Macedonian composer/multi-instrumentalist Dine Doneff (or Kostas Theodorou, his Greek citizenship name) presents his Balkan-Jazz Folk Opera – Rousilvo. Heavily influenced by the culture of his homeland, Doneff, creates a musical fabric through open dialogue among the members of a septet. A polyphony of seven women’s voices, interspersed with extracts from numerous authentic field recordings, complete a narration of expanding rhythmic and melodic forms.
Rousilvo is the old, Slavic name of the village of Xanthogeia, in north-western Greece. The village’s name, and its Slav-Macedonian speaking community, fell victim to the policy of the Greek state to forcibly “Hellenize” the land and its people. At the end of the Greek Civil War (1946-49) most of the women in the village were left alone for the rest of their lives; their husbands either killed or exiled. Since 1986 the village has been uninhabitated as a result of long-lasting social marginalization.
Ten compositions, alternating with location recordings of the surviving elderly residents of the village (sometimes singing, at times narrating their stories) salvaging and transforming a treasure trove, an elegy, of a vanishing poetry.
Takis Farazis Piano, Accordion
Kyriakos Tapakis Oud, Mandola
Pantelis Stoikos Trumpet
Dimos Dimitriadis Alto Saxophone, Flute
Antonis Andreou Trombone
Kostas Anastasiadis Drums
Slava Pop'va-Evdoxia Georgiou Voice
Lizeta Kalimeri Voice
Martha Mavroidi Voice
Lada Kandarjieva Soprano
Elena Ginina Soprano
Elitsa Dankova Mezzo
Irina Gotcheva Alto
1 NARRATIVE (Dine Doneff) 03:16
2 PENELOPES OF XANTHOGEIA (Dine Doneff) 00:01 - 05:05
3 OBLIVION (Dine Doneff) 03:14
4 MIRKA (Dine Doneff) 07:30
5 NATSKO (Dine Doneff) 01:14
6 REQUIEM (Dine Doneff) 06:33
7 AJDE SL'NTSE ZAJDI (Traditional Macedonian) 01:10
8 APATRIS (Dine Doneff) 04:57
9 KAIMAKTSALAN (Dine Doneff) 05:01
10 IMPLACABLE GRIEF (Dine Doneff) 02:02
11 SONG OF THE UNQUIETNESS (Dine Doneff) 06:50
12 AS A STORY (Dine Doneff) 05:00
