Amiandos by Yannis Kyriakides

 

The newest album from Yannis Kyriakides is a tale put into music and beyond. A story of, now non-existent asbestos mine in Cyprus who was under British rule and the mine itself was even worse a separate company, with a police protection is a grim evidence of what colonial past Cyprus had. The Pathé News sample at the beginning of the track refers to a 'Renos Kyriakides' (no direct relation) who was responsible for the bombing of the Amiandos police station, one of the first targets of the EOKA colonial uprising against the British in 1955

It's a tale of melancholic reverb but into an absolutely masterful way. First track contains a piece of Lawrence Durell's "Bitter Lemons of Cyprus" which gives it even more depth. 

It's a tale of psychogeography filled with the voices of the past when Yannis uses archival bits of material - it brings the vibe of his grandfather's favourite cafe who used to work in the mine in Amiandos. It shows the state of ecological damage, too. Especially in the track A secret Lake/Million Voices - a place damaged by the heavy industry - a damage done not only to the workers but foremostly to nature.

An electroacoustic/electronic aspect of this work is elusive - beautifully unclassifiable but at the same time very present, much to Yannis' skill of his musical storytelling. High class to be exact.

Acknowledgments

Text on Side of the Mountain from Lawrence Durrell, Bitter Lemons of Cyprus (1957). Piano sample on Thin Dust from the Liberty 78 record: Far Away from the Motherland by Georges Guetary. Ghost of Spring uses many short samples amongst others from the Folkways music compilation (1962), and the excellent 7 CD compilation of music from Cyprus by the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation. Empire within an Empire uses a sample from a 1956 Pathé news clip. The voice sample from Enaerios is from Palia Laterna by Trio Kitara (1958). A Secret Lake/ A Million Voices is based on musical material composed for an installation performance Spectrum by theatre group Schweigman&. All music created in Amsterdam 2020-2022 by Yannis Kyriakides. Design by Isabelle Vigier.

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