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Lesson timetable: 17:00 - 20:00 in the afternoon (total of 21 hours)
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In this workshop, we will learn folk songs from various parts of Greece, focusing on the stylistic details of each region: ornaments, intervals, rhythmic feel, etc. At the same time, we will get a taste of the folkloric context of each song, the customs associated with it, and its place within the annual cycle of feast days.
Studying songs from different regional traditions of Greece, we will try to identify the relationship between Greek folk song and the musical traditions of the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean.
* This lesson will be taught primarily in Greek. Terminology will be explained in other languages as well, according to the teacher’s disposal.
Full interpretation will not be provided.
Martha Mavroidi is a singer, lutist and composer from Greece. She has been singing and playing folk lutes from her childhood, performing music from Greece and the Balkans. Later she developed an interest in contemporary music, blending elements of folk music with contemporary harmony and improvisation.
She graduated from the Music High School of Pallini, and she has studied Musicology in Athens (University of Athens), Ethnomusicology in London (SOAS) and Los Angeles (UCLA), and Contemporary Music in Amsterdam (Conservatorium Van Amsterdam) with scholarships from the Fulbright Foundation and the Onassis Foundation.
She has collaborated with important musicians and ensembles such as the legendary Greek folk violinist Stathis Koukoularis, ECM artist Savina Yannatou, English folk singer and violinist Eliza Carthy, and the Greek National Opera. With her Quartet she has performed in various venues in Europe and the USA. She is a member of the vocal quartet "Yasemi", and she conducts the Greek Folk Choir "Rodia" and the “Happy Hour Choir”, a workshop in the form of a vocal orchestra.
She has composed music for prize-winning short and feature films, and for dance and theater productions, including “Hello to Emptiness” by German Dance Company Mouvoir with which she has toured in Greece, France, Germany, and Korea. She has been commissioned to compose musical works for the Greek National Opera (“Domna’s Song” for the 2021 bicentennial of the Greek Revolution, “Katalogi” 2022, “Lazarakia” 2023) and the Greek National Theater (“Blood Wedding” by F.G.Lorca 2022).
She has released five albums: The Garden of Rila (2009), Portaki (2012), Agiorgitiko (2014), Thread and Needle (2017), Magiatiko (2019) and she has published a book with compositions for vocal ensemble “Thread and Needle” (2019). Since 2013 Martha has been the artistic director of Tinos World Music Festival.