Methexis is Valia Calda’s new album. Methexis - meaning ‘coming together’, it offers a utopian solution to the themes of migration, exile and social struggle.
Illustrated by Albanian photographer Enri Canaj’s impacting photograph of the migrants’ traumatic sea crossings, the compositions of Nikos and Thodoris Ziarkas puts into music these painful themes.
‘A Trip for Nothing’ offers a meditative soundtrack to the words of poet Miltos Sachtouris that weave through the music: ‘my brothers who were lost down here on earth / are the stars lighting up now one by one in the sky’.
In counterpart, ‘Dilek Dogan’ is dedicated to the eponymous memory of a young Kurdish woman shot by the Turkish police in her apartment.
Reflecting on the contemporary yet timeless struggles of physical and ideological displacement, Methexis is a full eight-track album that will be launched by Valia Calda’s five members on 22 May 2018 at the Total Refreshment Centre in London.
1. Dilek Doğan
2. Exiles
3. Drawbridge
4. Gorge
5. Typo
6. Trip for nothing
7. Turtle Monster
8. Val Brug
Tracks 2/3/6/7/8 composed by Nikos Ziarkas
Tracks 1/4/5 composed by Thodoris Ziarkas
Track 6 the voice of poet Miltos Sachtouris
from the poem “My brothers”. Translated by Karen Emmerich
Courtesy of Archipelagos Books
Produced by Valia Calda & George Botis
Recorded at Fish Factory Studios on 8th & 9th Sept 2016
Engineered & Mixed by George Botis
Assistant Engineer: Tasos Botis
Mastered by Peter Beckmann at TechnologyWorks Mastering
Cover photo by Enri Canaj - enricanaj.com
Back cover photo by Rosie Reed Gold - rosiereedgold.com
Layout by Thodoris Ziarkas
