For
the third consecutive year, on the first days of January, a unique
festival will take place in Lefkosia. This year’s two day affair is
getting richer with the addition of dance performances and video
collaborations of visual artists and looping musicians.
WhereHaus 612
in Palouriotissa, is the venue that is hosting this year’s Loop Festival on the 3rd and 4th of January 2014.
This year the festival is a co-production of Louvana Records with the
Cyprus Music Information Center, under the umbrella of the European
programme, Minstrel Project.
Info:
Λευκωσία Loop Festival | January 3&4 2014
LefkosiaLoopFestival.com | Info: 7000 7610
WhereHaus 612, Michali Kousoulides 5, 1041 Pallouriotissa
Tickets: €15 Both Days/€10 Single Day | Presale (Starting December 12th)
Lefkosia:
Crepaland 22261000 |
Gatapou 22667741 |
Πρόζακ. Καφενείο - 22104244
Limassol:
Kafenio Xouzouri 99451996
Larnaka:
Tria Poulakia Kathontan 24255880
Paphos:
Vintage Art House 26101394
Paralimni: Taverna "San Stou.. Psirri"23828777
Sponsors:
Ministry of Education and Culture , MINSTREL Project
Supporters:
Youth Board Of Cyprus, Zedem Media, eleven63,UCY Cultural Centre
Communication Sponsors:
UCY Voice, cyprusnews.eu
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We proudly announce the artists that are playing at this year's festival:
MC Xander (UK)
London's MC Xander is a pioneer of
human beatbox, making uplifting dub infused post-hip-hop music using
only his voice and a loop pedal. Xander’s music however transcends the
bounds of the beatbox artform, out of techniques and tricks into a sound
with emotional and musical depth. With lyrics that explore themes such
as spirituality, society and existentialism in the 21st century, like
something of a beatbox street-preacher, Xander takes us from big vocal
vibrations to poetic reflections on life. With viral hits attracting
almost four million views, and his new album Songs of Agnosis
out in the new year, it looks like 2014 will see Xander winning even more people over.
NT Wave (Croatia)
Croatian guitar player and
producer Valent Samardžija a.k.a. for his project NT Wave uses his
instrument in unconventional ways to produce sound. With unusually
connected pedals and devices set in his shoes, the performer makes music
that overflows from open wide stereo ambientals to the narrow defined
dance grooves with mantric elements. The sound results are not
predictable, so with a help of good audience, as NT says, the concert
sometimes turns into techno party.
Biruta Ozoliņa & DJ Monsta (Latvia)
The collaboration between Biruta Ozoliņa (voice, kokle) and DJ Monsta (Uldis Cīrulis) (scratch, sampler, etc.) began in 2010. Their
atmospheric music is rooted in the Latvian folklore, and their
experience allows the folk-songs to be interpreted in a new way and to
gain new colours. 2013 saw the release of their debut album “I Sowed the
Sun” (Sauli sēju). It includes meditative and peaceful melodies form
Kurzeme and Latgale regions. “Folk songs are like a free and beautiful
bird which some people wish to put in a cage,” Biruta explains. “We are
not trying to trim its wings. Instead, we look for a language which we
all have in common and understand.” They are joined by Toms Poišs
(double-bass), and Mikus Čavarts (drums), live and on the record.
“On lacrimae” (GR)
Kostas Makrygiannakis – electric guitar, loops
Theofilos Soteriades - alto & baritone sax
The two musicians started working on this music in 2011. The project on lacrimae
is based on the famous melody by John Dowland, that was written in
1596, entitled “lacrimae pavane”, as well as the piece “a circle of
tears” by the Canadian composer and guitarist Ray Sealey, composed in
1979. The first piece was so successful that its composer used it in
many different variations, in order to please the listeners and the
needs of the musicians playing it: so we find in the forms of
instrumental ensemble, solo instrument, and love song. On the second
piece, Sealy takes the listener to a journey through seven short songs
about the tears of joy, anger, love, war, creation, death and life. On
lacrimae “grovels” between introversion and noise and flirts
suggestively with kitsch, pop and improvisation. It will be released as a
record in December 2013 on Dissonance records.
Awakened (GR)
Awakened is Dimitris Chatzizisis, a
third year music student at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He
has been active in the city’s music scene in the last couple of years
and recently he has started the project Awakened. At the festival he
will be presenting original compositions for violin, guitar and voice
using a loop station and various effects. His music is a melting pot of
different musical styles and a simultaneous approach of the acoustic
sound in an electronic context.
Vasiliki Anastasiou (CY)
Born in Cyprus, Vasiliki
Anastasiou studied contemporary singing and worked in London for more
than seven years. She visited many countries including Italy, France,
Turkey, Greece, Brasil, Hong Kong, Qatar, gathering short singing
stories... her struggle, to finally glue together the different styles
she loves, created The Amalgamation Project, a platform that mixes short
singing stories in different languages with traditional and jazz
sounds. Expect a vocal version of the project especially tailored for
this Loop Festival.
Maria-Christina and the 7 pedals (UK)
Maria-Christina
is an artist based in London. She won first prize in the National Harp
Competition in Wales, and has recorded in the legendary BBC Maida Vale
Sessions.The music of Maria-Christina & the 7 Pedals generally moves
away from structure and form and the conventional way of playing the
harp, pushing it to the fields of bass and guitar technique. The harp
plugs in, connects to a looper, a wah-wah and a few other pedals, and
plays Maria-Christina’s compositions. Everything is achieved using bows
and inventive techniques, which strive to alter the romantic image the
harp carries and give it a more modern feel. Presenting the modern
potential of this other-wise classical instrument is also the subject of
her undergoing thesis at London’s Trinity Laban University.
Kalakatsounas (CY)
Kalakatsounas has been
involved with all kinds of different bands playing guitar, from an early
age. He was always into alternate tunings and improvisation and during
his time in the army and later on as a student at The Athens School of
Fine Arts (where he still studies) his experimentations began to evolve
into songs. His influences range from traditional to electronic music,
and everything in between including small sounds , cracks e.t.c. The
lyrics are mainly in Cypriot and some in English. The pieces are built
by looping guitars, using various effects and using the guitar as
percussion.
Jannis Plsamatik (CY) [DJ set]
Jannis
used to be simply a listener. With the aid of the internet and his
travels he discovered music that he strongly felt like sharing with
other people. He started DJing in various bars in Lefkosia, until he got
his break to play at the town’s one and only club, Klubd. Today, he is a
resident deejay of the club, as well as the artistic director. He tries
not to limit himself in his sets. Deep organic house and fussy house
are some of the things you could expect to hear from him, or not.
Microseq (CY)
[DJ set]
andelis
Diamantides has been active at the intersection of electronic “art”
music (academic/non-academic), “new” music and “pop” electronic music;
reinvented media of electronic music production and redefined aesthetics
as to approach a broader audience to communicate an artistic message
talking the language of “pop” culture while using cutting-edge
techniques for music composition and performance. This tendency is a
manifestation of a post-digital (music) culture. His debut album "Green"
was released by Bigo & Twigetti label in September 2011 and
re-released, some months later, by Linn Records. The success of this
album is now following a series of interesting collaborations with the
visual artist Emmanuel Flores Elias, animator Arturo Castro and
choreographer Lia Haraki.
Tune in(CY)
A solo performance by Lia Haraki with music and sound design by Pandelis Diamantides
The solo ‘Tune In’ is a study on how motion can bring emotion and how
by witnessing this process one can reach a new state of being. The tool
used in this 30’ movement journey is repetition that aims at
stimulating a kinesthetic response. The solo was presented in 12
European festivals and was one of the works which represented Cyprus at
the Venice Biennale for visual Arts 2013.
Foot Music (CY, UK)
Foot Music
if the collaboration between dancer Zoe Georgallis and clarinettist
William Scott. They started working together in 2009 as members of the
London Soundpaintng Orchestra. Through the Soundpainting Orchestra, they
began exploring the collaboration between improvised sound and
movement. After their graduation from Trinity Laban, Zoe and William
began working as a duet in order to further explore the principles of
collaboration. These experiments led to the foundation of the team “On
The Roof” with other musicians and dancers. With “On the Roof” they
created new work which was presented in London and in Lapsody Festival
in Finland.
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Louvana Records announces new collaboration with CYMIC.
Louvana Records
and the Cyprus Music Information Centre (CYMIC)
announce the beginning of their collaboration, as part of the three-year program MINSTREL.
MINSTREL, is a program in which CYMIC
is taking part along with 11 other organizations from 11 other
countries, and is set on implementing a number of proceedings with the
ultimate goal of the transnational promotion of European music. Keeping
in mind the amount of support the European musical community needs, MINSTREL
plans to generate further collaborations between important promoters
and organisations active on a European level in the field of music.
The first sample of collaborative work between Louvana Records
and Cymic
will be the Lefkosia Loop Festival 2014
on the 3rd
and 4th of January, which is now included in MINSTREL’s actions. Music ensembles from four other countries that take part in this program (Greece, Belgium, Croatia, Latvia) will appear along the Cypriot
participants in this third version of the festival, as well as artists and bands from the United Kingdom.
To promote the Lefkosia Loop Festival 2014, and other MINSTREL, Cymic
and Louvana Records
activities, the two organizations took part in the world music festival WOMEX 2013, which took place from the 22nd till the 27th of October in Cardiff, Wales and shared a common booth with the Institute for Research on Music and Acoustics (IEMA) and the International Association of Music Information (IAMIC).
Links:
Louvana Records
– www.louvana.com.cy
CYMIC - www.cymic.org.cy
MINSTREL - www.minstrel.eu
IEMA
– www.iema.gr
IAMIC
– www.iamic.net
c) The video as well as its accompanying music must be presented to the public for the first time.
- The best videos will be chosen. The entire process will be under
the inspection of Louvana Records’ artistic director and production
manager.
- The chosen videos will be presented by Louvana Records as a
parallel event in a specially designed space during Lefkosia Loop
Festival on the 3rd and 4th of January 2014.
The dates for the upcoming Lefkosia Loop Festival are 3rd and 4th of January 2014. More details will follow soon.
