debonos sotiris

Debonos Sotiris is indepedent musician, who started as classical guitarist and mandolinist. The last 10 years alone, or in collaboration with others, plays cotemporary, imrovisised or avant-garde music, using one custom electric mandoline-guitar, together with live electronics. Above under the names Duet II, Trio –live in collaboration with Ilan Mannuach sax and Ioannis Natsinas cello you can listen to samples of unreleased fully improvised music without any prerecorded material or afterwords edits. The rest tracks are from the lately releases FARWEST-tribal dances (CD) and FILM MUSIC (10” Vinyl)

FILM MUSIC

This is a 10" vinyl-only release coming out in 500 numbered copies (and 25 numbered promo copies). It also includes a cd-r with the tracks in mp3 format and a video art inspired by the Film Musik tracks. The video art is captured and edited by Socos (of Socos & The Live Project Band). This is the musik for a film that was never shot. Cinematic, minimal, improvisation - call it what you may. It transforms every time that you hear it. And although classical guitar, violin and viola, nei, and percussion are the key instruments, you could swear that what you hear is... electronica. Anyway... Who cares about a description when you can hear the real thing...

FARWEST-tribal dances-

"FARWEST-tibal dances" is his second solo CD (after the "OURAKAS" one-2000) and it is allready released

Sotiris Debonos was for many years under the persistency to produce some music with material motivated by the Ionian Musical School, which has no relation to the Eastern musical modes but follows purely the Western modes and aesthetics.

He was listening, a certain morning, the record “Codona Vol.2” by Don Cherry, Collin Walcott and Nana Vasconcelos and this shaped the plot of making a set of dances referring to a tribe, indefinable in space and time - thus came the subheading “tribal dances”.

The initial idea was the work to be purely acoustic; however, when Debonos listened together with the co-producer Antonis Livieratos early drafts of the material where loops from “Tijuana Moods” by Charles Mingus were used in place of bass and percussion, it was decided the whole of the material to be driven in an entirely electronic direction and also to take the title “FARWEST”, with reference to their common place of origin (Cephalonia – Ionian Islands), which happens to be the utmost western place of Greece, in both the geographical and the cultural terms.

Samples (brief themes) were used from mandolins recorded live in local taverns and from brass bands and choirs recorded in the streets, combined with processed loops from Debonos’ records.

The work “Supermodified” by Amon Tobin influenced at that time the moulding of certain of the above ideas.

Sotiris Debonos plays mandolin, synths and electric guitar and there is a contribution by Savinna Yannatou (vocalist of the well known group “Primavera in Salonico”) in the vocals.

The CD comprises 11 tracks, each having a dual title, for example the title “De Bossett Bridge – A Farewell Dance” –track 11– refers to an actual existing bridge at Farwest and also to the fact that this bridge is the usual passage of the dead when conveyed to their last rest.

Such factual information, according to Sotiris Debonos, has no special interest to the listener, who is invited to listen to the CD at high volume under the illusion that it is a musicological recording of the dances of an undefined animistic tribe.