Kostas Meretakis

Kostas Meretakis was born in Athens in 1979. He has played traditional percussion from an early age. He studied Western musical theory and the electric organ under Efstathios Christelis and Ioannis Kastrinos and graduated from the Musical High School of Palene, where he was taught traditional percussion by Vangelis Karipis. He also attended percussion seminars by Zohar Fresco at the 'Labyrinthos' Musical Workshop organised by Ross Daly.

He has participated in concerts in Greece and abroad, in record productions, radio and television programs and has collaborated with singers of traditional and current Greek music.

In 1998 he started teaching traditional percussion at the Municipal Conservatoire of Patra and at the Museum of Traditional Greek Musical Instruments 'Phoebos Anogianakis'. He has also taught at the Musical High School in Palene. Since 2002 he teaches at the Municipal Conservatoire of Aspropyrgos and since 2006 in the 'Efxeinos Pontos' Musical School.

He is a member of the 'Estoudiadina' Orchestra, of the Traditional Music Orchestra of the Municipality of Aspropyrgos and the groups 'Elefthero Apomonomeno' and 'Balkart', and is a founding member of the group 'Takim'.

Source: Kostas Meretakis

Songs

Τα τρία αγαθά της γης
  • SongSporadesSkiathosCarnival Song, Lampoon

All Day Long I Reaped

  • Όλη μέρα θέριζα ⬥ Studio recording, 2006. Local dance, danced during the Carnival period called “apokriatikos”.
d24
  • SongPeloponneseLove Song

All the Birds, Two by Two

  • Όλα τα πουλάκια ζυγά-ζυγά ⬥ All the birds, amàn amàn, the birds nest two by two, all the birds two by two, the swallow with his mate. The lonesome nightingale all alone awanders the plains with the eagle. Walking, talking and singing away. – Hey you, peddler, from Missolόnghi, Where [...]
In the middle of the sea
  • SongEastern AegeanSamothraceLove SongCouplets

As I Turn and See Your Angle Face

  • Όταν γυρίσω και το δω ⬥ Studio recording, 2002. Collected in Samothrace by Nikólaos B. Phardýs, at the end of the 19th century
Τα τρία αγαθά της γης
  • SongCentral GreeceViotia, Avlida

At the Mountain of St. Theodoros

  • Στ' Άγιο Θοδώρου το βουνό ⬥ Studio recording, 2006.
Τα τρία αγαθά της γης
  • SongThraceImmigration Song

Between Two Mountains

  • Σε δυο βουνά ανάμεσα ⬥ Studio recording, 2006.
Τραγούδια του γάμου
  • SongDodecaneseRhodesWedding Song

Bless the Couple Holy Mary

  • Νέβα κατέβα Παναγιά ⬥ Studio recording, 2008. Based on Simon Karas' recording which belongs to the Association for the Dissemination of Greek National Music. Local dance known as "siganos".
In the middle of the sea
  • SongEastern AegeanSamothraceWedding Song

By the Threshing Floor

  • Εδώ πέρα κι αντίπερα ⬥ Studio recording, 2002. Collected in Samothrace by Nikólaos B. Phardýs, at the end of the 19th century.
d24
  • SongPeloponneseLove Song

Come Out, My Sun, Come Out

  • Έβγα ήλιε μ' έβγα ⬥ Come out, my sun, come out, come out, my sun, come out just a little. Come out, my sun, come out just a little so we can take a turn around the garden. Skittish, skittish thing so small and playful. So I can find a [...]
Τα τρία αγαθά της γης
  • SongCreteCouplets

Couplets for Raki

  • Δίστιχα για το ρακί ⬥ Studio recording, 2006.
Τα τρία αγαθά της γης
  • SongCrete

Couplets of the Olive Tree

  • Δίστιχα για την ελιά ⬥ Studio recording, 2006.
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Records

d28
  • AlbumCD, Digital release2008Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

I Tread the Earth Gently

This CD is the proof of what an enthusiast Maecenas can achieve! Here Domna collected some of her most favourable songs: slow and tranquil songs, melodious and sad; songs of sorrow and of love, of parting and of loved ones far away. These songs are rarely, if ever, included in […]
In the middle of the sea
  • AlbumCD2002Friends of the Melpo Merlier Music Folklore Archives

In the Middle of the Sea

Songs from Samothrace
d24
  • 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 […]
d25
  • AlbumCD, Digital release2007Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

Songs of History and Heroes

The retelling of fine, magnificent, heroic deeds from the past has always inspired a future path for every nation, the weft on which its future is woven. Austere and Doric, as stern as the heroes they describe, these songs from history function both as chronicles and musical myths, and as […]
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)
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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