The project “Omada Kavafis” is one of the activities of the Cultural Association of Ano Syros, which aims to spread the poetry of K.P. Kavafis to the whole world. The performance has been travelling since 2006, when it was first presented in a small village in Syros island (Cyclades), in the presence of 500 people.
The famous Greek journalist George Savvidis was there and he wrote that “…this is, to me, the most important performance concerning the great man from Alexandria”. It is generally considered to be one of the most complete presentations of Kavafis poetry.
Babis Koulouras, who had the inspiration and directed the performance, recites the poems by heart.. Nikoletta Roussou gives short biografical information about the poet’ s life between the songs and poems. The musicians who participate are:
Nikos Roussos – piano
Zannis Maragos – guitar
Vaggelis Aragiannis – contrabass
Antonis Konsolakis – mantolin or Andreas Anagnostopoulos- bouzouki
Nikos Apergis – accordion and harmonika
Reggina Sofou – violin or Sofia Serefoglou – flute
Georgia Litsa – santouri
Chrysoula Kechagioglou and Elpida Gad are singing the songs.
The “Omada Kavafis” project has already been presented over 70 times, both in Greece and abroad. Some of the places it was presented are:
Syros, Samos, Romaiki Agora, the Megaron Mousikis of Athens and Thessaloniki, in the archaeological sites of Delphi and Delos,(Greece), Istanbul (Turkey), at the University of Helsinki (Finland) and the University of Harvard (USA), in Andalusia (Spain), in Brussels (Belgium), Stockholm (Sweden), Paris (France), New York, Boston (USA), Adelaide and Sydney (Australia).
It will be presented again in Finland in March and in New York in May 2017.