted by Francis Gay.

Sponsor: Cooperative Savings Bank