Musicians: Nicoletta Demetriou (voice), Nikitas Tampakis (viola), Panayotis League (laouto), and Roger Mgrdichian (oud)
Throughout history, Cyprus has been variously described as ‘the island of love’, ‘the birthplace of Aphrodite’, ‘the blessed isle’, ‘the land of lemon and olive trees’, among many other things. But in the past half-century, Cyprus has also been known as a land of pain and sorrow; an island of division and loss.
On this ‘Musical Journey to Cyprus’, Nicoletta Demetriou (voice), Nikitas Tampakis (viola), Panayotis League (laouto) and Roger Mgrdichian (oud) explore this varied identity, as expressed through the island’s music and song. Join these four accomplished musicians on an imaginary journey to Cyprus, as they sing about the joys and intricacies of love, the pain and sorrow of loss, and the hope for better days to come.
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Nicoletta Demetriou is an ethnomusicologist and singer specializing in the traditional music and oral poetry of Cyprus. Born and raised in Cyprus, she has been performing Cypriot traditional songs since childhood. In addition to Cyprus, she has performed in the UK and the US, where she was a Fulbright Fellow and a Visiting Fellow in Hellenic Studies at Princeton. She has a PhD in Ethnomusicology from SOAS, University of London, and currently serves as director of Cyprus Music Archive, a non-profit organization founded by herself in 2022.
Nikitas Tampakis is a violist, vocalist, and composer. He received his undergraduate degree in computer science and linguistics from Princeton University, where he was a member of the university orchestra, band, and chapel choir. Nikitas regularly produces and directs Greek concert programs for the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies at Princeton. As a member of the Sináfi Music Collective and collaborator of Grigoris Maninakis, Nikitas frequently performs in venues throughout the northeast US. Outside of music, Nikitas is the Director of Application Development at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries and oversees the Digital Library program, including the website, search engine, and digital collections systems.
Panayotis League is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and musicologist specializing in the traditional music and oral poetry of the Greek diaspora and music inspired by its prevailing textures and themes. He has performed extensively across the US, Europe, Greece, and Brazil, and been featured on dozens of recordings. He holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology from Harvard University, and serves as Assistant Professor of Musicology and Director of the Center for Music of the Americas at Florida State University.
Roger Mgrdichian is a multi-instrumentalist and composer from Philadelphia PA, currently residing in Collingswood NJ. He is self-taught on the oud and is versed in the traditional music of his Anatolian ancestors. His diverse musical background includes classical and folk music of the middle east, belly dance accompaniment, flamenco, Sephardic, Indian and jazz, in addition to middle east rock fusion. Roger is an original member of the middle east/Indian fusion ensemble Jaffna for over 25 years. He also has a long history with Atzilut Concerts for Peace, a 10-member Arab/Jewish peace orchestra which has played concerts around the world and is a founding member of Barakka, an innovative Turkish folk-rock band popular in the Philadelphia area which has toured extensively though Turkey.
