Ritmus és hang

The band Trio Tekke is probably not well-known yet among the listeners of Hungary, but I believe it is the most suitable time to learn what is behind the name: this Cypriot-British ensemble owns an innovative, unique multi-layered world of music, which may arouse our interest even at first hearing, mostly if we are receptive to eclecticism and we are able to let our thoughts drift everywhere by engaging in a musical process and approaching an unknown sound with mindfulness. Don’t be surprised if you associate weirder shapes, natural images, various scary or peaceful light-shadow phenomena, intertwining colors - that’s the point.

Returning to the name, the above is supported by the meaning of the Arabic-Turkish origin word ”tekke” (old meaning: a monastery or place of dervishes, especially in Ottoman Turkey), and immediately at this point, we can already mention a Greek musical genre, which is definitely familiar to the readers of this blog: it is rebetiko, which is the all time musical and aesthetic base of Trio Tekke since their first album,Ta Reggetika, released in 2009. 

By many historical and political reasons, the sounds and purposes of rebetiko – the genre of a „problematic” social group in the early 1900’s – has changed a lot in terms of its musical expressions or the way of performance as well, but the former spirituality in which the first melodies were conceived is still inherent, also in the newly written songs, as exemplified by Trio Tekke's fourth album, Strolivos, released this year. The title plays a key role in „reading” and ”experiencing” the musical material, as in the case of previous albums, that proves the complex conception of art of the band. 

The word strolivos primarily means a vortex, turbulence, or turbine, figuratively referring to disorder, uncertainty, or a person who lives his life restlessly, in eternal motion, exposing himself to the whims of nature. Although such a life is more difficult to control and drifting in a whirlwind is often painful, in the weightlessness of freedom and independence we can understand how useless and tragicomic is to resist and disregard nature and to try to ”overwrite” its laws – this is what I visualize as thinking about the title and the content. Rebetiko always carried the sound of suffering, but at the same time it was able to get rid of the worries of life - to let the wind decide instead of us, to let off everything and watch the world from outside while falling into chaos. It is actually a joyful relief that the songs of the album Strolivos recall in my opinion.

Almost every piece on the album is written by one of the band’s founders, Antonis Antoniou, who plays the tzouras, which is mainly responsible for reinforcing the Greek style or sound. Besides, he is the one who creates this visionary Trio Tekke-world with his characteristic voice. On this album – which the band itself has released in the spirit of innovation – the band is complemented by renowned, outstanding guests, three male voices who have had a strong impact on the Greek music scene over the past 20 years: Dimitris Mystakidis – who is the number one “ambassador” of rebetiko music today – can be heard in Breathless Shriek, Fotis Siotas, one of the most creative and experimental songwriters, violinist, singer in the song called The First Day, and the incredibly talented, powerful and versatile Yiannis Dionysiou who sings in the song called I erase the day.

With their new compositions, Trio Tekke has taken a big step forward, while their style and musical language can be still consistently traced back to their previous works, musical memories, travels and experiences of the last 15 years...So we can listen to the new songs with a warm, familiar feeling. Why? Because the ensemble’s unique, ever-recognizable sound all goes back to its own past, its own roots, creating a kind of private musical history. This evolving, self-returning attitude is what we might call

individuality.

The album, created in the London-Nicosia-Athens triangle, contains strong rhythmic elements as the previous Trio Tekke materials, and by incorporating electronics, even stronger colors have been added to the songs, which can be approached as the contemporary survival of the intertwined traditional cultures of the past.

Strolivos is an album which is difficult to listen to impartially if you know the landscape in which these musical thoughts are rooted, centered on the extreme-fatal nature of mankind and society. Trio Tekke takes an open position on a number of social issues, which is an important characteristic of the modern - and ever - rebetiko tradition they represent. Also in their other projects and ensembles, the founding members are free to form an opinion about the crisis of civilization, but never with aggression or the detriment of art.