2003 Worldwide Triumph Year for Savina Yannatou

The Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany, calls ECM Records 'lucky to have decided to introduce Savina Yannatou to an international audience' and describes 'the voice of Savina Yannatou, which can be cool and hard, and in the next moment soft and subtle, which can imitate the fluttering of paper and the rolling of pebbles on the beach'. The Washington Post writes that 'Yannatou is not simply the Greek Joan Baez... Her folk material is shaped by the outlook and techniques of a modernist', while the New York Times finds that 'Savina Yannatou's dark, sweet voice suggested the glimmer of the first star at dusk.' Jazz'n More finds Terra Nostra a 'very special CD (that) belongs to the most fascinating, which I have ever heard in the field of ethnic related contemporary folk music.' And Nick Bromell in Tikkun Magazin (USA) states that 'Her voice has incredible intricacies of expression, myriad details of delivery' Part Bessie Smith, part Edith Piaf, part Ornette Coleman, and part Janis Joplin, she is anything but 'quiet'.' The Billing Gazette (USA) states that 'It's a cliche, sure, but the greatest instrument really is the human voice. And, there's no better evidence of that than Savina Yannatou, whose voice soars and swoops and rumbles and howls through Terra Nostra'. She is called a 'Greek Goddess of Song', the 'Greek Nightingale', who 'enchants her audience', holds it 'in her spell'. In short, as the German magazine Jazz Podium explains, 'the music reviews outbid each other since years, only to finally surrender in the face of this voice: 'Savina sang like the angels. Like the nightingales. I have no words to describe it.' Savina Yannatou's voice and her interpretive capacity truly are an extraordinary gift'.

The year 2003 has seen the worldwide release of the Live CD of Savina Yannatou & Primavera en Salonico, with the participation of Tunesian singer Lamia Bedioui, Terra Nostra by the highly esteemed record label ECM Records, which made a rare step in licensing the production of Greek label Lyra. Besides that a successful showcase at 'Strictly Mundial' in Marseille, the fair of the European Forum of World Wide Music Festivals contributed further to the success of the Greek singer and group, as well as the news of the outstanding success of the concert in the Melbourne Concert Hall as part of the official Melbourne Festival in front of an audience of 1600 in October last year and a sold out Queen Elizabeth Hall in January this year. The concerts that followed during this year were not only numerous but met with great success and resulted in a non-ending stream of media appraisal, as mentioned above. Moers New Jazz Festival's program director Burkhard Hennen says about Savina & Primavera en Salonico's performance on 8 June: 'For me personally was the concert of Savina one of the big highlights of the festival, a revelation.' Likewise does Helmut Bürgel, the artistic director of the Stimmen Festival in Loerrach in Southern Germany, say about the concert there on 12 July: 'it was a wonderful concert.... This was a real highlight of this years' 'Stimmen'. A wonderful setting, a wonderful summer night, a highly concentrated audience and Savina and her band on the top level of their music. ...... It was just a wonderful moment of grace, as everything came together - even the moon above the stage at the end of the concert.'

The praise does not only affect Savina Yannatou. Many critics make a point in mentioning the group Primavera en Salonico. So does Hill Rag, USA, state in its April issue: 'The second surprise is the music provided by the group, Primavera en Salonico. This is music which is strong and purposeful in heightening the drama', and fROOTS, UK states that 'Primavera en Salonico is an excellent and versatile band that copes gloriously with the demands made by the various styles on offer ... this CD would be an enjoyable listen even without the vocals. ..there is not a single instrumentalist who is less than excellent'.

• article submitted by: Helen Kontos, United World / ECM Artists in Concert