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We’ve chosen the name Ziyiá, which describes the small ensembles of rural Greece, as a reflection of our shared love for traditional Greek music. The sounds of our ensemble range from the bright, lithe melodies of the typical island ensemble of violin, santouri and laouto, to the heavy, passionate laments of mountainous Epirus. Ziyiá brings together Beth and Christos from Boston, and George, Lise and Dan from the San Francisco Bay Area for our first recording together. We hope you enjoy this recording as much as we enjoyed making it!
Christos Govetas: vocals, bouzoúki, oúti, laoúto, clarinet, zourna. Christos was born in the village of Proti in the province of Serres in Greek Macedonia. He is a well-known singer and instrumentalist. After emigrating to Boston in 1978 he joined the Greek rebetiko band Taximi as a bouzouki player and their main vocalist. Since then he has played classical Turkish music on the oud and bendir with The Eurasia Ensemble, Greek, Turkish and Arabic music with Karaváni and regional Balkan music with Tito's Revenge and Akshambelah in the Boston area. He has performed extensively in the U.S., Canada and Greece and has for the last fifteen years taught and performed Greek regional music in Balkan and Middle-Eastern Music and Dance Camps on both coasts of the U.S. Currently he is a member of Bill Frisell's The Intercontinental Quartest, the nationally known bi-coastal band Ziyiá and performs regularly with Pangéo in the Seattle area. Christos is the 1999 recipient of the prestigious Northwest Folklife Fellowship Award honoring his cultural contribution to the Greek-American and Folk dance communities. When he is not playing music Christos is in the architectural design and construction business.
Lise Liepman began her involvement with Balkan music in 1976 in the vibrant dance scene of the San Francisco Bay Area. She was a member and director of Westwind International Folk Ensemble for many years. At a Balkan music and dance camp Lise first heard the sound of the santouri (Greek hammered dulcimer) and was hooked. She began studying santouri with the Philadelphia-based musician Yiannis Roussos. She and her husband George Chittenden moved to Athens, Greece, where she continued her studies with the master musician Tasos Dhiakogiorgis. Lise plays santouri, accordion, and baglama with George and Dan in the bands Ziyia´ and Édessa and has toured internationally with the band Rebetiki Parea. She has taught santouri at Balkan music workshops on both the west and east coasts as well as in Hawaii.
Dan Auvil was first exposed to this type of music when he began folk dancing as a college student in the San Francisco Bay Area and was instantly drawn to the new melodies and foreign instruments. Dan was especially drawn to the large two-headed drum called tupan or davul. He met George at these events and soon they were playing live music for a small dance group. Over the years his skill and reputation have grown considerably. He is known as a “dancers” drummer and is in constant demand, including opportunities to play with the Eastern European recording artists he's enjoyed for years. Dan also teaches tupan at the annual Balkan Music and Dance Camp in Mendocino, California.
George Chittenden has been playing Balkan and Near Eastern music since the mid-1970s, having previously become familiar with the music through his experience as a dancer and performer. He has studied music extensively abroad, focusing primarily on regional dance music of northern Greece and Anatolian Turkey. This has included traveling to remote corners of both countries to experience the social celebrations in which music plays such a central role, as well as learning regional styles from both rural and professional musicians. George performs regularly for ethnic communities and for folk music and dance events throughout the country and has toured abroad. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife Lise and plays with two bands; Ziyiá, a traditional Greek dance ensemble featuring regional instruments, and Édessa, known for playing high-energy dance music of the southern Balkans.
Beth Cohen: violin, Macedonian lyras, baglamá. Beth plays the violin, various lyras from Greece, and the Turkish yayli (bowed) tanbur, performing Greek music with Ziyiá, Demetrios Tashie, and others. She has studied and played with violin and lyra players in Greece ( Vangélis Zagoráios, Yiórgos Avissinós, Manólis Manourás), as well as with composers, kemençe and yayli tanbur players in Turkey (Ihsan Ozgen, Cinuçen Tanrikorur, Sadun Oksut, Ozcan Korkut, and kanunist Rehas Sagbas) and in Hungary (Csaba Okros, Béla Halmos, and Ujstilus). She has performed with Libana, The EurAsia Ensemble, The Klezmer Conservatory Band, Karavani, Taximi, Sophia Bilides Folk Music Ensemble, Sarkany Hungarian Ensemble, and on t.v., radio, and in festivals in Greece, Turkey, Hungary, the U.S., and Canada. She teaches at the Balkan Music and Dance Camps, the World Music and Dance Camp, in universities, and in her studio in Boston.
Accolades
Staff Notes
"Roll over Beethoven and tell George Winston the news." All kidding aside,
this slight variation in the lyrics of the famous Chuck Berry song actually
expresses the essence of the music of Viktor. It is a masterful blend of classical and New Age styles that is passionate, dramatic, and full of subtle dynamics that draws the listener into an enchanted world of sound. - Michael Diamond, SongPeddler
Music without words means leaving behind the mind. And leaving behind the mind is meditation.
Meditation returns you to the source. And the source of all is sound. — Kabir
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