Introduction to the CDs
Awakening the Muse
Lyre ‘n’ Rhapsody released their first album “Awakening the Muse” on May 2013.
This album was recorded in a picturesque little house under Acropolis’
backstreets from Nenad Radosevic, the producer and sound engineer of the
group band. This album was in essence, the birth or as the album title says, the
Awakening of the Muse of music. Moreover, it was the awakening of old music
archetypes and their bridgework with contemporary music.
This album includes a surviving music composition of Seikillos from the 1st C.A.D.
under the title “Oson zeis-Epitaph”, which is the 6th track of the album and
constitutes one of the extremely rare songs, where the melody and the poetry
have been salvaged for thousands of years. Furthermore, in the same album
there are two Greek traditional songs. The first one is “Oh, why don’t you sing
little bird?” (1st track) and the second one is “Every Day I Wake Up With A Sigh”
(3rd track).
“Awakening the Muse” also includes fragments of Sappho’s ancient Greek lyric
poetry (7th C.B.C.), which have been set to music by Aliki Markantonatou. These
are “Spring’s angel” (7th track) and “Aphrodite-Come to me from Crete” (9th
track). Aliki has also set to music contemporary lyrics written in modern Greek,
which draw their inspiration from ancient Greek lyric poetry (Dance of the
Muses-5th track). There is also an improvisation on Lyre by Aliki (Echoing - 10th
track), whereas the 2nd, the 4th and the 9th track are Nenad Radosevic’s music
compositions.
Vocals and singing on this album are performed by Athena Chioti, Aliki
Markantonatou and Areti Miggou. Dianna Deligianni also participated on this
album offering beautiful vocal performances.
Kirke
The second album of the group band is called “Kirke” and refers to the goddess
and witch, who according to Homer, lived thousand years ago at the mythical
island of Aiaia. She is believed to have cast under her spells Odysseus’ men and
to have transformed them into animals. However, Kirke was allured by Odysseus
and was forced to break her spells and release his men.
Kirke is a symbol of enchantment and charm and has been a central inspiration
for the creation of this album. It states how a woman can enslave tens of men,
and be enslaved by one man at the same time. It is about the paradox of a woman
being powerful and powerless, being in control and under control, being
victorious and defeated at the same time towards men. In this spirit, the 4th, the
6th and the final song of the album – that is “Kirke”, “Leda and the Swan” and
“Sirens calling” – deal with the above mentioned paradox.
Kirke, like goddess Gaia (earth) is driven and powered by god Eros (Love).
Likewise, the driving force of our second album is also Love and the songs recite
the different faces of Love and their impact on a human’s life. Under this
approach, the “Lovesong from Lesvos”, and “Honey and Fire” deal with the dark
side of Love and talk about a woman, who fails to keep close to her, the man she
loves.
On the other hand the “Hymn to the Muse” talks about the Love of a man towards
a woman, who is his Muse and inspires him on writing music. However,
sometimes Love can take the form of an existential quest, like on “The Sacred
Water”, which is an emotional journey in seek of Love inside us, on people
around us, as well as on nature and Life, or like on “The Lament of Simonides”,
which is about a human’s admiration of other people and his need to be in
control of fate and future.
Nonetheless, aside from the hidden messages and symbols behind each song, it is
also worth seeing the people behind the lyrics and the music of each song. Thus,
Lyre ‘n’ Rhapsody have chosen to include in their album, for once again, a
surviving song, which is the “Hymn to the Muse” (3rd track). It is a song, the lyrics
and the music of which was written in Greece two thousand years ago, on the 2nd
C.A.D. and it has been splendidly arranged by Aliki Markantonatou. Furthermore,
“The lament of Simonides” is ancient Greek lyric poetry written by Simonides
(6th-5th C.B.C), set to music by Athena Chioti (2nd track).
There are also 2 songs based on Homer’s poetry (8th C.B.C). The first one has only
vocals and no lyrics and it has been based on the famous song which Sirens sang
to Odysseus and which was believed to have completely mesmerized him (Sirens
calling - 8th track). The music of this song has been written by Aliki
Markantonatou and Nenad Radosevic. The second song “Kirke” (4th track) is
Homer’s poetry translated in modern Greek and it has been set to music by Areti
Miggou.
In this album, there is also “Lovesong from Lesvos” which is a Greek traditional
song (1st track), while the rest of the songs are new music compositions from the
group band members. In more detail, the lyrics and the music of “The Sacred
Water” (5th track) are written by Areti Miggou, while the lyrics and the music of
“Honey and Fire” (7th track)
Finally, it is worth paying notice to the 6th track, that is “Leda and the Swan”,
which is an improvisation on the Lyre and on double bass, by Aliki
Markantonatou and Chrisostomos Boukalis.