Axion Esti by George Kontogiorgos

Axion Esti is a piece for voice, stamna (clay vessel, also called an udu) and audio playback. Words and music written by Greek composer George Kontogiorgos. Audio playback composed by Christos Hatzis. Stamna and voice performance by Beverley Johnston. Audio engineer, Ivan Barbotin. Recorded at Ivan Barbotin's studio on March 29, 2015. Video production and photos/videos by Christos Hatzis and Bo Huang. Here are the program notes from George Kontogiorgos for the piece...

“Axion Esti is a short piece for voice, pottery (stamna) and audio playback. It is always a great pleasure to host my Canadian friends Beverley Johnston and Christos Hatzis to our home in Greece. During one such visit, on an early afternoon of October 2003, Bev came back from downtown Athens carrying a stamna she had just bought. Traditionally the stamna was used in Greece to carry water and keep it fresh and cool, so I was quite surprised when she told me that the stamna could also be used as a percussion instrument in a similar manner as the African idiophone called udu. The following day I started composing ‘Axion Esti’. It was completed in a couple of hours. ‘Axion Esti’ is a hymn to Virgin Mary (Theotokos), which is sung during Liturgy in all Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches. Literally, ‘Axion Esti’ means: ‘it is worthy’. The simple lyrics of my composition translate to ‘everything you desire, everything you request, everything you produce, everything you donate is worthy’. The music is an uninhibited expression of profound love.” -George Kontogiorgos, Athens, October 2003