Ilias Yfantidis

Born in 1976 in Athens. He grew up in a family of deep musical tradition, with the sound of the Pontic lyra; his grandfather played the lyra as well.

At the age of seven he began his music studies at the Hellenic Conservatoire of Athens and in other conservatoires. Up until he was fifteen he played the bouzouki. In 1991, he joined for two years the dance society of the Pontic Association of Agia Varvara ‘O Faros’, where his first contact with the Pontic tradition took place. The following year, he started lyra lessons at the ‘Efxinos Pontos’ Pontic Association of Korydallos, with Yiorgos Amarantidis, who also helped him cultivate and develop his talent in singing.

At the age of nineteen he released his first personal album entitled Ego Pontiopoul’ eimai ta’ onoma m’ en Ilia. Apart from lyra he also plays the Pontic bagpipe and the flute. Other personal albums include the following: Pontos… opse – osimeron kai panta and Avdes Pontou.

He has participated in many concerts, events, music and theatre shows, in Greece and abroad, playing the lyra and singing. He has also collaborated and participated in the recordings of many artists.

He teaches the lyra as well as the Pontic dialect and music; moreover, he writes lyrics and composes music. He has also created works for musical theatres, on the history and culture of the Pontic Hellenism.

Source: Ilias Yfantidis

Songs

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  • SongPontusAcritic Song

Akritas Goes Hunting

(The Death of Digenis)

  • Ακρίτας πάει και σο κυνήγ' ⬥ Out hunting, on the way to the hunting grounds, Akritas met Charon at a crossroads. – Charon, what've you got against me that you'll always following me? They call me Akritas, and God have mercy on your warrior's soul. – Hush thy boasting, my [...]
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  • SongPontusAcritic Song

An Eagle Soared

  • Αϊτέντς επαραπέτανεν ⬥ An eagle soared high in the sky, high in the heavens with its bloody red jaws and its soot black crown and clutching a brave lad’s arm in its talons. – Hey, eagle, give me what you’re clutching, tell me where you got it. – I’ll not [...]
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  • SongPontusFable Song (Ballad)

At Trichas’ Bridge

  • Σην γέφυραν, σην γέφυραν (Της Τρίχας το γεφύρι) ⬥ At the bridge, at the bridge, at Trichas’ bridge. A thousand builders hard at work, and ten thousand apprentices. They’d build all day long and find it undone in the morning. – What will you give me, master builder to make [...]
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  • SongPontusWedding Song

Close to Daybreak

  • Σιμά σα ξημερώματα ⬥ Close to daybreak, dawn’s crack in the East, the Morning Star aloft, first light near at hand. The sun was a- telling, ‘daughter you’re leaving home’. The moon looks on and laughs, the leaves murmur, a breeze blows off the meadow, the fir trees shimmer. Translated [...]
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  • SongPontusEskikıranPhilosophical Song

If I Die, Bury Me

  • Αν αποθάνω, θάψον με ⬥ If I die, bury me on a tall mountain so I can hear the shepherd’s whistle and the pipe’s sweet sound, so I can hear the shepherd’s whistle and the flute’s sweet sound. Mountains of mine, why do you whistle? Rivers why do you murmur? [...]
Τα παλαιά μου βάσανα
  • SongPontusInstrumental

Kótsari

  • Κότσαρι ⬥ Dance tune in 2-beat rhythm from Pontus. Live recording from the concert “Songs of Asia Minor with Domna Samiou” at the Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall, on 8/3/2005.
Τραγούδια του γάμου
  • SongPontusWedding Song

Lassie, Leave Your Mother

  • Άφη κόρη μ' την μάνα σου ⬥ Studio recording, 2008.
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  • SongPontusAcritic Song, Fable Song (Ballad)

Marandon

(The Evil Mother-In-Law)

  • Ο Μάραντον ⬥ Word came calling Marandon up to fight. He forged horseshoes out of silver and nails out of gold and shoed his horse in the dead of night in the moonlight, his beloved at his side with the nails in her kerchief. – Where to, Marandon my love, [...]
Τα παλαιά μου βάσανα
  • SongPontusInstrumental

Sereanitsa

  • Σερεανίτσα ⬥ Live recording from the concert ‘Songs of Asia Minor with Domna Samiou’ at the Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall, on 2005. On the Pontic lyra, Ilias Yfantidis.
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  • SongPontusFable Song (Ballad), Sea and Sailors Song

Somewhere in the Aegean Sea

  • Κάτω σην Άσπρην Θάλασσαν ⬥ Somewhere in the Aegean Sea, oh, my heart, my heart, so distant, so far away, my heart is fit to burst. A vessel richly fitted out, set out for ports in Frankish lands. It was manned by Pontic Greeks, by Greeks from ancient lands, They bent their [...]
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Records

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  • AlbumDVD2007Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

Domna Samiou Sings Songs of Nature and of Love

This videotaped stage performance, held at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus on 11th of October 2005, includes songs and rituals related to the cycle of the agricultural year, rewarding human labour and telling of man’s relationship to nature.
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  • AlbumCD, Digital release2017Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

Epic Songs of Warriors and Heroes

The publication includes 30 songs, inspired by the popular tradition of story-telling, relating tales of brave warriors, both high-ranked lords, and lowly soldiers. Centering on heroic Digenis, they originate from all parts of Greece. The publication also contains a detailed booklet analyzing the history surrounding the songs, and their interpretation. […]
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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 παλαιά μου βάσανα
  • AlbumDigital release2022Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

My Old Torments

Songs of Asia Minor by Domna Samiou. Live recording from the concert ‘Songs of Asia Minor with Domna Samiou’ at the Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall, on 8/3/2005. Traditional songs from the western coasts of Asia Minor, Propontis, Constantinople, Pontus and Cappadocia.
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  • AlbumCD, Digital release2006Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

Of Nature and of Love

Through these songs, Domna Samiou pays tribute to how man, in years gone by, worshipped nature as the measure of ultimate beauty, order and harmony, and treated it with awe rather than with the destructive fury of today. The down-to-earth love of nature in these folk songs doesn’t derive from […]
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  • AlbumCD, Digital release2002Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

Songs of Dame Sea

The wealth of Greek traditional music has been enriched by every aspect of maritime tradition – by its values, virtues and charm – as is amply demonstrated by this wonderful collection of songs. They embrace the ways people have sung, since Ulysses, about the temptations of the sea, its risks, […]
Τραγούδια του γάμου
  • AlbumUnreleased collectionDomna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

Wedding Songs

Unpublished collection of thirty-four traditional songs and tunes for the wedding feast, the bride, the groom, the best men and women and all the guests.
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Concerts

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  • Concert
  • 11/10/2005

Domna Samiou Sings Songs of Nature and of Love

Traditional songs and events that follow the course of the cycle of the year. Starting from the autumn, which marks the beginning of the working and ecclesiastical year, a harvest revival, events of the twelve days of Christmas, Easter festivities, Saint John of Kledon customs, and summer festive events.
Μικρασιάτικα τραγούδια με τη Δόμνα Σαμίου
  • Concert
  • 08 & 09/03/2005

Songs of Asia Minor with Domna Samiou

An Asia Minor tribute concert. A tribute to the muse of the historical space of the Greek East. Traditional songs from the western coast of Asia Minor, the Propontis, Constantinople, Pontus and Cappadocia and two Byzantine hymns from the musical tradition of the Orthodox Church. A musical variety that is […]
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