6 CLARINETS THAT LEFT THEIR MARK IN GREECE
(I'm not sure about my translation; if you have a better one ...)
VENUS, V 1029, no date
6 KΛΑΡΙΝΑ ΠΟΥ AΦΗΣΑΝ EΠΟΧΗ ΣΤΗΝ EΛΛΑΔΑ
Perhaps edited in the 1980's, this album puts forward 6 clarinet players who made records between the 1930's and the 1950's. They are Nikitas Kotsopoulos, Nikos Karakostas, Kostas Karayiannis, Yiannis Kyriakatis, Vassilis Tromaras and Kostas Kontoyiorgos. They came from the centre of Greece mostly from Thessaly. The clarinet is the main wind instrument in Greece now and was introduced around 1840.It replaced other traditional instruments such as the bagpipe (gaida), the floyera (end-blown flute), the zurna (oboe) and other kinds of reed-instruments like the karamouza, the pipiza etc... Some of the players on this album started music on those country instruments before taking up the clarinet. They were sought after by the principal record companies of the period. Most of them moved to Athens in the 1920's for work and played in famous places located on a square called Lavriou. All the recordings are original 78rpm some in good shape others less well preserved. A great album if you like Greek clarinet playing.
The presentation text is in Greek only.
Wow!!! Great artists!! Thank you very much for this diamond!!
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