- country:Greece
- style(s):Jazz, Traditional
- label:ECM Export
- type:Quartet
- instrumentation:instrumental
- artist posted by:Listen Loud
Line up
- Dimitris Emmanouil (Drums)
- Dimitris Tsekouras (Bass)
- Sokratis Sinopoulos (Lyra)
- Yann Keerim (Piano)
Links
“When Sokratis Sinopoulos plays, I can see all the history vibrating with the ancient sounds of the strings.”
Charles Lloyd
Sokratis Sinopoulos is a contemporary master of the lyra, a bowed instrument that dates back to the Byzantine era. His playing is delicate and nuanced yet highly expressive, and his proficiency on the instrument has been widely acclaimed. Sinopoulos is equally comfortable crossing genre boundaries into jazz and classical, as he is staying true to folk traditions of Greece and Eastern Mediterranean.
We’ve heard him playing live and on recordings with Charles Lloyd, Jean Guihen Queyras, Eleni Karaindrou and Loreena McKennitt, among others, leaving his own expressive stamp on musical idioms ranging all the way from the traditional to the contemporary international repertoire.
Born in Athens, Sokratis Sinopoulos studied classical guitar, Byzantine music and folk song before taking up the lyra at the age of 14, under the instruction of Ross Daly. Sinopoulos' remarkable talent was immediately apparent, and within a year he joined Daly's group, Labyrinth. He became highly prolific, contributing to recordings by countless musicians all around the world. Sinopoulos was awarded the Melina Mercouri award for young artists in 1999. In 2010, Sinopoulos started collaborating with American jazz musician Charles Lloyd and this experience had a profound effect on Sinopoulos, inspiring him to take his sound in new directions. It was then when he formed Sokratis Sinopoulos Quartet. In addition to his activities as a musician and composer Sokratis Sinopoulos has been involved in research and production for the Domnia Samiou Greek Folk Music Association, and he is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Musical Science and Art at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki.
Sokratis Sinopoulos Quartet is consisting of pianist Yann Keerim, bassist Dimitris Tsekouras, and drummer Dimitris Emmanouil. The debut album of the Quartet, entitled Eight Winds was released in 2015, and received excellent reviews globally. Four years after, the Quartet returns with the aptly-named Metamodal. Both albums were produced by Manfred Eicher for ECM Records.