Alexandros Arkadopoulos

Born in Ioannina in 1977, where he was also raised, Alexandros Arkadopoulos started his theoretical and practical musical education at the age of seven. The first instruments he was taught were keyboards, guitar, bouzouki and percussion. At the age of ten he started studying the flute and soon after, the traditional clarinet. He has diplomas in Harmony, flute and Byzantine music. He graduated from the Music Department of the Philosophical School of the University of Athens.

In his capacity as a flautist, he was one of the founding and leading members of the Youth Symphonic Orchestra of Ioannina from 1987 and participated in numerous performances in Greece and abroad, under renowned Greek and foreign conductors.

He took his first lessons in [Greek] traditional clarinet with the great master from Epirus, Gregoris Kapsalis. He has participated in concerts, recordings, performances, as well as radio and television programs, with many of the most prominent contemporary composers and singers of both traditional and contemporary Greek music.

In 2004 he participated in the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics.

He taught traditional wind instruments for four years in the Department of Popular and Traditional Music of the Technical College of Epirus. Currently he is a professor at the Athens Conservatoire teaching traditional clarinet, is a member of the musical group 'Takim' and is working on his doctoral thesis on the Zagorohoria region of Epirus.

Source: www.labyrinthmusic.gr

Songs

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  • SongAsia MinorErythraea, MeliFable Song (Ballad)

A Little Shorty (Meli, Erythraea)

  • Ένας κοντός κοντούτσικος (Mελί Eρυθραίας) ⬥ A little shorty, a short little man, aides pouli mou aides, had a beautiful wife and the whole neighbourhood, aman aman, was jealous, the whole country was jealous of him and none more than his own mother. A pasha, too, was jealous of his beautiful wife [...]
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  • SongPropontisPeramosFable Song (Ballad)

A Maid Would Have Her Way

  • Κουράσιν εβουλήθηκε ⬥ A maid would go would go a-strolling and then go back again. She called her neighbours together yes, by Saint George and the young girls, too. And she went down to the shore save me, Saint George, save me they went down to the sea. They saw [...]
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  • SongPropontisNicomedea, KatirliFable Song (Ballad)

A Prince Is to Be Wed

(Evil In-Laws)

  • Αρχοντογιός παντρεύεται ⬥ A prince is to be wed to a dark-eyed bride whose folk sought refuge here. His bride-to-be’s from uprooted stock, little refugee I weep for thee. When his mother heard the news she uprooted trees, dearest dark-eyed maid, she uprooted trees, uprooted maid I weep for thee. [...]
Τα τρία αγαθά της γης
  • SongCentral GreeceFthiotida, AmphicleiaWedding Song

A Slender Girl Is to Be Wed

  • Παντρεύεται μια λυγερή ⬥ Studio recording, 2006. Domna Samiou learned the song from Anthi Panourgia-Prassou, in 2003.
Τα τρία αγαθά της γης
  • SongCentral GreeceFthiotida, Amphicleia

A Widow Sold Wine

  • Μια χήρα πούλαγε κρασί ⬥ Studio recording, 2006. Domna Samiou learned the song from Anthi Panourgia-Prassou, in 2003.
Η Ευγενούλα η μοσχονιά
  • SongThraceEvros, Neos PyrgosCharon's Song, Fable Song (Ballad)

Fair Evgenoula

(Charon and the Maid)

  • Η Ευγενούλα η μοσχονιά ⬥ Evgenoula, the fair maid beloved by all, went and boasted she had no fear of death, that she had houses tall and a sweetheart brave and strong and nine brothers to man the castle walls. And when Charon heard her words, they pleased him not [...]
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  • SongEastern Thrace & RoumeliaFable Song (Ballad), Philosophical Song

I Passed by and Bade Good Day

  • Πέρασα καλημέρισα ⬥ I passed by and bid four black eyes good day, four lips, dear Daphne, four red lips. Four red lips and two lithe, slender frames, I passed them by, dear Daphne, and asked them the way. They didn’t say a word, and I set off anyways along [...]
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  • SongEastern Thrace & RoumeliaFable Song (Ballad), Prison Song

No Father Had I

(The Wine Bearer)

  • Εγώ είμαι ορφανό παιδί ⬥ No father had I, my mother was a widow. My mother was a widow and sold me, sold me into service to a good master. My master was joyful, his son was to wed, and bade me serve his guests from a golden jug. With [...]
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  • SongEastern Thrace & RoumeliaFable Song (Ballad)

The Dead Brother

  • Του νεκρού αδελφού ⬥ What a mother, vai aman aman, what a fine mother, what a mother, ela giareni mou ela, what a fine mother is she with, vai aman aman, with the nine sons and, ela giareni mou ela, the only daughter. Matchmakers came from Babylon to take Areti far away to foreign [...]
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Records

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  • AlbumCD, Digital release2008Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

Folk Fables in Song

In fables, fragments of ancient myths are preserved. On this CD, Domna Samiou & her collaborators sing tales of the fabulous and the fantastic combining the real world with the supernatural and narrating stories, often tragic, which might once have occurred – or could do so one day – however […]
Τα τρία αγαθά της γης
  • AlbumDigital releaseDomna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

The Earth’s Three Bounties

Wheat, wine, oil He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate· bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts (Psalm 104, 15)
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