Valia Calda - Homeland (2023)

“My homeland is where hate, I have given
And hate, deeper than any place else, I have received”
— Yannis Aggelakas

The words of poet-songwriter Yiannis Aggelakas, lead singer of the iconic Greek post-punk band Trypes, are the inspiration behind Valia Calda’s second album, to be released in May 2023 by independent label Deep Mountain Records.
For Greek brothers Nikos and Thodoris Ziarkas, who founded Valia Calda in London in 2013, composing the eight tracks that make up the new album was a personal journey that demanded an interrogation of their own experiences of homeland and migration.
Like countless other Greeks of generations past and present, Thodoris and Nikos travelled abroad searching for their own path. Their yearning for the people and places left behind, drawing on a theme of nostalgia which has left such a deep imprint on the folk songs of the Greek diaspora, makes itself felt in tracks Koutselio, Crossing the Warm Valley.
The ideas of homeland and migration also herald an exploration of Valia Calda’s musical roots, which lie in the folk music of Epirus and psychedelic jazz, and tangle here with punk inspired guitar riffs and meditative improvisations in the tracks The Stalker, Homeland and Deep Cave in the Mountains.
While tracks Nostalgia and Isolation, But in The End We’ll Be Together, and To be with You, convey the bitter sense of feeling let down and rejected by one’s homeland—remembering ancestors being persecuted by fascist regimes of the past and thinking of brothers and sisters fighting on the streets of Athens today—Homeland also shares the joyful moments of dreaming that accompany departure, offering glimpses of hope that a new land can become a home.

Sam Warner - trumpet and flugelhorn
James Allsopp - tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Nikos Ziarkas - guitar and electronics
Gaspar Sena - drums and percussion (3)
Thodoris Ziarkas - double bass, electric bass (5), karpathian Lyra (3)

Tracks 1, 4, 5, 6, 8 composed by Nikos Ziarkas
Tracks 2, 3, 7 composed by Thodoris Ziarkas

Tracklist:
1.01 - Valia Calda - Koutselio (2:21)
1.02 - Valia Calda - Stalker (5:16)
1.03 - Valia Calda - Crossing The Warm Valley (8:42)
1.04 - Valia Calda - Nostalgia and Isolation (4:04)
1.05 - Valia Calda - Homeland (7:58)
1.06 - Valia Calda - To Be Like You (2:53)
1.07 - Valia Calda - Deep Cave In The Mountains (6:07)
1.08 - Valia Calda - But In The End We'll Be Together (6:19)