Savina Yannatou & Primavera en Salonico

Imagine the Mediterranean before late capitalism, before mass tourism. Imagine a bird flying low over its shores, from the streets of Gibraltar to the Bosphorus, imagine all the smells, colours, shadows, gesticulations, the richness of languages, accents, tunes and rhythms…The Athens-born vocalist Savina Yannatou invites us on her wings on such an idyllic voyage.
Like a tightrope walker she elegantly dances on the rope connecting the modal music of the Orient with equivalent music from the West, Medieval song, and Mediterranean polyphonies.
Yannatou performs pieces from her three latest projects. For Songs of the Mediterranean she selected traditional songs that in their particularity and specificity also illustrate  – once presented one after another – the centuries old cultural unity of the Mediterranean. An Albanian song sounds as if it originated on the Black Sea, a Spanish lullaby is reminiscent of those of Asia Minor. Songs of the Mediterranean is "an endless game of semblance and difference, the strange and familiar". In Sephardic Folk Songs she combines Anatolia and the Balkans with the Iberian and Jewish traditions. And for Virgin Maries of the World she chose popular songs about divine pathos. Though sacred in intention, their marriage with the ancient and pre-Christian traditions and rituals make these lamentations gush with life.
Enthusiastically received wherever she has performed, critics praised her outstanding technique (with its "crystal clear voice", "virtuosity", "perfect voice control"), as well as her exquisite interpretative qualities ("deeply moving", "magic", "charismatic", "subtle").
Savinna Yannatou is accompanied by a group founded in 1993, Primavera en Salonico. The members’ repertory ranges from European classical, old and Byzantine music, up to traditional Greek and Near Eastern music.

Vocals: Savina Yannatou; quanun, orchestration: Kostas Vomvolos; oud, guitar: Yannis Alexandris; double bass: Michalis Siganidis; violin: Kyriakos Gouventas; percussion: Leftheris Angouridakis; nay, recorders: Haris Lambrakis.

Organised and financed by Cankarjev dom
In cooperation with City of Women
Supported by The Embassy of Greece (Ljubljana) & The Greek Tourist Organisation