Floros Floridis_Interview

Floros Floridis in first person
Interviewed by Fontas Trousas (1996)

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I met Floros Floridis during a break of his last tour in the Balkans, just before his tour in Greece,
with the various projects he occasionally formed or participated. We talked about a lot of things and brought up even more, rather slightly. Having fresh memories of his last trip to Romania, we indulged in a conversation without a particular subject, but with exceptionally interesting views and information which I cite.

Floros tell us about your appearances in Romania. What actually happened there?
In Romania I had two shows. I participated in Iasi Festival and a concert at the Museum of Modern Art in Constanta. There I collaborated with Harry Tavitian, a pianist of the contemporary scene, of Romanian-Armenian origin, known for his recordings at Leo Records. We first met in Athens during the festivities for the 600th issue of the magazine 'ANTI', so our get-together on Romanian ground was a fruitful outcome.
In Iasi we played as a trio with drummer Corneliu Stroel and in Constanta, poet Dinu Adam joined our group.

How is Jazz regarded in Romania? I believe that in Greece we know few things. Could it be identified to the jazz scenes of Poland or Hungary?
Jazz has its fitting place in Romania, as in every Eastern European country. Although I have never been in Poland or Hungary, I think that Romanian Jazz has nothing to envy from the other 'eastern' jazz scenes like that of Bulgaria or Serbia per say. In the Academy of Bucharest there is a Jazz Department, where many musicians perform daily and things look better in general than here (Greece). Moreover there is this scene led by Johnny Radukanu which is universally known.

Recently you released, almost simultaneously, two albums. In the first 'To Velos tou Chronou' (The Arrow of Time) you included tracks recorded between 1989 and 1993. Why did this happen?
In a way it was a gathering together of certain things for which I believed, and still believe, that should come out anyhow. For example the track 'Ar(r)ages dioti' which was recorded in 1989 has a strong improvisational structure. It was recorded with a sextet from Thessalonica and in spite of its 22 minutes of duration, it could not cover the full length of a CD. You realise now what was the idea for choosing those tracks and releasing the album.

I would like you to comment a little on 'Siopi' (Silence), Edgar Allan Poe and your collaboration with Roula Pateraki. How did you come up with the idea to cover musically the most emotive text of his (Edgar Allan Poe)?
First of all I've known and have collaborated with Roula Pateraki since the time of 'Adonis' (album by Floros Floridis recorded at the theatre 'Adonis' in Thessalonica in 21/10/1983). After this we met in several other occasions, like the broadcasts of Mihalis Grigoriou at Third Program, which hosted such projects very often. In spite of the fact that such projects were released later on, the coexistence of music and spoken word was unusual at that time. I remember that at that period Pateraki was preparing a performance for Megaro Mousikis, where voices played a distinctive part, while at the same time I have always been interested in such things, so as you can see everything found their own way. Now regarding Poe's text, it was selected because we both liked it and because at that time it was expressing our psychic and mental views about anything that was happening. We are talking about 1990 although I cannot see why it should be different from today.

I remember an amazing concert you gave as a septet, under the name 'Mediterranean Ensemble, in Patra in July 1991. That group included Carlos Zingaro on violin, Marc Montera on the electric guitars and other musicians like Tony Rousconi and Anouar Brahem. In fact there are recordings with Zingaro and Montera in your album. Tell us a little about these recordings.
The 'Bloody Foreigners' with Carlos Zingaro was recorded in Wuppertal, Germany in 1992. We gave a concert at that time with the name 'Pyrichia'. In the group were Ilias Papadopoulos with Peter Kowald who played also on the album with the same title, and there were also Zingaro and Okay Temiz. The chosen moment for the album concerns a part of one track where Carlos (Zingaro) and I were a duo. On the other hand the recording with Montera and Paul Lovens is not part of a certain composition. It is a composition by its own, one of those we performed as a trio in many concerts in Marseilles, Thessalonica, Athens, Nicosia and other places. All these happened one or two years after our meeting in Patra.

I know that 'tradition' has been a concern of yours for a long time, by contrast with the tardy interest of many others lately. Tell us a little about this relation.
This story will take us many years back, in 1979, when Sakis Papadimitriou and I recorded 'Improvising at Barako's'. There among others there is the track 'Folk Improvisation'. In my first personal album '(ν)Τζζρρρτ' from 1980, there was a composition with strong traditional elements called 'Bantura - alto'. From the period of 'Krok Trio' it would be worth mentioning the track 'Pente Hellines ston Adi' (Five Greeks in Hades) and after this some quite known projects, like the albums with 'Pychia' and 'Wutu Wupatu'. Anyway what I must say is that Jazz as an original popular music has unbreakable relations with what we call 'tradition'. So when it got out of the close American environment it showed exactly this in an undisputable way. It looked deep in the roots and from there towards the surpassing of the initial forms. And all these kept away from fashions and labels like ethnic music. With this idea I started that time to arrive happily in my most recent recording with the Band of Florina.

How did you meet with the Band?
Our first contact dates from 1985, in which time 'Heimerinoi Kolymvytes' (Winter Swimmers) and I recorded our second album 'Apo to Parko sti Myrovolo'. I, who had been entrusted by the band with the wind instruments, had a close cooperation with the late Tasos Balkanis. He was the founder of the Band. At that time we gave some concerts together as 'Heimerinoi Kolymvytes' while at the same time I got the idea of the album. It took 11 years to release the album, but what can you do. In the meantime, Mr. Tasos passed away...

I see. Floros tell me, what is your opinion on the part that cinema played - and I am referring mainly to the movies of Kusturica and the music of Bregovic - in the acceptance of these sound shades?
Unquestionably it played a grate part, although you realize that we shouldn't wait for Bregovic to acquaint ourselves with our music. The fact that our record was released at that time when this short of music was popular; it is more of a coincidence. We had been occupied with those sounds a long time before Bregovic's music took their path.

Could we say a few words about the origin of the so called 'balkan' musicians? I feel that somewhere the eastern element coexists with the European.
The brass instruments came to the Balkan in the last century during the process to Europeanize the armies of the broader area. The Turks replaced the Dervishes and the Serbs and Romanians changed a lot the appearance of their troops, since the German-Austrian trainers brought amongst others a new musical perception to military bands. As the new element passed to the other Balkan countries, so it happened to us. Besides both the clarinet and the violin, which have western origin, appeared in Greece almost simultaneously with the brass instruments.

ΜΠΑΝΤΑ ΤΗΣ ΦΛΩΡΙΝΑΣ - FLORINA BRASS BAND

To me this whole story reminds me somewhat of New Orleans. Isn't there a comparison in relation to the development of Jazz there? The bands, the military march...
Yes of course. There is a comparison, but in our case the whole situation appeared to become static. But here lies the real interest. If that is, this whole thing will have some progress. While in the States Jazz followed new paths and became a universal language, the music we are talking about in our place remained static for many years. This had a lot to do with the expansive cultural policy followed by the States in relation with the rest of the world. That is Jazz opened up in styles and influences.

Where exactly to you centre the eastern element? Let's not forget that the places we are talking about were under Turkish rule for many years.
Initially let's say that this music although it was listened to all over western and central Macedonia, nowadays it is listened to only a part of it, from Florina to Goumenissa. Now, the Turkish tradition perhaps has to do with some melodies that exist in the compositions we play with the Band (of Florina). Although it is not about Turkish melodies, but from Smyrna. Our repertoire is definitely richer in rhythms and melodies than a Turkish or Serb band like ours. There are elements, for instance, from the tradition of Pontus and from the singing of Epirus, even from Tsamiko and Hasapiko. This basically has to do with the multiple characters of all those Greek populations that came here at the beginning of the century from the different places from where they were chased out. This is somehow the way the Balkan texture of the Greek sound was created.

How much space is there for improvisation in this music and what could this possibly mean?
This is a serious matter. OK, an album was made, it was good, appreciated and had to do with certain sentimental situations. But what is next to happen? My effort from now on will be to 'open up' this stage towards an improvisation that doesn't have to be necessarily just traditional. To me personally it wouldn't mean much to make again a second similar album with the same amount of tracks in the same manner. As I approached some other kind of music, I would appreciate if the same thing happened from Tradition's part. Music has to move forward. I am not a traditional musician and anyway we have enough such good musicians who can play these things. On top of this I am not the kind of person that believes in 'Tradition for Tradition'. Since I've started playing I consider myself as a creative musician that looks a bit further. Space for improvisation..., well there is definitely and must be not only for the Band of Florina, but for any such group. The ethical - with its broader meaning - attempt of 'opening up' these things when it's properly done and with sense, I think it will give only positive results. It freshens up history itself and an event for museum acquires its contemporary form. Personally, that is, I would like the Band to be dealt as a group of 1996. To play exactly as it does and, at the same time, to look into the future.

Technically how do you approach this material?
Music is performed notes. You sit down and study, listen, rehearse. It's all about the repertoire. At the level I approached it technically there was nothing extremely difficult. Certainly this kind of music has many peculiarities, but any rhythmical difficulty can be overcome with careful study.

Floros Floridis : reeds - Michalis Siganidis : bass - Kostas Vomvolos : accordion
Wutu Wupatu_at parafono 1996
Photo : Stephanos Samakas

Floros, as it is known, Thessalonica is your starting place. Next year the city will be announced Cultural Capital of Europe. How close is to your expectations anything that came to your attention regarding the forthcoming festivities?
For the moment, I gather that much time has been lost and most of the preparations will be of the last moment. The organising structures of the cultural events have not been clarified yet. There are ideas but from there to the point of production, there is a distance. Generally there is an anxiety, if you prefer, coming from what I read, learn and understand as an individual that has a certain experience in international organisations, such as the Jazz Festival of the Municipality of Thessalonica, regarding the time required for the adequate framing of such events.

In conclusion I'd like to ask you about your plans for the immediate future; the summer plans per say?
In the summer there will be plenty of concerts in cities of northern Greece, in Hegoumenitsa, Florina, Kozani, the Prespes but also in Patra and Athens later on performing with the Band of Florina the 'Heimerinoi Kolymvytes' and the 'Wutu Wupatu. As far as printing has to do, there are two recording ready, one of a Jazz trio with Nektarios Karatzis on acoustic bass and Nikos Psofogiorgos on the drums. Because of the fact that Nektarios is in the army at the time, the trio has become a quartet with the addition of Odysseas Konstantinopoulos on the electric bass and Giannis Paulides on the electric guitar. The CD that will come out will be, probably, purely acoustic and will be released by Ano-Kato Records, which has helped decisively in all these things. It consists, that is, the necessary middle man of the CD production and our communication with the audience. From the fall starts the new season so we see...

We talked about other things too with Floros Floridis
- for the June appearances in Ljubljana, for his collaborations in Belgrade with Petrovic and Nikolic, for his winter priorities and several other subjects - giving the mutual promise, in due course, to talk about more, since the grim and advanced midday hour didn't share our moods at all._

Artwork: Floros Floridis
Ano Kato Records - jnd re-records 015; 1996

official website : Floros Floridis