THE ESTOUDIANTINA OF NEA IONIA

The Greek ensemble, Εστουδιαντίνα Νεας Ιωνιας (Estoudiantina of Nea Ionia) (website) has become a household name in all walks of Greek life, and is famous for combining many different traditional instruments and covering a wide repertoire, from Byzantine hymns to Smyrnean songs. Most love songs and orchestrations you will here in this performance are either written in Smyrna (today Izmir) in the beginning of the previous century or somewhat later. 

The genre aims to bring to life essentially a collection of popular songs from a Greece that no longer exists, except in the hearts of a few unfortunately people that had to leave everything behind (link).

The Artistic Director of the orchestra, Ανδρέας Κατσιγιάννης (Andreas Katsiyannis) writes in a preamble for this concert entitled "Η Σμυρνη του ερωτα" ("Love Songs From Smyrna"):

"It took two years to put this concert together in a mystical process of agony in order to do justice to yesterday and the present. We practiced every night in order to produce the most honest result, making a record in an explosion of creativity. In the madness of today's materialism and selfishness, we found romance, meraki and love."

The present day ensemble, Estoudiantina of Nea Ionia is a 20-member orchestra based in the city of Volos, oriented on the study and approach of the musical idioms of Greece and the countries around the Mediterranean.

The  name is derived from the most famous Greek orchestra created in Smyrna, making the rounds around the world in the period between 1898 and 1921.

The success of the first Estoudiantina gave impetus to another select group of musicians in Constantinople and Smyrna to create similar music groups. And so, an innovative model of a musical movement was developed, an orchestra that created new forms in Greek music through the assimilation of elements of the East and the West.

This kind of orchestra became the first and most authentic musical bridge, harmoniously combining the diverse national, musical, cultural and creative elements of two such different worlds.

Many of the founders of Estoudiantina of Smyrna, came to Athens after the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922, setting up and coordinating  the first record companies in Greece as directors and composers.

Among them it is worth pointing out are Spyros Peristeris, Panagiotis Tountas, Evangelos Papazoglou, Dimitris Semsis etc.

However, the most important developments that grew out of what Estoudiantina had to offer, were their contributions to operetta, the rebetiko song and the Athenian serenade, growing into that style of songs into a light, popular genre with its various elements.

The musicians of the "Estoudiantine of Nea Ionia" are:

Andreas Katsigiannis: santouri

Kyriakos, Gouveintas: violin

Vangelis Machairas: bouzouki, tzoura, politiko lute (laifta), lute, mandolino, guitar

Dimitris Tsekouras: contra bass

Dimos Vougioukas: accordion

Konstantinos Papaioannou: kanonaki

Apostolos Valaroutsos: acoustic guitar, classical guitar, banjo

Andreas Papapas: percussion

Philippos Retsios: piano

Stavros Kouskouridas: clarinet

George Zifkos: trompet 

Singing "Love Songs From Smyna":
Yannis Kotsiras
Aspasia Stratigou
Theodoris Mermingas 

Estoudiantina of Neo Ionia; discography|
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