Kantu Korpu | Athens, Greece
WEB | VIDEO

Kantu Korpu means "song of the body" in the Vlach language, a dialect spoken in some areas of Northern Greece. The band presents a breakthrough, innovative body music performance, drawing inspiration and material from the rich Greek musical tradition, such as odd rhythms and tunes from Macedonia and Thrace or Rebetiko songs. Greek tradition, an interesting melting pot of East and West, of Mediterranean and the Balkans, blends with contemporary arrangements and choreography to produce a visual and audible result delivered from the body as the musical medium.

Founded in 2009, Kantu Korpu counts already a good number of collaborations, with Greek bands "Kitrina podilata" and "Musica mista", with international tap dancers and body music performers as Leela Petronio (Stomp, Hip-Tap Project), Max Pollak (RumbaTap), Heather Cornell and Keith Terry, appearances in festivals like "Going Youth" in Athens and "TapMotif Rhythm Summit" in Lefkada, and mainly the participation to IBMF (International Body Music Festival), directed by Keith Terry, in 2011 in San Francisco, and in 2012 in Istanbul.

Thanos Daskalopoulos: (arrangements, composition) A tap dancer, mentored by Heather Cornell and Max Pollak, Thanos is involved in various projects from jazz and funk to afro, Brazilian and Greek music and has also incorporated body music as a main element in his latest project the "Prime Time jazz trio." While performing and teaching around the globe, he is teaching regularly at the Orff Institute in Athens and runs a body music choir at Playground Studios.

Simone Mongelli: (composition, arrangements) Internationally acknowledged and awarded percussionist, body music performer and educator, graduated in Ethnomusicology (Italy) and in Traditional Percussions (Greece); also a drummer, composer, creator and director of theatre shows, with multiple interests from free improvisation to early music. His extremely personal language focuses on sound research and self-expression, finding roots in traditional cultures and interiority, fusing styles and musical idioms. Approached body percussion in 2008, through seminars with Max Pollak and Stomp members Leela Petronio and Simone Clarke.

Maria Alatsatianou: (vocals) Maria first met traditional singing as a child, and after her studies in piano, violin and music theory, started to explore the rich world of Greek singing tradition, beginning from the eastern heritage of minor Asia, where her family comes from, and the archaic polyphony of Western Greece, slowly expanding her interest to the traditions of the rest of the Mediterranean, especially Southern Italy and Portugal, until jazz and modern music. Collaborates with Kantu Korpu since 2012.