• 
• Tracks
• Artists
• My List
• What's up
• Contact
• Help

Artists

Chalkias, Petro-Loukas & Kompania

The last of his kind

Contemporary Greek traditional music has its roots in both the classical Greek era and Byzantine church music. Over the centuries, several stylistically distinct music types have also developed as the result of the geographical position of Greece in relation to other Balkan and eastern Mediterranean nations. Broadly speaking, there are two main categories: the music of the mainland and that of the islands. Mainland regions like those of Epirus are each considered distinctive musical areas set apart from one another. Though every region of Epirus has its own specific types of songs and dances, and its own clarinet style, the main categories are: medieval ballads and historic songs, songs connected with the cycle of life and songs connected with the cycle of time. Many of these are two-step and three-step dance songs. The basic instrumental group, or kompania, consists of clarinet, violin, lute and defi (frame drum).

Clarinet playing in Epirus tends to be handed down from the father to son in certain musical families, of which the best known are Petro-Loukas family – the Chalkias. Petro-Loukas comes from the village of Delvinaki in the Pogoni region, and was taught clarinet by his father, the famous Perikles Chalkias.

Petro-Loukas moved to America in the sixties, where hey stayed for 20 years, playing in Greek clubs and making some recordings. The last of the living legends of the old generation, he has now returned, and often plays at festivities in Epirus, as well as performing at festivals in Greece and abroad. A musician skilled in improvisation, he not only plays with the traditional musicians, but also with Jazz musicians, and even musicians from India.