Samanidis & Skjønhaug Songs of the North and South

Name: Samanidis & Skjønhaug Songs of the North and South
Start: 2019-10-29T00:00:00
End: 2019-10-29T00:00:00
Location: Alchemia

Tue 29^th

Oct

20:00

Samanidis & Skjønhaug are a duo of Majorca-based musicians from two extremes of Europe: Greek Irina Samanidis (singing, piano) and Norwegian Christian Hoel Skjønhaug (double bass).

Irina Samanidis is a graduate of the Geneva Conservatory, where she graduated from classical singing and piano and musicology (she also conducts choir conducting), while Christian Skjønhaug , born in Eidsvoll, is a double bass player and pianist (as well as a painter, graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo), who has participated in projects combining jazz, pop and electronics (including Lucy Swann).

Since its inception in 2017, the band has developed a distinctive style, combining vocal and piano music rooted in classical tradition with sounds and improvisation techniques set around contemporary jazz and electronics. During concerts in Spain, Switzerland and Greece, the duo experimented with the songs of such composers as Samuel Barber, Benjamin Britten, Jacques Brel, Kurt Weill and Mikis Theodorakis, focusing in their arrangements on showing listeners their poetic beauty and universality.

In the syncretic repertoire of the band, the organizing principle is the private fascinations of musicians, who emphasize in interviews that they do not choose songs, but songs choose them. Breaking existing conventions and genre categories and exploring the common features of musical masterpieces from different eras, genres and regions of the world, the band members transform their cultural and musical differences into an interesting and fruitful artistic formula, allowing them to transfer listeners into mystery-saturated soundscapes. They also enjoy their performances with poetry recitals that enhance the mystical and metaphysical pronunciation of music (including James Joyce, Jorgos Seferis, Odiseas Elitis, Paul Verlaine, the Norwegian mystic Olav H. Hauge).

In the summer of 2017, Samanidis & Skjønhaug recorded their debut album "Songs of an Open Sea - a tribute to Mikis Theodorakis". In May 2018 their second album "Une Petite Cantate" was released, presenting songs of French composers (including Jacques Brel, Barbara, Serge Gainsbourg). Recently, the band recorded material for the album "The Sky Above the Roof", with songs by three composers: Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber and Kurt Weill.

Songs of the South and the North. The performance in Alchemia will be the band's first performance in Poland.

TICKETS: PLN 20 presale, PLN 25 on the day of the concert

This event happens in Alchemia