Mother & Athina Kontou - Tzivaeri (2022) [Hi-Res]

Greek-influenced jazz: On her debut record, Cologne bassist Athina Kontou impressively demonstrates how arbitrary and superfluous geographical, cultural or traditional demarcation lines are. Her music is a great invitation to all who simply want to listen and marvel without reservation.

For some time now, the name Athina Kontou has stood for a deep understanding of the unleashing powers of music. So far, the bassist with the earthy tone has been heard in very different contexts, for example alongside saxophonist Luise Volkmann or pianist Johannes Bigge. With her debut "Tzivaeri", the German-Greek now sets her own accents and presents an album with arrangements of pieces from Greek musical culture.

The title track of the album is a very well-known folk song from the Dodecanese, which, like so many traditional Greek songs, is about emigration - a theme that permeates recent Greek history. It is the funeral song of a mother who misses her child. In her song, the mother speaks to her child, whom she herself had to send into emigration so that he could have a better life. "Tzivaeri mou" means "my treasure" in the local Greek language, which is influenced by many cultures.