Exil-Exile

I've had time for composer and oud player Kyriakos Kalaitzidis since I first encountered his ensemble/record label En Chordais in 1997. A highlight of their work was Thalassa Thymisou, studio recordings or kafenío jam sessions on Inoússes, a remote Aegean islet.

So I'm sorry to be less than enthusiastic about this CD, a reissue of a 2005 En Chordais release whose (very) loosely unifying theme was exile. It's not especially discernible in music that veers between terrific acoustic oud playing (‘Oud: Rast Taqsim’); wordless chant; Middle Eastern-inflected jazz replete with accordion, santoúri (Greek hammered dulcimer), cello, piano, guitar (hat-tip to Vasilis Vetsos), violin, varied percussion, horns and ney; a jaunty waltz; a syrtó dance and even a tango. Samey it isn't, but the main highlights are when Sophia Papazoglou – one of the top session vocalists in Greece, who can single-voicedly redeem almost any project (and who secures the third star here) – sings ‘Zeïmbekiko of Exile’ and ‘The Song of the Swallow’, with lyrics by Vasiliki Nevrokopli. A vast cast comprising En Chordais plus 34 guests (including a 13-member string orchestra) are credited in the rather polemical liner notes.