Five-piece Melbourne band Meyhane have recorded alongside Haralambos Fakos on a new album to be launched in 2013. And now, Meyhane are needing the help of the Greek community, and aficionados of the music they play to sponsor them and donate to the costs associated with their upcoming release.
Meyhane is made up of Lambros Kappas (Oud, Vocals), Paddy Montgomery (Politiki Lyra, Yayli Tanbour, Saz, Lute, Vocals), Demetris Hoplaros (Violin, Vocals), Tony Iliou (Lute, Vocals) and George Kiriakidis (South Balkan Lyra, Accordion, Cane Flute, Percussion, Vocals).
Their common interest involves the undying passion of performing the finer forms of traditional music from Anatolia, The Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean. The name Meyhane is a very old expression used commonly in the Balkans and Anatolia deriving from “mey” (wine) and “hane” (tavern). For hundreds of years, fine musicians performed at these “wine-taverns”.
Patrons enjoying an aperitif were enthralled by the ageless, exotic sounds of the old Meyhane. With the release of their first album in March 2011 entitled Colours of my Heart, with traditional pieces from the Eastern Mediterranean, they have performed at various venues and events: the Brunswick Festival, the Mechanics Institute, he Thornbury Theatre, he Boite Music Cafe, and more.
While constantly researching and working on more traditional pieces to present in the near future, they also approached Haralambos Fakos in 2011 to record music. Haralambos Fakos is a legendary clarinet player from Veltsista (today known as Klimatia) in Epirus, and comes from a long line of great virtuosos of both the clarinet and the violin.
His great-grandfather Lalo-Fakos was the personal musician of Ioannina-based Mustafa pasha (1744-1822), and is the composer of many famous Epirotic pieces such as Kleftes Veltsistinoi, Papigo and Mariola, to name a few. After performing throughout Epirus and other parts of Western Greece for years, Haralambos emigrated to Australia in the ’60s. He has constantly entertained the Greeks in Melbourne since then, but was never recorded in a studio.
The idea behind this project was to preserve, through the sounds of his clarinet, the authentic traditional music from Epirus, as it is still being performed in Melbourne in 2012. Haralambos is most likely the last of the active Epirot musicians in Australia. Meyhane chose to record pieces that represented a repertoire well known to him from his youth. Along the way, while rehearsing, they were joined by Zois Soundias from Lefkada, who has been singing alongside Haralambos for many years.
The result was a live studio recording of 12 pieces, covering a wide area of Epirus: Northern Epirus, Zagori, the region of Ioannina. Meyhane want to thank Achilles Yangoulis for the recordings, mixing and mastering. The album is expected to be released in February 2013.
In order to cover the costs involved in the realisation of this album (recording, mixing, mastering and production of 500 CDs containing a 16-page booklet), Meyhane are kindly reaching out to the wider community in Melbourne for sponsorship, with acknowledgement made in the CD printed material and the sponsor’s logo included on the CD cover.
So far they have had a great response, and wish to thank Panipeirotiki Omospondia, Panipeirotiki Enosi, Spyros Bafas from S&N Knitcraft Pty Ltd and Haralambos Sioros from Kinsbury Motors. For anyone interested in sponsoring this project contact Lambros Kappas on 0416 149 206 or Tony Iliou on 0411 322 249. You may also contact the group Meyhane by email at meyhane@y7mail.com