Harp Monologues - Odyssée: The Island of Helios

This is a more theatrical part, where the harpist focuses on the men, who disobey Ulysses and eat the cattle of God Helios. The harp is transformed into that which must NOT be touched. Like the men of Ulysses, she is reluctant to touch it at first, yet her curiosity wins and gradually she explores the harp and finish with hugging it, having surpassed any doubts and not caring about the consequences.

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This is a documentation project of Maria Yerosimou's interdisciplinary harp performance, "Odyssee".The performance belongs to the wider project 'Harp Monologues'. Here, the performer interpreters Anestis Logothetis's graphic score of his work 'Odyssee', mixing it with original parts of Homer's 'Odyssey'. She uses the harp as a platform of narrating the story of Ulysses, sometimes using it in a conventional way, whereas some other times using it as a symbolic object carrying meanings, or transforming it into a performance scenic setting. There is a wide range of extended techniques, deconstructed or abstract melodies, mixed with movement and other dramatic elements, focusing on the sound as a narrative means. There is also an archaic aspect in the whole performance, which draws on ritualistic qualities.

ABOUT THE WORK:
Odyssee was written in 1963 and the graphic score of the piece describes the adventures of Ulysses who, after the fall of Troy, was travelling and suffering for ten years until he go back to his home country, Ithaca. The work is originally written as ballet, though this performance concentrates on the performer’s personal perception of the graphic music score.