Contemporary Greek composers in Odessa

I recently attended the "Two Days and Two Nights of New Music" festival in
Odessa, which is presently in the Ukraine, an extremely interesting and
extravagant festival - it featured two days of concerts, which started at 4
PM and ended (don't be too shocked!) around 6 AM, with only five to ten
minutes of break time in between each concert featuring this or that
ensemble. Usually the concerts lasted about an hour long each. Then there
were about two "normal" concerts (starting at the normal time of 7 PM and
lasting two or three hours) for two days before this crazy event and one
concert after the event. Well, the "normal" concert, which happened after
the two day marathon was one of the most interesting ones. It featured two
Greek composers (father and son) - Mihalis Adamis and his son Giorgos
Adamis, who presented extravagant electronic music, to which the son -
Giorgos Adamis played a lot of extravagant wind and string instruments - the
didjeridoo being the most "standard" and recognizeable of them all. So the
music was meant to utilize the traditions of many musics and musical
cultures of different remote peoples from around the world - and to
incorporate them into a contemporary bohemian musical setting featuring
electronic music. It was a really impressive show, both musically and
visually, especially since at times it featured another Grek fellow (I am
sorry that I don't have the program nearby, so I can't lok up his name)
juggling with flamed torches, as well as playing more diverse instruments,
and it helped the listeners penetrate into a wide domain of different
musical cultures of the world. Needless to say that it featured a lot of
unstandard musical temperaments, produced by these unstandard instruments. I
am sorry that I can't analyze them on the spot for you, but I assure you
that if you microtonal fans ever get to hear music of Mihalis and/or Giorgos
Adamis, you are apt to find a paradise of unstandard musical temperaments
and tunings - not to mention the assortment of innovative and imaginative
sonorous effects and the great ethnomusicological experience of facing a
wide variety of exotic musical traditions, so I highly recommend these two
composers for listening to, if you ever get a chance to hear their music or
meet them in person.

--- In tuning@y..., "Ant" <ant@d...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_21505.html#21505

It was a really impressive show, both musically and
> visually, especially since at times it featured another Greek
fellow (I am sorry that I don't have the program nearby, so I can't
look up his name) juggling with flamed torches, as well as playing
more diverse instruments,

Hello Anton!

You hadn't mentioned the "flaming torches" before! I thought there
was something we could do in New York to hold the audience's
attention!

_________ ______ _____ ____
Joseph Pehrson

> Hello Anton!
>
> You hadn't mentioned the "flaming torches" before! I thought there
> was something we could do in New York to hold the audience's
> attention!
>
> _________ ______ _____ ____
> Joseph Pehrson

Well, the "flaming torches" were obviously Bengalic lights, so they were not
the ones that would set the stage on fire. Of course, their usage was
determined by the extravagant style of the music - which was the main
substance of the show, obviously. If you have any extravagant multi-ethnic
Down-town style piece on your program, which demands some extra-musical
theatrical-visual element, sure you should think of Bengalic lights too - it
would add greater zest to the microtonal temperaments of an extravagant type
of music - which, in the case of the Greek composers' music, it certainly
was.

Anton Rovner

--- In tuning@y..., "Ant" <ant@d...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_21505.html#21700

> Well, the "flaming torches" were obviously Bengalic lights, so they
were not the ones that would set the stage on fire.

Hello Anton!

Well, I'm familiar with the "Northern Lights" but not "Bengalic"
ones...

Maybe it's the term... but I seem to be unfamilar with them...

What are they again??

________ ______ _ ______
Joseph Pehrson

> Well, the "flaming torches" were obviously Bengalic lights, so they
were not the ones that would set the stage on fire.

<<Hello Anton!

Well, I'm familiar with the "Northern Lights" but not "Bengalic"
ones...

Maybe it's the term... but I seem to be unfamilar with them...

What are they again??

________ ______ _ ______
Joseph Pehrson>>

I can only say that they are similar to the kinds of firecrackers sold in
Chinatown, not the ones that make the loud noise, but the ones that produce
the "cold" type of flames on sticks, which are less dangerous (or maybe even
not dangerous at all) in setting things up on fire. They also greatly
enhance microtonal musical thinking and experimentation in music - as was
shown in this concert.

I only wish I had the chance of peering into the scores of the pieces (if
there were any scores at all) and seeing what kinds of temperraments did he
use, since this Greek music sounded extremely interesting - unless all the
pitches were "relative" and thus improvised by the composer-performer and
the second musician - though this aleatory approach to musical notation also
enhances microtonal thinking, in this case from the performers.