pliri ntaxei - DURU DURU, traditional

video by Efstathios Michailides

Pliri Ntaxei – le Rébétiko aujourd’hui

The music band pliri ntaxei was formed in Thessaloniki on March 2012 after an initiative by Lefteris Tsikouridis.

The band members are:

Katerina Douka – vocals, spoons and zilia (clappers)
Manolis Porfirakis – guitar and vocals
Lefteris Tsikouridis – bouzouki and vocals
Christos Pappas – bouzouki, baglama and vocals

The band’s repertoire has been defined by three major factors.

First, the band members’ shared interested in interpreting and performing songs and instrumental tunes from the rich Greek folk music tradition and from rebetiko music recorded between 1910 and 1930 mainly in Greece but also in the USA and Turkey.

Second, the band is composed of four voices, bouzouki, guitar and baglama, which is a standard model of a folk music band. This type of bands appeared in the 1930’s and composed original music based on traditional compositional forms.

Third, the study and use of specific techniques as far as musical expression, interpretation and performing is concerned that relate mainly to the traditional style [vocal tone colours, holding the drone, specific tuning (douzeni), etc].

Pliri Ntaxei’s sound is based on the traditional style of rebetiko during the interwar period as is recorded on that era’s discography. The desire to document that idiom lead the band to record three LP’s consisted of their own new – interwar rebetiko based – songs.

In live shows the repertoire consists of songs from their discography as well as traditional old rebetiko songs.

Pliri Ntaxei have made various collaborations with artists from other domains such as video artists, designers, painters, photographers, sound engineers and producers establishing a wide range of affiliate activities.