Beyond the Borders

ECM 2585 (2018)

From the beginning Maria Farantouri has been working Beyond the Borders as a citizen of the world: Greek perfectly and therefore international. As early as 1977, her repertoire extends beyond Greek borders including compositions by artists from all over the world. Now, a new collaboration with a Turkish composer, after Zülfü Livaneli and Fuat Saka, ends with this CD combining musical traditions of the East with Western music, from the Middle Ages to the modern era, as compiled by composer Cihan Türkoğlu with sensitivity and knowledge. in addition to his own songs, he arranges some traditional songs for two of which Greek lyrics are written.

Music: Cihan Türkoğlu & Traditional
Lyrics: Agathi Dimitrouka, Vassiliki Nevrokopli, Maria Thoidou

Maria Farantouri: voice
Cihan Türkoğlu: saz, kopuz, voice, arrangements
Anja Lechner: violoncello
Meri Vardanyan: qanun
Christos Barbas: ney
İzzet Kizil: percussion

01. Drama köprüsü
(Traditional of Turkey – Maria Thoidou)
02. Yo era ninya
(Traditional Sephardic)
03. Two worlds, one embrace
(Cihan Türkoğlu – Agathi Dimitrouka)
04. Rose tree
(Traditional of Greek Macedonia)
05. Wa habibi!
(Christian hymn of Syria and Lebanon – Vassiliki Nevrokopli)
06. Everything flows
(Cihan Türkoğlu – Heraclitus fragments adapted by Agathi Dimitouka)
07. Longing for life
(Cihan Türkoğlu – Agathi Dimitouka)
08. Open sorrow
(Cihan Türkoğlu – Agathi Dimitouka)
09. Kele kele
(Traditional of Armenia preserved by Komitas Vardapet)

21.06.2019, ECM Official Website, Germany
Beyond the Borders

12.07.2019, Financial Times, UK
Music at the Crossroads by D.Honigmann

05.08.2019, Kulturtipp, Γερμανία
Grenzenlose Musik by U. Hangartner
She is the great Lady of the Greek Song: Maria Farantouri representing with her voice like no other the artistic music and the politically conscious Greece.
It is limitless music in the best sense, in the spirit of Maria Farantouri…

14.08.2019, Fono Forum, Γερμανία
Maria Farantouri – Cinan Türkoğlu | Beyond the Borders by Sven Thielmann
…lyrics that cannot be understood without profound knowledge of Greek. But thanks to Maria Farantouri’s intensive art of word expression, you can feel the poetry…

25.08.2019, Marlbank, UK
Maria Farantouri, Beyond the Borders by St.Graham