10+1 Music Talks

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Monday 7 April 2025

A Vision for Contemporary Modal Music

Ross Daly, Musician, Composer
Founder & Artistic Director of Labyrinth Musical Workshop

Ross Daly is the originator of the term Contemporary Modal Music, which refers to contemporary compositional works which draw their influences and inspiration from the broader world of Modal musical traditions which are found primarily – although not exclusively – in the vast geographical region between Western Africa and Western China. He himself is recognized as one of the foremost composers and performers in this genre and it is his expressed desire to see more young people involved in the study of modal musical traditions becoming active in the realm of composition. Modal music, even though it accounts for about half of the entire world’s musical genres and it is a subject of vast dimensions with unlimited possibilities for creative activity, is still often associated in people’s minds with “tradition” and the more historical aspect of music.

Ross Daly has traveled the world, mainly in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, studying various forms of local music traditions. In 1982 he established an educational institution called Labyrinth Musical Workshop, which since 2002 has been situated in the village of Houdetsi, on the island of Crete. Seminars and master-classes are conducted every year at Labyrinth with some of the greatest teachers of traditional music from around the world. It is a meeting point for musicians and students and is recognized as the leading institution in Greece today, in the field of education of modal and traditional music in general. Ross Daly has released more than 35 albums of his own compositions and of his own arrangements of traditional melodies collected during his travels.

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Monday 5 May 2025

Apples & Oranges? New Encounters for Modal Music & Musicians

Sokratis Sinopoulos, Musician

Department of Music Science and Art in the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki

Greek musician Sokratis Sinopoulos is a contemporary master of the lyra, a bowed instrument that dates back to the Byzantine era. His playing is delicate and nuanced yet highly expressive, and his proficiency on the instrument has been widely acclaimed. Sinopoulos has collaborated with numerous musicians throughout the world. He’s equally comfortable crossing genre boundaries into jazz and classical, as he is to staying true to folk traditions of Greece and Eastern Mediterranean. Sokratis will share his experiences and discuss the challenges and opportunities that arise from integrating the lyra in non-traditional settings. He will also delve into themes surrounding tradition, modality, harmony, orchestration, improvisation, identity, locality, universality, and adaptation. 

 Born in Athens in 1974, he studied Byzantine music and classical guitar as a child, and began playing the lyra in 1988, under the instruction of Ross Daly. Sinopoulos’ remarkable talent was immediately apparent, and he joined Daly’s group Labyrinthos a year later. He became highly prolific, contributing to recordings by countless musicians all around the world. Sinopoulos was awarded the Melina Mercouri award for young artists in 1999.

In 2010, he formed Sokratis Sinopoulos Quartet with pianist Yann Keerim, bassist Dimitris Tsekouras, and drummer Dimitris Emmanouil. The debut album of the quartet “Eight Winds”, was produced by Manfred Eicher for ECM records and received excellent reviews globally. Sokratis Sinopoulos is a professor in the Department of Music Science and Art in the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece. 

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Monday 2 June 2025

Interdisciplinary approaches to gesture-sound studies

Stella Paschalidou
Department of Music Technology and Acoustics, Hellenic Mediterranean University

Music-Related Gesture Studies is a fascinating field that explores the physical and cognitive relationships between music and movement, as well as how gesture can shape musical meaning. This talk outlines theoretical work on embodied (music) cognition, alongside both qualitative and quantitative empirical studies of music-movement relationships through sound and motion capture technologies, which demonstrate the profound and reciprocal link between movement and sound, reinforcing the idea that music is as much a physical, body-related phenomenon as it is an auditory one.

Stella Paschalidou is Assistant Professor at the department of Music Technology and Acoustics of the Hellenic Mediterranean University and she directs the Image, Movement and Sound Technologies Laboratory. She holds a BSc in Physics (Aristotle University, Greece), an MSc in Music Technology (University of York, UK) and a PhD in Music Computing (Durham University, UK). Her research interests include embodied music cognition, motion capture technologies and analysis methods in music, music interaction (human-computer-interaction in music / digital musical instruments), and computational ethnomusicology. She is especially concerned by the concept of effort in music performance. For this, her past research includes fieldwork in India, where she collected and analysed audio and movement data from Hindustani (Dhrupad) vocal improvisation performances. She focused on manual interactions with intangible, imaginary objects that vocalists are often observed executing when engaging with melodic ideas, and explored the relationship between hand gestures and the voice while accounting for the physical effort that these interactions are perceived to require.

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Monday 30 June 2025

The Form of Amane through Rebetiko Recordings
Evgenios Voulgaris, Musician, Composer

The power of the amane is usually attributed by the general public either to the mystical abilities of the singer, or to his improvisational ability and vocal superiority. Evgenios Voulgaris will present a thorough analysis of the form and structure of the amane, through the study and analysis of archival recordings of rebetiko. His talk will focus both on the musicological aspect of the structure of the material, as well as on issues related to the aesthetics of the genre, highlighting the importance and value of the amane, but also the possibility of finding its place in contemporary musical practice.

Evgenios Voulgaris holds a diploma in Byzantine music. Since 1992 his main focus has been on the oud and traditional Greek music. His first teacher was Christos Tsiamoulis. He studied yayli tanbur with Fahrettin Çimenli, who also tutored him in the interpretation of makams and in improvisation. He has participated in numerous performances and recordings with a wide range of musicians. Since 1995 he performs with the ‘Orchistra ton Chromaton’, playing mandolin and bouzouki, whilst in recent years he has also collaborated with the ‘Camerata’ Orchestra and the Athens State Orchestra.

He taught in the School of Greek Music of the Municipal Conservatoire of Patras, in musical highschools and seminars, as well as in the Department of Popular and Traditional Music of the Technical University of Epirus. In 2007 his book Urban Popular Songs of the Inter-war Period: Rebetika of Smyrna and Piraeus, co-authored with Vasilis Vandarakis, was published. His records to date are Taxidia, To minima tou pringipa, and Apsilies in collaboration with other artists. He has also set music to parts of the Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam and composed music for theatrical plays.

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Monday 8 September 2025

Rhythmical Swing In Greek Music Performance: The Case οf the Rhythmical Feel In The Drama Region
Giannis Rizopoulos
Drummer, Percussionist, Ethnomusicologist, Music Educator

Following a period of field research in the highland areas surrounding the city of Drama, near the northern borders of Greece and Bulgaria, significant findings have emerged regarding a distinctive local approach to musical performance. The main focus of this study is on instances where the presence of rhythmical swing is not incidental, but rather appears as a structured and recurring rhythmic pattern over a defined time frame.

Using methodologies such as musical participant observation, interviews with local musicians, and desk research —including computational analysis of recordings from local events— this presentation explores the ways in which the characteristic rhythmical feel of the Drama region is formed. Furthermore, the use of rhythmical swing in performance practice will be discussed, with particular attention to local stylistic nuances and playing techniques.

Giannis Rizopoulos was born in Rhodes, Greece, in 1989. He began studying drums and percussion at the age of 13. He has lived and worked in Greece (Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Athens) and the Netherlands (Rotterdam, Eindhoven), and is currently based in Athens. He holds a BA in Music Science and Arts from the University of Macedonia (Thessaloniki), where he specialized in classical percussion. He continued with postgraduate studies at Codarts University of the Arts (Rotterdam), focusing on drum set, Middle Eastern percussion, cajon and hybrid percussion set-ups. Since 2016, he has been a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at the University of Macedonia, working on the topic: “Framing the rhythmical swing: A model of Greek rhythmical ‘feel’ in performance practice.” His research focuses on microtiming, groove and rhythmical feel in traditional Greek music, as well as contemporary approaches to hybrid percussion set-ups. During his studies, he developed a personal setup combining darbuka, cajon and bendir with the drum set, which led to the creation of his own practical method and master’s thesis on the adaptation of Middle Eastern and Balkan rhythms to modern percussion.

As an educator, he has taught since 2011 in both private and public institutions in Greece and the Netherlands. His teaching experience includes secondary education (Music High Schools of Athens, Drama, and Rhodes), conservatories and higher education institutions, such as the University of Macedonia. He teaches subjects such as classical percussion, drum set, improvisation, ensemble practices, rhythmology, and hybrid set-up techniques. As a performer, he has participated in a wide range of music projects blending jazz, rock, pop, and electronic elements with traditional styles from the Balkans, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. He has collaborated with numerous artists and appeared in venues such as De Doelen and Bimhuis (Netherlands), Royal Academy of Arts and Garage (UK), Concert Hall of Thessaloniki, SNFCC and Athens Concert Hall (Greece), among others. He is also active as a session musician in live performances and studio recordings in Greece and abroad.

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Monday 6 October 2025

Beyond the Hype: Envisioning Sustainable Futures for Greek Traditional Music

Eleni Kallimopoulou
Department of Music Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Traditional music in Greece has always served as a vehicle for expressing communal, affective, and political ties and belongings. The resurgence of interest in this music today takes various forms, ranging from consumer-driven attendance at Greek folk festivals (panigiria) “for the vibe”, to more in-depth, long-term engagements with musical traditions by both audiences and musicians. This talk explores these practices from the perspective of sustainability, considering the future of Greek traditional music. It focuses particularly on forms of participatory music tourism as means of promoting collective responsibility, strengthening local communities, and creating an ethic of ecojustice that is politically relevant not just in Greece, but beyond.

Eleni Kallimopoulou (MMus, PhD, SOAS, University of London) is assistant professor at the University of Macedonia. She is author of Paradosiaká: Music, Meaning and Identity in Modern Greece (Ashgate, 2009), co-author of Learning Culture through City Soundscapes – A Teacher Handbook (with P.C. Poulos and K. Kornetis, e-book, University of Macedonia, 2013), and co-editor of Counter-Archives: Rethinking Oral History from Below (with R.V. Boeschoten and V. Dalkavoukis, Greek Oral History Association, 2021), Music Communities in 21st-century Greece: Sonic Glances in the Field (with A. Theodosiou, Pedio, 2020), and Introduction to Ethnomusicology (with A. Balandina, Asini, 2014). She is a founding member of SonorCities, a research study group on the history and ethnography of sound and the senses, and a member of the International Advisory Board of Ethnomusicology Forum.

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Monday 3 November 2025

A matter out of place: Greek music and politics of affect among the Mizrahi people in today’s Israel

Sissie Theodosiou
Department of Music Studies, University of Ioannina

Greek popular music (laiko) is not only involved in the tangle of music in Israel, but also contributes decisively to its untangling. And this is far from simple, because the whole process goes far beyond the narrow boundaries of music and becomes part of a much more complex process that has to do with the internal contradictions, conflicts and inequalities inherent in Israel society, such as those related to ethno-class. This talk explores Greek music practices against the backdrop of an increasing intimacy with Greekness in today’s Israel that can be traced within an emerging politico-economic and geopolitical context of convergence  in state relations; at the same time it sees them as a repository of affect from the past strongly associated with the trauma of Mizrahi people.



Aspasia (Sissie) Theodosiou studied Philosophy at the University of Ioannina and Mass Media and Communication at the University of Athens. She gained her MA and PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester. She has taught at the Department of Social Anthropology (University of Manchester), the Department of Cultural Heritage Management & New Technologies (University of Patras), the Hellenic Open University (School of Humanities, 2007- today) and the Department of Traditional Music (TEI of Epirus).

During the period 2009-2013 she was an MC member of the international research network “Remaking eastern borders in Europe: a network exploring social, moral and material relocations of Europe’s eastern peripheries” (COST Action ISO 803). Between 2016-2021 she also participated in the project “Crosslocations” (ERC Advanced Grant) of the University of Helsinki. Her research affiliations include also the Department of Social Anthropology (University of Manchester), the School of Social Sciences (University of Helsinki), the Daissy research team (HOU) and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of Ben Gurion University.

She has conducted long term field research with musicians in Epirus, and more specifically with Gypsy/Roma musicians on the Greek –Albanian border (NW Greece) where she focused on issues related to musical performances and practices, the politics of place/location and culture, ethnic and national identities, the politics of tradition, borders, as well as questions related to embodiment. In her other ethnographic research projects she has been concerned with communities of practice and learning practices in technologically enhanced environments, as well as with the interconnections between national sovereignty and border-ness in cyberspace, and the implications of recent economic recession on social cohesion in Greece. More recently she has been interested in the issue of artistic labour, the politics of culture and affect around popular music, fan cultures, cultural racism and legacies of national purity. Her theoretical perspective includes questions related to the pertinence of post-colonial critique for Romani Studies, as well as for the understanding of Mizrahi subjectivities in the Israeli State.  Her two current ethnographic projects focus on politics and practices related to Greek popular music in contemporary Israel and affective artistic labour among popular female musicians/singers.

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Monday 1 December 2025

Lost Sound Revealed? Ottoman Music Sources and Contemporary Performance Practices

Panagiotis C. Poulos, Department of Music Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens  

In the last 20 years a number of known (Kevserî’s collection) and less known music sources (Ali Ufki’s second collection [Turc 292]) of the Ottoman repertoire have come to light through historical and ethnomusicological research. These sources which vary in terms of the point of view of their authors, the notation system they use and of their content, offer invaluable and fascinating snapshots of an – otherwise – predominantly orally transmitted music tradition. The availability of these sources followed by attempts for interpreting and performing this repertoire coupled by a discourse on authenticity and historical accuracy of musical performance. This talk offers an overview of the abovementioned sources and discusses the challenges posed in contemporary performance in Turkey and elsewhere.      

Panagiotis C. Poulos is Assistant Professor in Ethnomusicology at the Department of Music Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. His research centers on the musical traditions of the Middle East, the cultural history of late Ottoman and Turkish music and arts, and the history of everyday life in Ottoman cities. He is author of Music in the Islamic World: Sources, Perspectives, Practices (2015, e-book), and co-editor of Ottoman Intimacies, Balkan Musical Realities (2013, with A. Theodosiou & R. P. Pennanen) and Ottoman Monuments in Greece: Heritages under Negotiation(2023, with E. Kolovos and G. Pallis).

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Monday 15 December 2025 

Multi-modalism and the unlimited melodic diversity in eastern music traditions

Markos Skoulios, musician

Department of Music Studies of the University of Ioannina

Markos Skoulios’s research both as an ethnomusicologist and a music performer, focuses on the phenomenon of melodic modality specializing on the multi-intervallic multi-modal systems found in the area between East Mediterranean and India (such as Ottoman-Turkish and Arabic Makams, Persian Dastgahs, Indian Ragas and Byzantine Octoechos). His strong background in exact sciences (Bachelor and Masters in Electrical Engineering, University of Patras) combined with his close relationship with music practice, led him to an applied and computational approach to systematic musicological analysis. In his presentation he will discuss various aspects of multi-modality and melodic diversity such as: the principles of multi-intervallic and multi-modal melodic phenomena as well as the extreme multi-modalism of eastern classical traditions compared to the tendency of categorizing melody types in a small amount of modes in folk and popular traditions. He will also refer to modal mechanisms generating variety vs aspects connecting various modes in families forming a huge modal complex for each Modal system as well as octave-scale modal species vs complicated modal scenarios and the “Hood-Powers continuum”.  

A faculty member of the Department of Music Studies of the University of Ioannina (former Department of Traditional Music – TEI of Epirus), where he has taught courses on Modal Analysis, Makam Theory, Byzantine Music Theory, Eastern Classical Music, World Music, Acoustics, Music Informatics, Ney & Oud Performance, while being the director of the “Eastern Music Workshop” and “Narda Music Ensemble”. Both as an ethnomusicologist and a musician, he focuses on the phenomenon of melodic modality, studying the multi-intervallic multi-modal systems found in the area between Eastern Mediterranean and India (Makam, Raga, Dastgah, Octoechos). Since 1994 he collaborated as a musician with ensembles such as “Eastern Music Workshop”, “Attaris”, “En Chordais”, “En la mar ay unatorre”, “Romanos o Melodos”, “Kafe Aman”, “Maye”, participating in numerous concerts and recordings, while on 2006 he was invited in the International Ney meeting of Jerash Festival of Jordan. He is a member of the ICTM Maqam Study Group, while between 2002-2005 he was the coordinator of a research group of leading musicologists who worked on the theory of Mediterranean modal classical traditions, in the frame of the “MediMuses” program. For more information on his ethnomusicological research see: https://uoi.academia.edu/MarkosSkoulios

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Monday 12 January 2026

Iranian Tombak Players: Transformations in Status, Identity, and Technique

Alexandra Balandina, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at the Music Department, Ionian University

&

Sepideh Shayanrad, Musician, Tombak Player, PhD candidate in Art Research at the University of Tehran

Tombak, a goblet shaped drum, has been the main percussion instrument in Iranian classical music since the 19 th century. Today it is a very popular instrument both in Iran and abroad, performed by thousands of male and female Iranians and adored, learned and played by many musicians abroad. Since the mid-twentieth century, the playing technique of the instruments has developed immensely, and has been characterized as highly sophisticated and complex, in timbre, fingering patterns, rolls and ornamentations, speed of playing, variety and clarity of sound. Another advancement in the last century is the improvement of the socio-musical identity of the tombak player, who was stigmatized in the late 19 th century holding a low social rank among musicians and society in general.

In this presentation we will discuss the musical, socio-cultural, historical and technological developments that have contributed to the dissemination of tombak playing, the growth of the playing technique and the improvement of the social status of the tombak player. We will also discuss the contribution of key tombak players in the last 70 years that have expanded the technique, enriched the playing aesthetic and elevated the socio-musical status of the tombak player in Iranian classical music.

Alexandra Balandina is an Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at the Music Department, Ionian University, Greece. She graduated from the Department of Social Anthropology at Panteion University of Athens, Greece, and earned her MMUS and PhD in Ethnomusicology from the Music Department at Goldsmiths University, London, UK under the supervision of Prof. John Baily. During her master’s and doctoral studies, she conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Tehran, Iran, investigating the culture of tombak playing in Iran since the 1960s. She deepened her understanding of the instrument by learning to perform on the tombak (goblet-shaped drum) with the eminent Bahman Rajabi and several younger-generation tombak players. Her primary research interests include music and culture in the Persian speaking world, performance theory and practice, cultural organology, ethnography and embodiment, music and politics. She is currently co-editing a book on Music in the Persian-Speaking World in collaboration with colleagues from Martin Luther University in Halle, Germany, and Logos Verlag Berlin. She was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and she is fluent in Russian, Farsi, Greek, Macedonian, and Serbian.

Sepideh Shayanrad is a PhD candidate in Art Research at the University of Tehran, specializing in Iranian classical music. Having studied Iranian Music (BA) and Ethnomusicology (MA) at Tehran University, her dissertation explores the relationship between gender and creativity in Iranian music, drawing a comparative perspective with painting in Iranian culture. A professional Tombak player, she has performed at festivals and concerts both in Iran and internationally. Sepideh also teaches the Tombak at music schools and conservatories across Iran. In addition to her native Farsi, she is proficient in English, French, and Turkish.

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Monday 2 February 2025

Interactive Technologies in Modal Music Performance
Natalia Kotsani, Musician, Composer
Researcher at National Technical University of Athens

Recent advancements in music information retrieval (MIR) and machine learning offer new approaches to analyzing, studying, and performing modal music. In this talk, innovative tools and techniques for augmenting instruments, as well as interfaces designed to enhance vocal and instrumental performance through gesture-driven interaction, real-time signal analysis, and AI-assisted improvisation, are explored. The integration of multimodal inputs—such as brainwave data and various sensors—into novel interfaces that dynamically respond to performers’ interactions is also examined. By blending traditional practices with contemporary digital methodologies, these technologies offer new pathways for augmenting musical expression and expanding modal music performance.

Natalia Kotsani studied vocal technique, classical and jazz piano, and improvisation, and holds a diploma in Applied Mathematics and Physical Sciences from the National Technical University of Athens. Her research interests include machine learning, music information retrieval, and computational ethnomusicology. She is a scientific associate at the Laboratory of Music Acoustics and Technology (LabMat) at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and a researcher at the National Technical University of Athens (CoReLab, AILS). 

She has developed innovative music systems such as Polyfōnía, a gesture-controlled software augmenting the singing voice, and was selected as a mentor for the New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) conference in New Zealand (2022) and the NASA International Space Apps Hackathon in Athens (2024). She has published in international conferences and actively contributes to research projects. Since 2012, she has been the lead singer of the “encardia” ensemble, performing extensively across Europe and leading vocal technique seminars. 

She also composes music and performs in her personal projects. Her work has been featured in major festivals in Greece, including the Concert Hall of Thessaloniki and the Greek National Opera’s “All of Greece, One Culture” initiative. She holds an MA in Jazz Singing and Improvisation and has studied diverse vocal traditions across Europe.