Short description
Xenitia.16 combines music, testimonies and images into a documentary on stage that honors the feelings of missing, nostalgia and the search for home that all migrants share. These have been expressed in countless Greek melodies. A team of musicians, a filmmaker and a journalist give them their up-to-date meaning, guided by the stories of Greeks who recently had to leave their country.
The team
Percussion: Evi Filippou
Harp: Andrea Voets
Singer and songwriter: Katerina Fotinaki
Film and dramaturgy: Fabio Dondero and Chiara Somajni
The project in context
Xenitia < xeniteuomai: to distance yourself from the homeland, in an attempt to build up an existence elsewhere. Etymology: being at the service of a foreign army, as opposed to being a citizen
Xenitia.16 follows the footsteps of the latest wave of Greek migrants throughout Europe. Right now, Greece is experiencing the third exodus in a hundred years’ time, caused by a financial crisis which has had worse effects on the country than the Great Depression on the United States in the ‘30. Since 2008, 1 out of 50 Greeks has left the country.
Europe is experiencing an unprecedented flux of migration since World War II, making the old notion of xenitia more actual than ever. It is a cocktail of homesickness, nostalgia and frustration: feelings that have been expressed in countless melodies. In the traditional, often melancholic songs of xenitia, the listener finds an outlet for these emotions.
Eighteen Greek migrants, who had to leave because of the crisis, were interviewed about their views on belonging, the sense of home and their personal path. Their voices, arranged by filmmaker Fabio Dondero and journalist Chiara Somajni, are carried out in this documentary-concert, together with a contemporary interpretation of the traditional songs of xenitia. The music is shaped by the poetic mastery of singer-composer Katerina Fotinaki, the rhythmical intensity of percussionist Evi Filippou and the contemplative coloring by harpist Andrea Voets. An innovative approach, in which music and interviews merge into a compelling unity, that honours the challenges every migrant faces.
After a strict selection process, Xenitia.16 got financed by the Dutch Ministry of Culture, as part of the Europe by People festival on the occasion of the Dutch presidency of the EU in 2016. After the premiere at the Compagnietheater in Amsterdam (April 2016), the program is going on a European tour, starting with a performance at de Grote Post, Oostende, Belgium.
THE MUSIC OF XENITIA.16
Xenitemenomou pouli – traditional (arrangement Katerina Fotinaki)
Soleil de la justice – music: Mikis Theodorakis, poetry: Odysseus Elytis (arrangement Katerina Fotinaki)
Dance from Volos – traditional melody (arrangement Evi Filippou) Zorbas – Mikis Théodorakis ( lm music from Zorba the greek)
Never on Sunday – Manos Hadjidakis ( lm music from Never on Sunday) Amanes – traditional (arrangement Katerina Fotinaki)
Hammers – Nils Frahm (arrangement Andrea Voets)
Europe – music: Katerina Fotinaki, Poetry of Kostis Palamas Rebonds – Iannis Xenakis
Yanni mou to mantili sou – traditional (vocal arrangement Katerina Fotinaki) Mia thalassa mikri – Dionyssis Savopoulos
Labyrinth dance (Theseus and Ariadne) – from The Crown of Ariadne
by R. Murray-Schafer
Ta Tzitzikia – music: Katerina Fotinaki, poetry: Odysseus Elytis
Duration: 90 minutes
BIOGRAPHIES
Andrea Voets (BE/NL, 1989), as a performer, stands for non-conformity and authenticity. In 2014 she finished her master studies at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. Before that, she obtained her BA of philosophy and harp in Amsterdam. Since her early study days, Andrea combines her many interests into unique interdisciplinary concert formats, like Latin Lovers (with calligraphy, on the Ars Amatoria by Ovid), Born to be Wilde (with word art, on the turbulent life of Oscar Wilde) and Noot breekt Wet (on the philosophy of Hannah Arendt). Her studies and productions have been funded by a.o. the Prince Bernhard Cultuurfonds, the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, SmartBE and music fund Stringendo. Since 2014 she teaches her own course of Practical music philosophy at the Berlin Hanns Eisler conservatory. In 2015 she made her successful debut at the Concertgebouw of Bruges. In 2016 she holds an Elsa Neumann Stipendium from Berlin and got selected for the Concerto21 program of the Töpfer Stiftung and the First Citizen Artist Incubator. www.andreavoets.com