INTERVIEW: Adopting and mastering the laouto, a Greek traditional instrument
Photo: From left, Petroloukas Halkias and Vasilis Kostas are ready to bring Greek traditional music to NYC, Boston and Richmond, Virginia. Photo courtesy of © Giorgos Vitsaropoulos / Provided by Cindy Byram PR with permission.
A few years ago musician Vasilis Kostas changed his professional life completely around, and almost every day he is thankful he did. The instrumentalist decided to move away from the jazz guitar and focus instead on the stringed instrument known as the laouto.
His mastery of the laouto has continued to take different shapes and forms, and his latest project is a collaboration with famed clarinetist Petroloukas Halkias. The two came together and recorded the album The Soul of Epirus, a set of songs inspired by the northwestern region of Greece.
Both Kostas and Halkias will celebrate the release of the new album at three CD release concerts: Oct. 5 at Holy Trinity Cathedral in New York City; Oct. 6 at Taxiarchae Greek Orthodox Church in Watertown, Massachusetts; and Oct. 12-13 at the Richmond Folk Festival in Richmond, Virginia.
“First of all, the title of the album is The Soul of Epirus, and Epirus is the northwestern part of Greece,” Kostas said in a recent phone interview. “This is where I grew up, and I was listening to this music since I was 3 or 4 years old. While I was growing up in Epirus, I was starting with the masters — masters of the clarinet, masters of the violin — so when I came to Berklee [College of Music], I started practicing this music more in Boston.”
That college experience was six years ago when he made his way to the Boston area to study jazz guitar. However, after a year of studying, he traveled to Spain with a band to present Greek traditional music. This trip changed his life.
“I thought that it’s better to present the Greek traditional music with a Greek traditional instrument, and not the guitar,” he said. “So I started practicing a new instrument for me at that time, which was the laouto, for two weeks before my trip to Spain, and we went with two other fellow musicians from Berklee College of Music. We presented the Greek traditional music, and two flamenco legends who were in the audience … came to me and said, ‘This instrument is your future, and you should continue with this instrument, the Greek laouto and not the guitar.’ So this was the moment for me that everything changed in my life. I quit the guitar, and I committed myself to the studies of the laouto.”
Kostas said the laouto is a difficult instrument to play because of its fast lines and the demanding pieces that have been written for its four pedal strings.
“It doesn’t have single strings, and the whole structure and the shape is different as well,” he said. “In Greece, we use this instrument mainly to accompany the clarinet players and the violin players, but in this project, in this album we see this instrument having an equal role with the clarinet. And this is the area of my studies the last five years on this instrument.”
This entire creative experience has been doubly memorable thanks to the friendship, collaboration and mentorship of Halkias, a living legend in Greece who is 85 years old. The clarinet master has been gracious and giving with Kostas, despite the gap in their years of experience.
“He is the master of the clarinet of all time, so just watching him to move forward with a project like this and to give space to the young generation, also to experiment and try to create new windows in our music is inspiring,” Kostas said. “My relationship with him is based on deep friendship and mentorship, and I would say it’s a blessing to be able to collaborate with him. It’s a constant lesson.”
The upcoming U.S. concerts will feature songs from The Soul of Epirus, which is subtitled Musical Dialogues Between the Clarinet and the Laouto. The album was recorded over three days at the renowned Sierra Studios in Athens. The recording has justified, in Kostas’ mind, that decision from a few years ago when he left one instrument behind and moved his career in a different direction.
“I’m open to other things through this instrument,” he said. “I think I will stick with the laouto for the rest of my life, and I strongly believe that there was a reason I changed and quit the guitar after 20 years of playing the guitar and starting an instrument actually from zero. … So, yes, I think I will continue in this direction for sure.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Vasilis Kostas and Petroloukas Halkias will perform Oct. 5 at Holy Trinity Cathedral in New York City; Oct. 6 at Taxiarchae Greek Orthodox Church in Watertown, Massachusetts; and Oct. 12-13 at the Richmond Folk Festival in Richmond, Virginia. Their new album is called The Soul of Epirus. Click here for more information.
