Cool Greeks mix the music up a bit

Music / Kardinelia. At Smith’s Alternative, October 8, Reviewed by GRAHAM McDONALD.

KARDINELIA is a duo from Greece (the name is Greek for a kestrel, a small hawk) in the middle of a short tour promoted by Greek Fringe, a group of Greek-Australian artists wanting to promote Greek culture around the world. 

Kardinelia plays a mix of traditional Greek songs and original music, but in unexpected ways. 

The two performers are Evi Seitanidou and Athanas Zikas. Both sing and play guitar extremely well, seamlessly swapping rhythm and lead, with Seitanidou also playing a Pontian lyra and doing remarkable things with a looping pedal while Zikas doubles on tsabouna, a Greek bagpipe. 

A hint of what was to come was the opening piece, they called “Bolero Texas”, not so much Greek as a Sergio Leone inspired theme tune for a spaghetti western, with slide guitar and a whistled melody from Seitanidou, along with a bouzouki-like interlude in the middle. From there it just got more interesting. 

The next song was a song in Greek with some stunning guitar work, leading to a broken string on one guitar which caused a reshuffle of the program. This allowed Seitanidou a solo spot using the looping pedal, creating the backing for a traditional song with her voice alone layering a boom/chuck beat, three harmonised voice patterns and a bass drone before the song itself with a voice-created trumpet solo to finish with.

The rest of the performance mixed more Greek traditional songs with some of their own songs done with country style flatpicking in odd time signatures. 

Seitanidou brought out a lyra, a small vertically played fiddle for the last two songs of the first set, while Zikas finished the second set playing the tsabouna. 

“We like metal and flamenco” they announced at one point and that made a lot of sense in terms of their approach to their music. In their guitar playing, which is at the heart of the music, both influences can be heard as well hints of bouzouki music and the dissonant harmonies of the Balkans. 

The show was an exciting and successful mix of musical styles with a cool Greekness at the heart of it. They play with a relaxed, comfortable confidence in what they are doing and really do look like they enjoy it. I hope we can see them again.