Michalis Zambas

Born in 1982 in Preveza, Epirus. He started his music studies in violin and Music Theory at a young age at the Preveza Municipal Conservatoire. At the age of nine, he was introduced to Greek music – ecclesiastical and folk–, at the school of the Holy Metropolis of Nicopolis and Preveza, where he completed his studies. In 1999 he won the first prize in Byzantine music and traditional singing in the Pan-Hellenic student competition of the Ministry of Education.

While a student at the School of Theology, University of Athens, he continued his occupation with Greek music, first at the Simon Karas ‘Association for the Dissemination of National Music’ and later next to the Protopsaltis (first chanter) Lykourgos Angelopoulos.

In 2001 he obtained a diploma in Byzantine music from the ‘Nikos Skalkotas’ Conservatoire and during the years 2001-2003 he was a regular member of the Greek Byzantine Choir, participating in many events in Greece and abroad. From 2001 to 2005 he was a member of the polyphonic group ‘Chaonia’. He also plays various traditional musical instruments, such as the santur, the kanun, the violin, and the lute.

He has collaborated with many prominent musicians, such as Chronis Aidonidis, Petro-Loukas Chalkias, Savvas Siatras, and others. He has also participated in numerous concerts and music events, as well as in a large number of recording sessions. Since 2005 he is cultural director and a teacher at the Traditional Music Choir of the Preveza Municipal Conservatoire.

Source: Michalis Zambas

Songs

Records

This videotaped stage performance, held at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus on 2005, includes songs and rituals related to the cycle of the agricultural year,.
Tales of the fabulous and the fantastic combining the real world with the supernatural. Narrating stories, often tragic, which might once have occurred – or could do so one day.
The down-to-earth love of nature in these folk songs doesn’t derive from any form of romantic nostalgia; it lies instead in a pure experience of everyday life.
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.
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)
This CD is a good companion to those who want to offer their children a hint of a different magical world.

Concerts

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.