Sofia Labropoulou & Vassilis Ketentzoglou

Guitar Kanun Duet – Butterfly

Versatile musicians Sofia Labropoulou and Vassilis Ketentzoglou have created a repertory for this unprecedented combination, resulting in a new and fresh musical sound-world; a meeting of minds and cultures. On one hand, there is the guitar: a fretted, well-tempered, polyphonic ‘Western’ string instrument; on the other, the kanun: a zither-like ‘Eastern’ string instrument, capable of playing microtonal scales, and typically played as a monophonic solo instrument.

The two musicians have found innovative ways to blend these contrasting musical worlds: the guitar sometimes becomes an ‘Eastern’ solo instrument, playing microtonal melodies and ornamenting as Middle Eastern instruments do, and the kanun becomes like a ‘Western’ instrument, playing chords or even counterpoint.



Reviews:

"If what you will hear will sound Greek to you literally, then you are taking an important lesson of jazz where improvisation can come in any form, with any instrument and at any time. Sofia is a master of kanun, an Eastern instrument of microtones, while Vassilis plays the good old acoustic guitar. The result is a set of original compositions which contain both western and eastern type (taksim) of improvisations. Worth listening without falling into the trap of world music." – Viktor Bensusan, Jazzdergisi.com (Turkey)



"Sofia Labropoulou and Vassilis Ketentzoglou with their "Butterfly" present a comprehensive work that far surpasses a mere "east meets west" collaboration." – George Athanasopoulos, Merlins.gr (Greece)



"The reverent listening experience of the album "Butterfly" by Guitar – Kanun duet led us to recall some otherworldly albums from the past, such as "Kulanjan" (1999) by Taj Mahal / Toumani Diabate and "Ocean Blues" (2000) by Djeli Moussa Diawara & Bob Brozman. It may seem like a big statement now, but that's how it is." – Fondas Trousas, lifo.gr (Greece)

Musician, Composer: Sofia LabropoulouMusician, Composer: Vassilis Ketentzoglou